The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) said the Liberal Government had broken their election commitment of cracking down on violent protests in forests and instead are focussed on removing Tasmanians rights to peaceful protests.
CEPU State Secretary, Trevor Gauld today described the Governments change in position as having no mandate and no credibility.
“In the lead up to the election the Liberal Government spoke only of stopping violent protests in the forest industry. Their policy clearly shows this.” Mr Gauld said “Now they don’t even mention forests and are instead targeting peaceful protest activities anywhere in the State. Just read their latest media release (attached), the words forest and forestry don’t appear a single time.”
The CEPU attended a briefing with the Attorney General Venessa Goodwin yesterday and heard firsthand the broad application of the proposed amendments.
“Yesterday the Attorney General said the Government had listened to community concerns and had narrowed the application of the laws. How on earth she believes making it illegal to perform peaceful protests out the front of construction sites, mine sites, manufacturing sites, near Government owned businesses such as the Hydro, TasNetworks and TasRail, on farms by the actual farm owners, waterfront workplaces and any “head office” related to the above locations has got anything to do with stopping violent protests in forests is completely beyond me.”
The CEPU was shocked to discover that farmers would face prosecution if they protested on their own property.
“If the Legislative Council approves these amendments then the Attorney General confirmed yesterday that farmers will face fines and even jail time if they protest against fracking or mining on their own property. This is a disgrace.”
The CEPU has demanded the Government explain how creating rushed laws will actually stop a single violent protest in a forest.
“There are already laws around trespass, laws which allow Police to move people on and arrest people who are doing the wrong thing and health and safety laws which can prosecute people doing dangerous activities in workplaces. If Police and regulators aren’t currently resourced enough to enforce the laws which already exist how will creating more laws make a single forestry workplace safer?”
“These laws are an ideological attack from this Government against anyone who has an opinion different to theirs. The Liberals are simply trying to silence dissent against their bad policies and poorly planned budget cuts.”
• The Paul Harriss Media Release …
Paul Harriss, Minister for Resources: Protecting Workers from Radical Protesters
The Liberal Government is committed to protecting the rights of law-abiding Tasmanians to earn a living without interference by radical protesters.
For too long Tasmanians have had to put up with the actions of a few who are not simply expressing an opinion, but who are forcing their will on to others by invading businesses and stopping people from going about their work.
We went to the March election promising to protect workers from radical protesters and, as Tasmanians already know, the Liberal Government is keeping its promises.
We have always said that this Bill is not about limiting the rights of free speech or peaceful protest.
Rather, this is about those radical few for whom voicing their opinion is not enough; who instead have such arrogance and contempt for the rights of others that they act to physically stop a business from operating.
We understand, however, that there were genuinely held concerns about some aspects of the original Bill, which may have left some potential for unintended consequences.
We have listened to those concerns and we will seek to address those that are reasonable through carefully considered amendments.
These amendments will ensure against unintended consequences while maintaining the core principles of the Bill.
Following briefings with stakeholders and Legislative Councillors, the Government intends to bring this bill on for debate in the Legislative Council in coming weeks.
Download Libs’ Forest Policy …
Rebuilding_the_Forest_Industry_-_cracking_down_on_protestors.pdf
Trevor Gauld, State Secretary – CEPU Tasmania
