City of Melbourne councillors vote for review of protest disruption

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The City of Melbourne has voted in favour of consulting on a plan that would urge the Victorian and federal governments to review disruption from protests in Melbourne's CBD.
The vote on the proposal to update an existing council plan passed with nine votes in favour and two against at a meeting on Tuesday night.
The amendment will now be open for community feedback, will be adopted into the council's plan if voted for later this year.
Councillor Rafael Camillo said he moved the amendment in the context of the city's goals to be "clean and welcoming".
If adopted, the change would update the M2050 Vision and Council Plan 2025-2029 plan to advocate for a coordinated review "across all levels of government to establish a framework that safeguards the right to protest while reducing disruption to the functioning of the city and maintaining a safe environment for the community".
It follows almost two years of regular pro-Palestinian rallies in the heart of Melbourne's CBD, as well as rallies for a variety of other causes.
Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece was in favour of the amendment, saying that while the right to protest was "sacrosanct", people living, working and gathering in the CBD were "fed up".
"I hear it every week from shopkeepers talking about how much it's affecting their business," she said.
"Members of the Jewish community say they feel scared to come into the city and others do as well."
He said he'd consulted with groups including a nearby church concerned it was difficult to congregate on weekends and Chinatown traders who said they were losing revenue.
"Everyone is absolutely horrified by what is going on in Israel and Gaza," he said.
"Sadly, nothing happening on the streets of Melbourne is going to change that but what it is doing is having a real impact on the livelihoods of many of our shopkeepers."
Raising concerns about lost business revenue on ABC Radio Melbourne, councillor Gladys Liu was challenged that the weekly pro-Palestine protests draw large numbers of people into the CBD.
"We have a lot of people, visitors, saying they are not coming to the city because of the protests," she said in response.
"So yes, we do have people coming in but they march then protest and we are not having other people who deserve to come to the city."
Councillor Olivia Ball — who alongside Davidd Griffiths voted against the move — said the right to protest must be protected.
"The very point and value … is in disruption. So I cannot support that," Cr Ball told last night's meeting.
Councillor Philip Le Liu said he supported a review of protest management because "we have neo-Nazis walking down the street and we cannot do anything about it", referencing a demonstration last fortnight.
If the amendment is adopted into the council's plan, the City of Melbourne would be involved in putting "a range" of ideas to state government as to what measures could be taken to reduce disruption from protests, he said.
That could include requiring protests to alternate their routes through CBD streets to avoid the same businesses being impacted every week.
Cr Reece said other measures could involve moving protests to parks, stronger police intervention to minimise disruption or bringing in permits for protest organisers.
The state opposition last week introduced a bill to parliament proposing a protest registration system through Victoria Police, which was voted down.
Last month Victoria Police's chief commissioner Mike Bush told the ABC that unruly protests were "only a minority" and he did not support a permit system.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni leads the group that organises protests across the country, including in Melbourne's CBD.
Mr Mashni said the Lord Mayor's response to the motion was an attack on democracy itself and "laced with anti-Palestinian racism".
"His role is not to police democracy but to safeguard it," he said.
"This isn't about church services or cafe profits, it's about silencing Palestinians and their allies who are demanding an end to genocide."
While the International Court of Justice is yet to rule on an allegation from South Africa that Israel's actions in Gaza amount to a genocide, a special United Nations committee has previously found its warfare was consistent with the characteristics of genocide.
Israel has repeatedly denied the allegation.