The anti-protest comments made by NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, have revealed his shocking bias and inability to make an objective judgement about protests in New South Wales.
Fuller well knows that on 3 July the Supreme Court upheld the right to protest in regard to a Black Lives Matter rally in Newcastle on 5 July in circumstances that are very similar to the situation that prevails in Sydney at the moment.
Fuller’s threat to fine to people regardless of the court decision shows his ignorance of, or contempt for, the Supreme Court judgement in which Justice Adamson found, “…I accept Ms Graham’s primary submission that, if the public assembly is authorised, the participants are not liable for criminal prosecution under s 10 of the Public Health Act for breach of the direction under cl 18(1) because they are entitled to the immunity granted by s 24 of the Act.”
The police do not have power to fine people at an authorized protest. Fuller’s threat ‘to have a bloody good go’ at fining people at the rally is an explicit attempt to intimidate people from exercising their right to protest. This is an unseemly example of the NSW police dancing to the tune of their political masters in government.
Fuller has also shamefully revealed his bias by attempting to connect the Black Lives Matter protest with the positive cases of COVID in Melbourne’s public housing towers. There are no known transmission incidents of positive COVID cases associated with Black Lives Matter (or any other) protests anywhere in Australia.
“Fuller must know that his statement is not true. There should be no place for this kind of biased statement in the police force,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“The Refugee Action Coalition supports the ‘Justice for David Dungay’ rally on 28 July. The COVID situation cannot be used as an excuse to ban protests. The Black Lives Matter protests have revealed what happens when police become a law unto themselves.
“The Queensland police tried to ban the refugee rally outside the Kangaroo Point Hotel in Brisbane on 19 July. In Melbourne, police have fined refugee activists for protesting outside a hotel holding refugees in unsafe conditions. Dan Andrews did nothing to protect residents from COVID but sent police to surround public housing towers to lock them in. Everywhere, federal and state governments and police are trying to stifle the voices of those that need, and are demanding, justice.
“In the face of these threats and these attacks, more than ever we need the right to protest.”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
