Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Science and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I seek leave to make a short statement and to seek your advice.

Leave granted.

This week 130 mostly young people from all over Australia gathered in Canberra for a three-day Voices for Justice event organised by Micah Challenge, a movement of Christians advocating on global poverty and justice issues. For most of them it was the first time that they had been in Parliament House and their first engagement with the political process. The group took part in the Stand Up Against Poverty Guinness world record event on the front lawns of Parliament House on Monday, which saw 93,000 Australians and 20 million people worldwide stand against poverty, the largest number of people ever to stand up for a cause.

About 25 young people from that group then entered the building through the front entrance of Parliament House for appointments with 70 MPs and senators over two days. Mr President, are you aware that the security officers immediately confiscated all their materials, informing them that what they were bringing into the building was ‘protest material’ and therefore prohibited? Mr President, I would like to show you what the protest material was. It hardly passes as prohibited material. Included were the posters, the Make Poverty History response to the aid white paper, manila folders containing maps of Parliament House, contact details of members or senators they were to meet, posters of the UN millennium goals, constituent letters to be personally handed to members of parliament and postcards about an art exhibition in Parliament House that day.

I was one of the 19 federal parliamentarians, including the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Beazley, and members and senators who are here today, to proudly take part in that Stand Up event and to welcome the Micah Challenge group to parliament. I was therefore deeply disturbed to learn of their treatment. When informed that it was not a protest and that they had meetings with 70 MPs, the security official’s response was to inform them that if the MPs wanted the materials they could come down individually and collect them. It took at least half an hour of questioning before the security officer called for a higher level supervisor to meet the group.

Eventually the organisers of the event were able to persuade the supervisor that the event had already been approved by security weeks in advance and that there was no threat in allowing the young people to proceed with the materials. By this time, much inconvenience had been caused as some meetings had had to continue without the materials and others had been delayed. So eventually the young people did get their materials back. I should say that other young people in the Micah Challenge group who had entered the building before the Stand Up event went through without having their material confiscated.

Mr President, who defines what constitutes protest materials? Is it assumed that events that take place on the front lawns automatically constitute a protest? Why were these young people intimidated in this way? How is it determined that some groups can bring material into this building and not others? Mr President, can you please ensure that these young people receive an official apology for what was appalling treatment?