Today in Parliament, Abigail criticised Labor's erosion of democratic rights through restrictive protest laws, highlighting The Greens' principled stance on accountability, cultural expression, and resistance to authoritarianism.
Abigail said:
I make a brief contribution to debate on the Crimes Amendment (Obstructing a Railway) Bill 2024. It feels very much like groundhog day. Firstly, I thank and congratulate my colleague Ms Sue Higginson for her continued tenacity on this topic. I also acknowledge the efforts of all of my Greens colleagues in both Houses who have worked on this issue for decades. The Greens are the party that supports protest, because it is a fundamental part of our democracy. I reflect on what we think about the democratic process and the idea we often hear that there is an election day every four years when people vote, apparently with perfect knowledge—perhaps mimicking the way that some people think about the markets—of what a government is going to do, whether it is being honest and all of those other things. We make a decision at the ballot box and that is apparently it.
For four years, you get what you get. There is no way to come back and say, "Please, Government, things have changed—a lot changes." But also, "Please, Government, you are not doing things quite as you said you would. We would like you to do it a different way." For some people, typically those on the right and those who embrace the authoritarian view of things—I am not suggesting that is the view of the Hon. Rod Roberts, but there are people on the right who think like that—they have the authoritarian idea that we are told what to do for the next four years by the government of the day because it has some sort of authority over us and we can just wait until the next election and vote it out. That also assumes that there is equal choice or other options when we get to the ballot box in four years and we are not faced with two major parties that are basically the same party without much to distinguish them.
But putting that to one side, let us look at the Labor Party. It is fitting because we have come to the end of another year of the Labor Party in government. There have been a lot of scraps at the State and Federal levels between the Labor Party and The Greens. One of the major issues we face is that a lot of members of the Labor Party simply do not understand what The Greens are doing. I think our upper House Labor colleagues do understand us a little better than their lower House colleagues. But we have heard the talking points from members of the Albanese Government. They love to talk about The Greens political party. They desperately want to make us just like Labor, but Labor is a party that is only interested in votes. Anyone who has worked with The Greens in the upper House understands full well that we are in this place because we care.
It might be hard for other members to stomach that we do not care about how popular a thing is; we are just doing the thing that is right. But that is why we are here. That is why I am not in my previous career, where I was having a much more jolly time, to be honest; that is why Ms Sue Higginson is not in her former career; and that is why the amazing Dr Amanda Cohn has left her patients, at great sacrifice both to herself and her patients in Albury. She has come to this place because she genuinely cares. We are not criticising the Labor Government for votes or political point scoring; it is because we think Labor is wrong and it has erred.
When it comes to the right to protest and the assault on our democratic rights as a society and a drift towards authoritarianism and fascism, that is a very serious issue. We have seen that across the board. For example, my office has heard a lot from people who have been told by schools, as a result of the Department of Education's policy, that they cannot wear cultural items to school because it has been determined by the Minns Government that it is somehow divisive to embrace one's own culture from one's homeland, particularly when one's homeland is under attack and they have to watch pictures of dead countrymen being taken out of schools and camps and other places because they have been bombed.
The Hon. Susan Carter (The Coalition): Like the hostages.
Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: I acknowledge the interjection from the Hon. Susan Carter. She seems to think that decades of killing people is somehow excusable because something also happened to the people who are doing the killing.
The Hon. Susan Carter: Point of order: That is mischaracterisation of what I said. I was referring to the hostages. I did not refer to decades and decades of killing people. The member entirely mischaracterised what I said.
Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: I am very glad to hear that the Hon. Susan Carter did not dismiss the pain and murder of millions—
The Hon. Susan Carter: Point of order: The member has simply reinforced her mischaracterisation. I ask her to withdraw her remarks.
The ASSISTANT PRESIDENT (The Hon. Peter Primrose): All interjections are disorderly. The Hon. Susan Carter has taken a point of order. I ask Ms Abigail Boyd to think carefully about whether she believes what she has said was appropriate. Ms Abigail Boyd has the call.
Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: I do believe it was appropriate, but I will stick to the subject matter. When we are talking about protest—
The Hon. Greg Donnelly (Labor): Shame.
Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: I am not sure the Hon. Greg Donnelly wants to get into that with me tonight.
The ASSISTANT PRESIDENT (The Hon. Peter Primrose): This is a complicated debate. There is a diverse range of opinions. The role of the Chair is to maintain order and civility. Before I exercise the power of the Chair, I ask all members to continue the debate in a civil fashion and in a way that is within the standing orders. The member has the call.
Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: My office is inundated with people talking about how they are being silenced in their everyday lives because of policies and laws of this Government. That is a real problem. The Greens are trying to help Labor to not lose the next election. We do not want another conservative government for New South Wales. The Greens would like the Labor Government to continue. I say to those Labor members who are as concerned as I am: Labor is coming away from its roots as a social justice party and a party for workers' rights and struggle. Labor is now sitting on the wrong side of history instead of embracing those people who are struggling to find climate justice. Instead, the Government is trying to silence them and stop them from exercising their democratic rights. That is fundamentally against what the Labor Party stands for. It is not what people voted for; it is not what people expect.
The Government has time to turn it around. If Government members were proud of what they are doing, they would have introduced the bill one or two months ago. They would not have rushed it through under the cover of a last-minute affair on the last sitting day of the year. If they were proud, they would have given us the chance to interrogate it. They keep introducing laws like this that they know are shameful. They know it causes division in their caucus. They bring bills to Parliament on the last sitting day of the year because they think that is the only way that they can get them through. It cannot continue like that. Labor should stop this race to the bottom of being as authoritarian as it can. Labor should come back to its roots, allow people to express their dissent and properly listen to them so that we can restore our democracy.
Read the full debate in Hansard here.
21 November 2024