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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 4144 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

a black-banning at a construction site relating to the dismissal of a worker who respected that black ban. The argument was put, and accepted by the tribunal, that the black-banning represented a major disruption. Even if you don't like that form of protest, isn't it a bit much to be prosecuting people for sabotage, with a maximum sentence of 25 years; or for threatening to-especially for threatening to?

In 1993 this Assembly referred the matter of peaceful assemblies to the then Community Law Reform Committee. In 1997 the committee reported, the report was tabled without comment and, as far as I can tell, sank without a trace. I acknowledge that the Chief Minister has promised to review this work and take into account useful suggestions. As Mr Stanhope said in discussing the bill of rights:

We need to be ever vigilant that freedoms will not be eroded. People may say that our human rights are protected, however our human rights are not protected anywhere. We simply trust that our society will protect them.

That was when Mr Stanhope was arguing for a bill of rights. But some of what he said is also very relevant in this context.

Also of interest in this discussion is the Community Law Reform Committee's 1997 report, which states:

33. Consideration of whether there should be a right of peaceful assembly involves a difficult balancing of interests. It is well recognised that the ability to assemble to make known grievances to governments, legislatures and bureaucrats is an important element of a democratic system of government. It has been said that the response of a government to a peaceful protest is a good test of the value it really places on its commitment to human rights. However, it has also been noted that assemblies can be "high pitched, brainless and brutal, spreading fear in minority communities, intimidating workers and clogging up traffic. More than any other freedom it comes at a price, and a price moreover which Governments are increasingly reluctant to pay".

That quote is from Geoffrey Robertson's book: Freedom, the individual and the law, 1993. The report continues:

34. With a small number of notable exceptions, most of the assemblies of protest that have occurred in the ACT, and Australia, in recent years have been non-violent. One writer has noted, however, that an aura of actual or potential violence accompanies much media presentation and popular perception of protest. The existence of this perception has tended to result in the taking of a "law and order"approach to assemblies in many jurisdictions.

The Community Law Reform Committee is quoting Brian Martin, from Protest in a liberal democracy. The report continues:

The way in which police approach assemblies appears to be one important determinant of whether an assembly remains peaceful or is marred by violence. It has been noted that when crowds are met with physical force by the police, the frequency of riots or the extent of violence associated with them tends to increase. On the other hand, it has been demonstrated that a handful of police can succeed in peacefully dispersing a crowd.

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