In an out-of-court settlement, which became public on March 4, Victorian Labor Premier Steve Bracks' government agreed to pay compensation to 47 protesters injured at the "S11" blockade of the World Economic Forum in Melbourne in September 2000. The settlement awards $700,000 in compensation, although $600,000 will go to legal fees.
The payment has met with shrill condemnation from the Melbourne corporate media, particularly the Murdoch-owned Herald Sun and Victorian Police Association (VPA) secretary Paul Mullet, who was quoted in the March 6 Age as saying the recipients had attended the blockade for no reason other than to "violate police officers and ordinary members of the community".
One of the compensated protesters, comedian Rod Quantock, told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly that he "felt not in the least vindicated" by the payment because of the media vilification. "Vindication would come through a court case", he said.
Because of his public profile, Quantock has been singled out by the critics of the settlement, who have used terms such as "ugly" and "scum" in the Herald Sun's coverage.
The March 4 Age repeated disproven allegations from the time of the blockade that "protesters spat on police, poured urine on them and threw ballbearings, marbles, nails, nuts and bolts". This allegation was also repeated, word for word, in the next day's Herald Sun.
Civil liberties lawyer Rob Stary pointed out to GLW, "none of the claimants were charged with any crime. They were innocent victims [and] payouts only take place if the police can be shown to have acted unlawfully. The question should be how is it that police haven't been brought to account for violence against innocent people."
Geelong Trades and Labour Council secretary Tim Gooden, who spoke at the S11 blockade on behalf of the Democratic Socialist Perspective and Geelong Global Action, agreed.
"The media is saying 'rioters compensated' implying that government has done a grub deal for lawbreakers", he told GLW. "The headlines should be saying: 'Police penalised for assaulting protesters'. It was clear, even on news footage that the police were assaulting people who had not broken any laws, especially the cop who drove over people sitting in the driveway and left the scene of the crime. That is the reality, not the hype that the police association and mainstream media would have us believe."
As well as serving to de-legitimise anti-establishment protests, the attacks on the compensation deal are part of a wider campaign by the VPA and Â鶹´«Ã½ of the media against attempts by the Office of Police Integrity (OPI) and Police Commissioner Christine Nixon to reign in lawlessness within the Victoria Police. As well as brutal treatment of peaceful protesters, allegations against police have included drug trafficking and involvement with organised crime.
In July 2006, Mullet lashed out at the OPI's investigation into the armed offenders squad. The results of this investigation led Nixon to later disband the squad.
The February 15 Age reported that the OPI has accused the VPA of being an obstacle to the rooting out of corruption in the police force. Former executive members of the VPA are under criminal investigation.
Stary told GLW that Nixon deserved "some credit" for attempting to curtail the "culture of infallibility" in the police. However, he said, the allegations that have surfaced were "the tip of iceberg", adding: "There should have been a royal commission exposing corruption, including an examination of the police association."
That Mullet's campaign against any encroachment on police impunity for lawlessness has an ally in the Bracks government was revealed with the leak in late February of a secret pre-election deal signed by Mullet and Bracks on November 6.
The deal took place without the knowledge of Nixon or the OPI. As well as promising police $10 million in equipment, including semi-automatic firearms and Taser electric stun guns, the agreement allows for the open-ended use of public money to fund the defence of VPA members facing any disciplinary or legal charges, including for serious criminal offences.
These revelations drew comparisons with the Bjelke-Petersen era in Queensland from former anti-corruption royal commissioner Frank Costigan who now heads the Australian branch of anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International.
Even the Coalition parties tried to score political points on the deal, prompting Mullet to reveal that the Liberals and Nationals had tried negotiating similar arrangements.
The media campaign against the compensation payment to the S11 protesters provided a smokescreen to divert attention from this deal, as well as an opportunity to portray Nixon as disarming police in the face of violent threats to society. "Having been sandwiched by police at S11, we're now being sandwiched by Paul Mullet in his fight with Christine Nixon", Quantock observed.