Page 3210 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 16 August 2011
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off, the creation of the Women’s Action Committee in 1969, the 1970-80 anti-Vietnam war moratorium movement, the Kelly’s Bush green ban in 1971, the 1972 Aboriginal tent embassy, the 1978 mardi gras and the 1983 Franklin dam blockade.
In fact, I come from a state—the state of Queensland—where, under Premier Bjelke-Petersen, street marches were made illegal. If people were just walking five abreast down the street, that was considered breaking the law. Many people went out and protested against that. Many people across the board went out and protested against that. Mr Seselja made the suggestion in his speech that it was somehow outrageous for anybody, whether it be somebody in parliament or whether it be someone from the community, to question laws made by law-makers and that somehow the laws which are made might not always be right. We have got so many examples of that in Australia and across the world. Apartheid, for one, is a perfect example. Is the Liberal Party suggesting that it was wrong for people to get out and protest against and question the laws of apartheid?
In fact, Mrs Dunne said that Martin Luther King was not breaking the law. In fact, he was questioning laws; he was questioning the laws of segregation. When Rosa Parks went and sat at the front of a bus, she was breaking the law at the time. I can hear Mr Seselja muttering away there, saying somehow we are equating the comments with those actions. We are not, and again I go to the point that you cannot seem to get your heads around the complexity of what civil disobedience is and the role it plays in our society. That is what we are talking about. We are not equating that with any particular person. We are actually using examples that have changed history about the role that it can play in our society, and we have got many examples of that.
I will go back to apartheid. We have the example where sporting teams refused to go. Rugby players and cricketers, not known for exactly being radicals, were going out and protesting against laws. There is also the example I cited with Queensland where you were not allowed to protest. There is the Tea Party style protest that is happening up at Parliament House today, which I imagine the Liberal Party would support.
Mr Hanson: But they’re not breaking the law.
MS BRESNAN: No, they are not breaking the law, but if that was held in Queensland at the time I was referring to, they would have been breaking the law at the time. I am not actually suggesting they are breaking the law; what I am saying is that there have been times in our history and times in politics across the country where laws have been made, where protests have been outlawed in a particular state and where it was suggested that people should not be able to go out and protest against things that they disagree with. People should be able to protest against things they disagree with, and that is why I fully support the protest which is happening today. They have every right to protest against laws which they do not support.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, members. I have made clear my expectations about the debate. Ms Bresnan.
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