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Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda

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Speaker 1: Bungelung Calcuttin woman from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

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Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

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Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily os It's Friday,

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Speaker 2: the fourteenth of October.

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Speaker 3: I'm Zara, I'm Sam.

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Speaker 2: New laws imposing jail sentences and severe minds for protesters

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Speaker 2: in New South Wales have been challenged in the Supreme

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Speaker 2: Court by two eco warrior grandmothers. They're arguing these laws

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Speaker 2: are unconstitutional because they take away our quote democratic freedoms. Now, Sam,

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Speaker 2: we will explain their case and how these laws came

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Speaker 2: to be in a second. But first, what's making headlines.

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Speaker 3: It is now no longer mad treat to self isolate

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Speaker 3: with COVID nineteen. The change comes following a decision made

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Speaker 3: by National Cabinet last month, with some restrictions still applying

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Speaker 3: to people in high risk settings. This week, Victoria's pandemic

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Speaker 3: declaration also came to an end and New South Wales

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Speaker 3: scrapped compulsory reporting of positive rapid antigen tests.

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Speaker 2: Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said the upcoming budget, which

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Speaker 2: will be happening in a couple of weeks time, will

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Speaker 2: be updated in real time amid changes in the global economy.

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Speaker 2: Chalmers has been in the US this week to hold

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Speaker 2: talks around monetary policy ahead of handing down the Albanesi

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Speaker 2: government's first budget.

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Speaker 3: Over one hundred and forty countries in the United Nations

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Speaker 3: General Assembly have voted to condemn Russia's attempted annexation of

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Speaker 3: four regions in Ukraine. Earlier this week, the General Assembly

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Speaker 3: voted overwhelmingly in favor of the condemnation, with only Russia, Belarus,

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Speaker 3: North Korea, Syria and Nicaragua rejecting the vote.

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Speaker 2: And the good news today, American pharmacy chain CVS is

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Speaker 2: slashing the prices of menstrual products in twelve US states

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Speaker 2: where attempts to remove a tampon tax have failed. From yesterday,

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Speaker 2: the cost of CBS brand menstrual products were reduced for

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Speaker 2: all customers by twenty five percent.

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Speaker 3: Zara, I want you to cast your mind back to

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Speaker 3: before the federal election, feels like about twelve years.

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Speaker 2: Ago, bfe before the federal the.

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Speaker 3: Federal election exactly. There was a topic in New South

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Speaker 3: Wales that was getting some traction in the news and

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Speaker 3: it's come up again. So we're going to revisit it

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Speaker 3: the laws against protesters blocking major roads and bridges. It

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Speaker 3: was one of the big stories way back earlier in

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty two, but it's back in the news because

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Speaker 3: of a case in the state's Supreme Court. Zara, give

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Speaker 3: me a quick timeline of these events earlier this year.

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Speaker 2: So in mid March of this year, protesters from the

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Speaker 2: group Fireproof Australia sat in the middle of the Spit

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Speaker 2: Bridge and that was an effort to massively disrupt traffic

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Speaker 2: between the CPD and the Northern Beat. It didn't stop

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Speaker 2: there though. Starting on March twenty second, Blockade Australia began

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Speaker 2: a campaign of disrupting business and traffic in the city

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Speaker 2: in a bunch of different ways, and that included climbing

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Speaker 2: freight trains so that they couldn't depart, and other things

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Speaker 2: like sitting on tall poles on bridges in industrial areas.

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Speaker 2: All of these demonstrations were to protest one thing, and

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Speaker 2: that is the climate crisis, and the idea was to

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Speaker 2: keep climate change front of center as we headed towards,

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Speaker 2: as you said, the federal election.

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Speaker 3: And these protests definitely did make headlines, we wrote them ourselves.

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Speaker 3: But I remember those protests mostly generating a lot of

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Speaker 3: anger and frustration in the media.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's important you highlight in the

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Speaker 2: media because sometimes there is an incongruence between what the

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Speaker 2: media reports and what people are saying on the ground.

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Speaker 2: But at the time, New South Wales Transport Minister David

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Speaker 2: Elliot said what these protesters were doing was quote self

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Speaker 2: centered and nothing short of economic vandalism. In an interview

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Speaker 2: with one of the protesters on Sunrise, Koshi called them

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Speaker 2: quote a pest and ask them why they had a

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Speaker 2: b in their bonnet.

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Speaker 3: So are these laws that we're talking about now a

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Speaker 3: direct result from this spate of protests? Yes.

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Speaker 2: So New South Wales Parliament, like all parliaments, doesn't meet

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Speaker 2: for that many weeks a year because MPs and Upper

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Speaker 2: House members are busy with their electorates and inquiries into

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Speaker 2: matters of public concern. That basically means that the last

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Speaker 2: sitting week before a big break is always extra busy

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Speaker 2: because different members try to get different things through in time,

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Speaker 2: and that was the case at the end of March,

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Speaker 2: which is the period we're talking about this all beginning

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Speaker 2: those blockade Australia protests coincided with the last sitting week

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Speaker 2: before a six week break. So the government, which here

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Speaker 2: in New South Wales is the Liberal National Coalition, they

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Speaker 2: worked really quickly to crack down on climate protesters by

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Speaker 2: strengthening the laws around how you can protest in the state.

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Speaker 2: The labor opposition actually also voted with them to pass

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Speaker 2: the new laws because they said they have to vote

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Speaker 2: for the quote common good and the majority of people,

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Speaker 2: and that these laws would only affect a small number

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Speaker 2: of people who actually wanted to cause serious disruptions.

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Speaker 3: And what were the differences between those pre existing laws

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Speaker 3: and the new ones in place today.

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Speaker 2: So we'll start with the old laws first. Under those

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Speaker 2: the most you could be fined for the crime of

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Speaker 2: blocking traffic was twenty two hundred dollars, and other similar

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Speaker 2: crimes like blocking a person or a vehicle's ability to drive,

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Speaker 2: had small fines attached. The state's Attorney General, Mark Speakman

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Speaker 2: said these fines were too small compared to the quote

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Speaker 2: enormous economic carnage that these protesters had caused. And it's

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Speaker 2: worth noting that when the Attorney General introduced the new

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Speaker 2: laws to Parliament, he specifically cited those protests by Blockade

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Speaker 2: Australia and Fireproof Australia as the reason for expanding the

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Speaker 2: kinds of crimes you could be charged with and also

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Speaker 2: increasing the punishment for those crimes.

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Speaker 3: So what can you be charged with under the new

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Speaker 3: laws and what can you be punished with?

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Speaker 2: So after the legislation was passed, it made it very

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Speaker 2: difficult basically to stage of protests on a road anywhere

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Speaker 2: in New South Wales and meant that you can get

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Speaker 2: into trouble if you're seen to obstruct traffic in any

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Speaker 2: way around a protest. So the legislation includes specifications about

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Speaker 2: not being allowed to climb or jump off quote major facilities,

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Speaker 2: which the government defines as things like train stations, power

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Speaker 2: pants and ports. And if you are charged with any

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Speaker 2: of those crimes, you're on the hook for fines of

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Speaker 2: up to twenty two thousand dollars. And remembering that I

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Speaker 2: just said that previously it was only two thousand dollars.

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Speaker 2: That's a whole lot more than it used to be.

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Speaker 2: And on top of that, under the legislation you could

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Speaker 2: be facing up to two years jail time as well.

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Speaker 3: We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back, okay.

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Speaker 3: So the reason we're talking about this today is the

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Speaker 3: legal challenge that started yesterday against these laws by two plaintiffs.

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Speaker 3: What are they arguing?

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Speaker 2: The complainants say that these laws are infringing their right

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Speaker 2: to protest and they've taken it up in the state's

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Speaker 2: Supreme Court.

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Speaker 3: And are these people actually protests themselves?

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Speaker 2: The case before the court what was brought by the

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Speaker 2: Environmental Defender's Office on behalf of two grandmothers who live

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Speaker 2: on New South Wales's North coast, which has been of

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Speaker 2: course one of the area's hardest hit by a number

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Speaker 2: of climate disasters that we've seen over the last few years.

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Speaker 2: They're part of a group called the Knitting Nanas who

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Speaker 2: you might have seen out and about. They formed in

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Speaker 2: twenty twelve to protest coal seam gas mining near liz

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Speaker 2: Moore on the New South Wales Mid North Coast. Their

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Speaker 2: website says that their quote not affiliated with any political parties,

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Speaker 2: but that they rather annoy all politicians equally and.

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Speaker 3: As part of their strategy to be the knitting nannas,

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Speaker 3: they sit in camp chairs on the side of major

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Speaker 3: developments on a highway, observing to see if any of

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Speaker 3: the companies are doing anything illegal, and no one really

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Speaker 3: suspects that they're up to anything.

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Speaker 2: And the reason that they have launched legal proceedings is

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Speaker 2: because they say that they shouldn't have to risk imprisonment

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Speaker 2: or bankruptcy to participate in our democracy.

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Speaker 3: Zara, I feel like you'd be a good knitting nano

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Speaker 3: one day quite now to respond to that, that's a

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Speaker 3: confirmation from us that Zara will be joining the Knitting

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Speaker 3: naw in sixty five years time. That's all we've got

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Speaker 3: time for on today's episode of The Daily Oz Zarrez

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Speaker 3: off to practice her knitting. If you learn something from

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Speaker 3: today's episode, make sure you hit subscribe so there's a

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Speaker 3: TDA episode waiting for you straight away on Monday morning.

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Speaker 3: If you need some listening over the weekend, definitely check

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Speaker 3: out the Mirror. It is right on top of the

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Speaker 3: charts on the news podcast feeds. It's a great listen

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Speaker 3: and a new episode drops on Monday morning as well,

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Speaker 3: have a fantastic weekend,