Advertisement

Annastacia Palaszczuk is cracking down on protesters – she is likely correct about public sentiment

<span>Photograph: Darren England/AAP</span>
Photograph: Darren England/AAP

Arguably the most effective protest march ever held in Queensland was not attended by tens of thousands of people chanting their upset, but by one man and his dog named Jaffa.

It occurred in the coastal sugar town of Bundaberg at 2.45am on April Fool’s Day, 1978.

Local dentist, Harry Akers, a declared pacifist and a man consumed with the belief that the civil rights of people were being denied by legislation of the Bjelke-Petersen government which declared that protest marches could by held only after organisers received a police permit to do so.

The decision whether or not to grant that permit was in the hands of Police Commissioner Terry Lewis, later jailed for 12 years for corruption. Akers saw Lewis as a puppet of the government and resented his continual refusal to grant march permits to people with genuine grievances.

Akers applied for a permit to march in Bundaberg. It was denied by local Inspector Ken Seaniger so Akers devised a plan to challenge the ruling which he saw as abhorrent.

It was raining, but at 2.30 am, accompanied by Jaffa held securely on a chain, Akers marched 100 metres on a Bundaberg back street, all the while voicing his protest. The only attendees were a couple of carloads of police, but they realised the absurdity of the situation and did not arrest him and Jaffa.

However, the ridicule this action by the courageous Akers caused to be heaped on the Bjelke-Petersen government eventually (three years later) saw the policy abandoned.

This week in Brisbane, Akers, now 70 and retired from his high-profile position at the University of Queensland, said he was unwavering in his support for citizens to have the right to protest peacefully.

Related: Parliamentarians deserve our wrath for 30 years of inaction, not climate protesters | Greg Jericho

However, he had serious reservations about the course adopted by members of Extinction Rebellion who have been staging disruptive demonstrations in Australian capital cities for the last month.

This has resulted in the Queensland Labor premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk announcing she would introduce legislation cracking down on the demonstrators who, she said, were using tactics and material which were “dangerous’’ to police and other responders who had to move them from public situations such as pedestrian crossings to which they had glued themselves.

The Palaszczuk government move has attracted criticism from the Left and from traditional Labor supporters, but she is unmoved in her resolve to ensure that further disruption to the city by ER members is minimised.

Akers said he felt the Extinction Rebellion protestors were not being effective. He said that protests were only ever successful if the right of their cause was taken up “and the public was brought along with you’’.

“These people have an undeniable right to protest, I feel strongly about that,’’ he said.

“But I am not sure about their methodology to be frank. There is an element of hypocrisy in me saying that because I took part in illegal street processions which did inconvenience people.

“I think anyone with any intelligence is on the same page with these people. We all appreciate the climate problems.’’

Akers said he “had reservations about the tactics of Extinction Rebellion’’.

“You need people who are prepared to take on the establishment, but what I do think is that this recent spate of protests is possibly alienating people who are on-side anyhow,’’ he added.

“Would I get involved – no. That comes from a guy who was arrested several times in relation to street marching and I have a conviction because I refused to apply for bail.’’

Over the last 50 years – from the early Joh years – Queensland has seen many very serious protest movements including against a tour of the South African Springboks during apartheid; Aboriginal land rights, the right to march, the lockdown of the waterside, the sacking of more than 1000 Electrical Trades Union members by Joh and the employment of non-union “scabs’’.

Related: Extinction Rebellion: Labor members say 'chilling' mass arrests have echoes of Bjelke-Petersen era

The last-mentioned was possibly the most violent because Bjelke-Petersen not only sacked the workers but also took away their superannuation.

It is a little known fact that the then superannuation board which collected and invested the superannuation for the ETU members was headed by former naval officer and accountant John Wyatt, who at one stage was also treasurer of the National (Country) Party.

When the daily protests ended and the strike was over, it was not long before the Bjelke-Petersen reign ended and Labor under Wayne Goss was elected to power.

The ETU workers were told they had lost their superannuation entitlements because Joh had ordered they be surrendered to consolidated revenue.

However, with Labor winning, Wyatt came forward and told Goss he had not done as he was instructed because he knew it was wrong, and had instead put the total funds in a separate account over which he had control.

Perhaps it was his naval training, or his professionality as an accountant that saw him act with such honour, but Wyatt saved the day and the workers got their entitlements.

So not all protest movements are without positive outcomes.

However, the general feeling in Queensland is that Extinction Rebellion has misread the public mood and that of the government, and adopted the wrong tactics to eventually come out winners.

Palaszczuk might be criticised for taking what is interpreted as an “un-Labor’’ attitude to them, but her response and that of her government, appears to more properly reflect public opinion and expectation.

And she is facing an election next year.

  • Tony Koch is an Australian journalist who has won five Walkley awards, 48 state journalism awards, the Sir Keith Murdoch News Limited Award and the Graham Perkin Award