NSW Parliament passes anti-protest bill

By DANIEL LO SURDO

Legislation that will allow penalties of up to two years jail time and $22,000 in fines for protestors has been passed in NSW Parliament, following a spate of mobilisations and actions across Sydney in recent weeks.

The Roads and Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill will apply tougher penalties for people who disrupt traffic or block entry to infrastructure facilities, including major roads, ports and railways.

Severe penalties to protest

The Bill comes after protests, including numerous from activist group Blockade Australia at Port Botany, Tempe and Marrickville, caused mass disruptions across Sydney, prompting changes to the previous $2,200 fine, which Attorney-General Mark Speakman called a “small licence fee to pay to cause millions of dollars of havoc”.

Earlier this week, Greens Member for Newtown Jenny Leong accused the government of “ram[ming] [the] Bill into law”, saying that “there’s no such thing as an illegal protest” while advocating for the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association protests on Thursday, which blocked some of Macquarie Street.

Ms Leong called the passing of the Bill a “disappointing outcome”, adding that “we know that building movements is how we change the world for the better”.

Last week, NSW Transport Minister David Elliott warned that harsher penalties for people who “vandalise our economy” could be on the way, saying that he would lobby his cabinet to install “much, much tighter laws and penalties” for action generating major disruption across the city.

Port Botany protestor jailed for four months, more protests planned for June 

Maxim O’Donnell Curmi, the 26-year-old Blockade Australia activist who scaled a crane at Port Botany last month, was sentenced to four months in prison this week after his protest shut down the port’s largest terminal.

Magistrate Ross Hudson, presiding over Waverley Local Court, fined Mr Curmi $1,500 and issued a jail sentence that will expire on July 24.

Blockade Australia is planning for new protests from June 27, saying that they “will not be intimidated out of fighting for the political change required to save us all”.