Melbourne Law School - Theses

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End date: 1982 × Type: Masters Research thesis × Subject: Assembly, Right of -- Australia -- Queensland ×

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    Protest, public order and police power : a perspective of Queensland events 1977-1979
    Brennan, Frank. (University of Melbourne, 1980)
    1. Public protest was prevalent in England prior to the extension of the franchise to citizens without property or position. Such protest helped to shape the English system of constitutional government. It was not contained by an adequate public order machinery but by the implementation of the criminal law relating to treason and unlawful assembly. 2. The Australian colonies inherited the English public order machinery and criminal law. The convict environs necessitated a military-style machinery and repressive criminal laws. Public protest was tolerated but much Irish activity was seen to be seditious. 3. With the advent of the motor car, police became traffic controllers as well as keepers of the peace. Thus, in regulating public protest, police had to have regard for the smooth flow of motor traffic and the preservation of the peace. Since 1966, public protest has been an integral and effective part of the Australian political process. The Vietnam war, the Springbok Rugby tour and the export of uranium have evoked public protest which has affected the formulation of government policy. Most jurisdictions have accorded citizens the right or general privilege to demonstrate; Queensland has not. 4. In Queensland, police retained the function of issuing or refusing permits for processions, meetings and other political activities on roads and footpaths. The government rejected submissions for tighter judicial supervision of this function from 1966 to 1969. Since then, police officers appear to have been influenced by government policy while exercising that function. The abolition of an applicant's right of appeal to a magistrate from a police officer who refused a permit led to a convergence of government and police policy relating to the refusal of permits for political activities in 1977; it may have contributed to government interference with the administration of the police force. 5. Conflict between the police and citizenry ensued; in the years 1977 to 1979, 1,972 arrests were made at demonstrations. In determining charges, the Magistrates' Courts applied law which was uncertain to facts which were inevitably disputed. Recourse to the superior courts was too tardy to assist the Magistrates' Courts in the application of law. When there was recourse, no clear, indisputable resolution of questions of law was forthcoming. Such a resolution would have spared the Magistrates' Courts prolonged involvement in cases of a political nature. 6. Legislative reforms providing the right to demonstrate, the proper exercise of police discretions and the vigilance of courts are required if "law and order" is to be a reality rather than a slogan in Queensland.