Peaceful Protest Is Who We Are
There's something powerful about standing in a crowd of people who refuse to look away.
Last week, thousands of us came together in grief, anger and hope. We gathered because we believe this country should stand for peace. We gathered because we could not stay silent while our government welcomed the president of a state committing genocide.
What followed in Sydney was confronting.
Peaceful protesters, with raised hands or kneeling in prayer, met with violence from police. The footage was shocking, not because people were protesting, but because of the police response.
A peaceful protest is not a threat to democracy. It is democracy in action.
In the days since, the New South Wales police commissioner has confirmed that the public assembly restriction has now lapsed. The extraordinary limits placed on people's right to gather have been lifted. That matters. It is an acknowledgement that sweeping crackdowns on peaceful assembly cannot be justified indefinitely.
The attempt to meet mass, peaceful opposition with aggressive policing, political attacks and broad anti-protest measures was never going to work.
When thousands take to the streets calling for peace, they are not the threat. They are participating in the democratic tradition that has shaped this country.
The lifting of these restrictions is a reminder that public pressure works, and that the right to protest cannot simply be suspended because those in power are uncomfortable.
Across the country, thousands turned out to oppose the visit of Israel's President.
We did so because of the belief that Australia should stand for peace and against genocide.
The right to gather, to dissent, and to demand better from those in power is fundamental, and when that right is met with batons and mass policing, something has gone very wrong.
While we reckon with this, in Boorloo / Perth, the attempted bombing of an Invasion Day rally was a chilling reminder that far-right hatred and racism are not abstract concerns.
First Nations communities gathered in solidarity and were met with an attempt at mass violence.
This violent act should have been investigated as terrorism and treated with the seriousness it deserved from the day it happened - not three days later, after media silence and growing public outcry.
We have a National Anti-Racism Framework, and it must be fully funded and implemented.
Everyone deserves to be safe from discrimination, hatred, and violence.
This is a moment for unity.
It is also a moment for honesty.
We are seeing a growing pattern: harsher anti-protest laws, expanded move-on powers, and new offences designed to deter climate activists and community campaigners.
Climate activists face years in prison for peaceful civil disobedience. Environmental defenders are treated as criminals for standing in the way of coal and gas expansion.
Governments would not be trying to shut down protests if they did not work.
From civil rights to land rights, from marriage equality to environmental protection, every major advance in justice has been won because ordinary people gathered in the streets and refused to be silent. Protest shifts the moral centre of politics. It forces conversations the powerful would prefer to avoid.
That is why it must be protected.
The Greens stand in solidarity with those who march for peace. We support independent scrutiny of police actions and transparency wherever state power is exercised. Accountability strengthens public trust; impunity erodes it.
We are part of a global movement for peace and justice. And we will not accept a politics that labels dissent as disorder while excusing violence against communities.
Peaceful protest is not the crime. Genocide is the crime. Police violence is the crime. Racism is the crime. Destroying our climate is the crime.
The right to stand together, to speak out, and to demand better is at the heart of our movement.
We will keep using it. And together, we will keep defending it.
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