By Nick Fredman
LISMORE — Chanting "Stop these racist laws!", 200 people marched through the streets of Lismore on March 25. They had just heard speakers condemn the federal government's inaction on mandatory sentencing. The protesters were also opposing moves to give NSW police extra powers.
The march and rally was initiated by the Southern Cross University (SCU) Student Representative Council (SRC) and supported by Resistance and the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP).
John Roberts, an elder of the indigenous Bungalung people, welcomed participants to Bungalung traditional land. Mick Martin from SCU's College of Indigenous Australian People, told the rally, "Mandatory sentencing is the contemporary version of the stealing of our children". He pointed to the doubling in the rate of incarceration of indigenous people in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, where mandatory sentencing laws operate.
Martin pointed to the introduction by the NSW Labor government of the Parental Responsibility Act, which imposes curfews on young people, and police "move on" powers, as laws that also disproportionately affect indigenous people.
Maree Andrews from the Northern Rivers Legal Centre discussed the prevalence of racially motivated police harassment in the region.
The need to mount a political challenge to the racist agenda of Coalition and Labor governments was taken up by Corinne Batt-Rawden from the DSP, and Ema Corro from Resistance referred to the 1998 high school walkouts against racism as an example of the type of public action that can push racism back.
SCU SRC political action officer Edda Lampis told the rally that the Parental Responsibility Act, which has to be adopted by local councils in order to be implemented, is a real danger in Lismore. The right-wing local council is determined to push it through despite widespread opposition, particularly from the Bungalung community.
The next steps in the anti-racist campaign in Lismore will be discussed at the Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly Politics in the Pub meeting on March 31, 6pm, at the Winsome Hotel.
Sue Boland in Sydney reports that NT chief minister Denis Burke could not avoid protesters on March 23 when he addressed a meeting of the right-wing think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs.
Although Burke avoided mentioning mandatory sentencing in his speech, activists from Justice Action raised the issue in the meeting and unfurled a giant banner behind Burke which demanded: "Ban mandatory sentencing!". The protesters were quickly bundled outside by the large contingent of plain-clothed and uniformed police and security guards, where a small crowd of supporters was waiting.