Latest news with #JusticeStalman
ABC News
08-08-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Have anti-protest laws changed the way young people demonstrate?
She's only 24, but Justice Stalman has been involved in activism for almost a decade. "My first involvement in activism, I think I was about 16, and it was around the Adani coal mine in Queensland," says Ms Stalman who is from South Australia. As we're chatting Ms Stalman assures me that "Justice" is written on her birth certificate, but she has spent much of her life seeking it elsewhere. "In the beginning it was a lot of campaigning," she says. "The first group that I was involved with was with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and we had a lot of focus on consulting with governments and doing campaigns that way. "It was just young people trying to be heard and have meaningful conversations. "But yeah, it didn't feel like that really led to a lot of change." In 2023, Justice travelled to New South Wales to join activism group Rising Tide which was attempting to block coal ships from entering the Newcastle port. Along with more than 100 other protesters she was arrested. That was all part of the plan. "It feels often that protesting — the legal way, the polite way — you're still not seen, or often ignored. And we see little change coming from that," she says. "But when we move into things that are more disruptive that demand your attention you can't look away anymore." Ms Stalman says she was not fined or convicted. Protests have dominated the news lately. Unsurprisingly, when more than 90,000 people marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge it created headlines across the globe. Data suggests the annual number of protests across the globe tripled between 2006 and 2020 and one online global protest tracker says that this upward trend has continued through the 2020s. David Mejia-Canales, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Centre, says this perceived increase is a symptom of visibility. "Before we had smartphones and the internet you had to run into a protest to know that it was happening," he says. "Whereas now there's a lot of really high-profile protests for things like protecting the environment, for ending wars, and these things have actually got to a level that people are talking about them just in everyday speech, in schools, in workplaces. "So there's a perception that protest is, sort of, on the rise." According to Mr Mejia-Canales, more eyeballs on protests has resulted in increased scrutiny. "In the last, say, 20 years, maybe 22 years, we've seen about 30 anti-protest laws being introduced around the country," he says. "So they make, say for example, blocking a road a crime. "And not only do they make blocking a road a crime — and blocking a road is a pretty normal feature of protest — but they attach a really, really high penalty for something like that in NSW. "Blocking a road without police permission could get you a jail sentence of two years or a fine of over $20,000." Recently Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia have all increased penalties for disruptive protests. In 2023, changes to South Australia's Summary Offences Act meant anyone charged with obstructing a public place could be fined up to $50,000 — up from $750 — or be sentenced to three months' jail. The changes to the law passed the lower house in 22 minutes. "Which is not even enough time to do a load of washing, but in that time they really restricted everyone's rights to protest," Mr Mejia-Canales says. He added that the speed at which these laws have been implemented has meant their legal definitions are vague. "If you have a vague law, you don't really know whether you're breaking it or not," Mr Mejia-Canales says. "When you really think about it, what does obstructing the road mean? Does it mean standing there? Does it mean stopping traffic? Does it mean stopping cars? "The laws have to be specific so that you know when you're breaking them or not. "That's so important, because if people don't [know if they're breaking the law] then it's very, very easy for them to get arrested, and that's what we're seeing in Australia." Australia currently has the highest arrest rate in the world for climate and environment protests. That's something young activists at South Australia's Grassroots Ecosystem, a monthly meeting of various community groups across the state, are acutely aware of. "I think it's making people more scared to go out and protest because they're worried about their own future, job prospects and things like that," says Cormac Baker, 21, who first got involved in protesting during high school. Lucinda Trenorden, 20, says she had discussions with friends about their apprehension to attend protests. "I have so many peers who are really concerned about the environment," she says. "But I'm so often hearing people say 'I'm really concerned about my job prospects, I don't want to get involved in climate protests, I don't want to risk anything'. "We need to have our voices heard as young people where this is really going to impact our future. "People are taking measures to not protest and not stand up for what they believe in because of strict protest laws that don't make a whole lot of sense." For Tilly, 17, the introduction of anti-protest laws has just added more fuel to the fire. "I've been taking riskier and riskier actions because I think it sends a message to the government and the police that they shouldn't be introducing these laws, that they're not OK, and that I'm going to keep protesting no matter what they do," she says. Through his work at the Human Rights Law Centre, Mr Mejia-Canales says this sentiment is shared by protesters across the country. "Actually saying 'well, if the fine is $20,000 then I'm going to go do something really big and block the Sydney Harbour Bridge' for example, and we've seen some of that too," he says. "People should be able to speak up without having to risk going to jail. I think [the threat of jail] has been an unintended consequence of some of these really bad laws." For Justice, the anti-protest laws represent yet another barrier to the changes she wants to see. "It feels like talking to a brick wall," she says. "I feel more apprehensive, in some ways. "Of course I need to think about my future, but at the same time I think the cost of inaction is so much higher than any fine that you could be given. Measuring how much protests do actually incite change can be difficult. According to a study of world protests between 2006 and 2020, 42 per cent resulted in some demonstrable achievement, characterised as a direct or indirect response from opponents or society. However, it says changes to broader issues like climate change can be intractable. The feeling of nothing changing despite activists' best efforts is called "political despair". Analysing protesters' responses to this feeling formed the basis of Lucy Bird's PhD. "A lot of young people in particular [are] feeling despair about the fact that what we're seeing is really unjust, like we should be seeing changes but we're not," the post-doctoral researcher at Flinders University says. "Of people who do care about things like climate change and racial inequality, roughly 60 per cent say that they feel despair about this issue." Despite a feeling of stagnation and "despair", Dr Bird says activists' efforts didn't diminish. "We assumed that it would mean that people would step away because you just can't handle it. It's not nice to feel despair," she says. "But what we actually found is that even though people were feeling despair, they were continuing to act. "You can have really conflicting ideas about nothing's changing. Nothing's working. But also having this belief that it can change. Justice says she still often feels like her voice isn't being heard, but that's not going to stop her protesting in the future. "Protest works. That's why we do it. Protest is why I can vote as a woman. Protest is why we have working rights," she says. "I know that all the rights that I have now I have because people have protested in the past, which is also why I protest. "I want people in the future to have rights that I don't have yet."
ABC News
05-08-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Why Do We Protest?
JUSTICE STALMAN, PROTESTER: My first involvement in activism, I think I was about 16, and it was around the Adani coal mine in Queensland. Honestly, I was really scared and also disappointed, realising that the people in power, the, the adults, weren't always necessarily going to do what's right and what's right for young people as well. CALE MATTHEWS, REPORTER: Justice has been involved in protests for almost a decade. JUSTICE STALMAN: In the beginning it was a lot of like campaigning. The first group that I was involved with was AYCC, Australian Youth Climate Coalition, and we had a lot of focus on, like, consulting with governments and, and doing campaigns that way. It was just young people trying to be heard and have meaningful conversations. But yeah, it didn't feel like that really led to a lot of change. PROTESTING: People, power! Power, people! Last year she travelled to NSW to join Activism Group Rising Tide, who were attempting to block coal ships from entering the Newcastle port. POLICEMAN: To ensure your safety, you must comply with this direction. Here, she was arrested. JUSTICE STALMAN: It feels like often protesting, I guess the legal ways, the polite ways, is still not seen and or often ignored, and we see little change come from that, but when we move into things that are more disruptive that demand your attention, you can't look away anymore and change does happen. PROTESTER: Show me what democracy looks like! You've probably seen protests pop up in the news a lot lately. NEWS REPORTER: The march on the Harbour Bridge garnered attention all over the world, even in Gaza. I mean, almost 100,000 people marching across the Sydney Harbour Bridge is pretty hard to miss. Data suggests the annual number of protests across the globe tripled from 2006 to 2022 and through the 2020s, that trend has continued. DAVID MEJIA-CANALES, HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CENTRE: Protest has been a really, really important feature of how we've achieved really good things like marriage equality and First Nations land rights, and I know there's still a lot of work to do there, even just the right to vote, the right to vote for women. The right to vote for Aboriginal people. All of these things were not gifts that were given by politicians or parliaments. These were things that were demanded and protested for for a long period of time. David is a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre. He says protests have a long history, but now they're a lot more visible. DAVID MEJIA-CANALES: Before we had smartphones and the Internet, you had to kind of run into a protest to know that it was happening, whereas now there's a lot of really high profile protests for things like protecting the environment, for ending war, and these things have actually got to a level that people are talking about them just in everyday speech, in schools, in workplaces. David says with increased visibility also comes increased scrutiny. In the last say 20 years, maybe 22 years, we've seen about 30 anti-protest laws being introduced around the country. So they make say for example, blocking a road, a crime and not only do they make blocking a road a crime, and blocking a road is a pretty normal feature of protest, but they attach a really, really high penalty for something like that. In NSW, blocking a road without police permission could get you a jail sentence of two years or a fine of over $20,000. Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Tassie and SA have all made changes to protest laws in the last few years. Increasing their penalties for disruptive protests. PETER MALINAUSKAS, SA PREMIER: Protest is welcome, but it's got to be done in such a way that is conscious of other people's rights within our community. DOMINIC PERROTTET, FORMER NSW PREMIER: We want people to be able to protest, but you should do it in a way that doesn't inconvenience people right across NSW. David says these changes have given more power to police at protests and right now, Australia is the world leader in arrests at climate and environment protests by a long way. DAVID MEJIA-CANALES: The police have a really important job to do, you know, keeping people safe and keeping paths cleared so that people can walk through them. But what we're seeing now is that police are actually taking more of a role in actually deciding whether to allow a protest to happen or not, and that actually gets into a really tricky situation where you're bringing people who might be in a bit of a heated moment into contact with police, and recently we've seen in NSW and Victoria and other places where there's been actual violence towards protesters and to police, and we don't want that. That's not the point of protest, but because the laws are so restrictive, it's actually pushing people to either do things that they might not otherwise do or do things that are a little bit riskier or actually bringing police into contact with people in a way that's probably not desired for police or protesters. South Australian grassroots ecosystem, or SAGE, is a community gathering that happens at the end of every month and it brings together a lot of community and activist groups across the state. Some young people here say changes to the law have made them more apprehensive. VOX: I'm so often hearing people say "I'm really concerned about my job prospects. I don't want to get involved with climate protests. I don't want to risk anything." VOX: People are getting more worried about whether they're actually allowed to protest, whether they're going to is a safe event and stuff because people are worried about these laws. People don't want to get caught up in the law by just expressing their views on the climate. Dr Lucy Bird is a researcher at Flinders University who has been looking into whether a feeling called 'political despair' is causing people to stop protesting. DR. LUCY BIRD: So it's this emotion based on how you're feeling about sort of the status quo and how things are happening socially and politically. So it could be climate change, people, a lot of young people in particular, are feeling despair about the fact that what we're seeing is really unjust, like we should be seeing changes, but we're not. She says about 60% of climate protesters feel political despair, a feeling that nothing is changing. But she also says it's not turning them away. DR. LUCY BIRD: Well, that's what we originally thought it would. We assumed that it would mean that people do step away because you just can't handle it and it's not nice to feel despair. But what we actually found is that even though people were feeling despair, they were continuing to act. People are pretty complex. We feel multiple emotions at once and often people feeling anger and despair at the same time you know. You can have really conflicting ideas about 'nothing's changing. Nothing's working,' but also having this belief that it can change. Emma Thomas is a professor of social psychology in the same lab as Doctor Bird. She says changes to how people can and can't protest can have a couple of outcomes. I think that the legislative changes have had a dampening effect on protests and I think that they've had a dampening effect on collective actions primarily in the context of climate protest. We did a really quite complex computational simulation actually of what happens when you repeatedly repressed protest over long periods of time and what then happens. What happens at a population level and we show that you know you can create really apathetic populations when you repress protest too much, which is very bad for democracy because our democracies are healthy and vibrant. Where we have a political, a politically engaged populous. But you can also radicalise a lot of people. So you can have these two extremes which are very undesirable I think for healthy democracies of a group of people who are disengaged, and a group of people who are radicalised and prepared to use violence because the authorities have signalled that they're not prepared to listen to conventional forms of protest. JUSTICE STALMAN: I feel more apprehensive in some ways of course, I need to think about my future, but at the same time, I think the cost of inaction is so much higher than any fine that you could be given, and ultimately, I don't think that people can be bullied or intimidated out of standing up for what's right. Justice says she still often feels like her voice isn't being heard, but that's not gonna stop her protesting in the future. JUSTICE STALMAN: Protest works. That's why we do it. Protest is why I can vote as a woman. Protest is why we have, you know, working rights. Ultimately, I know that all the rights that I have now I have because people have protested in the past, which is also why I protest because I want people in the future to have rights that I don't have yet now.
