Western Australian Labor’s proposed amendment to the Criminal Code, dubbed the “post and boast bill”, could easily be used against grassroots groups, such as Palestine solidarity groups which are seeking to force Labor to act against genocide.
Labor claims its bill will counter the supposed glorification on social media of illegal or dangerous acts, such as dangerous driving or property damage.
The bill’s broad wording criminalises the sharing of common and effective non-violent protest tactics on social media. This would mean that Disrupt Burrup Hub’s campaign, which has been integral to the ongoing fight to stop the largest fossil fuel project in the southern hemisphere, could be criminalised.
Grassroots groups believe if the bill becomes law it will criminalise political expression.
“It’s a disgrace for our democracy and massively damages our institutions, and it will be abused to scare, punish and imprison those who try to challenge the government or the status quo in Western Australia,” said William Bake, delegate for the WA branch of the Renters and Housing Union.
The bill makes it illegal to share content that depicts activities such as: Trespass; property damage; disorderly public behavior; road traffic offences; and racial harassment.
Bake said “the many videos online exposing the empty building crisis across the country will be essentially impossible to make and film”. He said the bill “takes away our ability to expose, document and show to the public the level and severity of abandonment and empty homes in Western Australia”.
Videos showing and documenting squatting would also be illegal under these provisions, he said. “Shall videos of tenants organising in WA also be illegal?”
The maximum penalty could be up to three years in prison, and the bill would be retroactive, meaning that sharing content before it became illegal would not exempt a person from being charged.
Further, the bill will cover people who post content depicting events taking place interstate, and across the world. This means that someone sharing posts in solidarity could fall afoul of the new bill if the content would have broken WA’s law.
“The timing is conspicuous,” said Janet Parker, of Jews for Palestine WA. “In the context of a genocide in Gaza, the climate crisis and a worsening divide between the haves and the have nots, this is an attempt by the Labor repress our right to dissent,” she told Green Left.
If passed, this bill will weaken solidarity with global justice issues such as the war on Gaza. Video footage from overseas and interstate have inspired activists here. Restricting this would be a huge blow to freedom of expression, and dissent, and therefore education in political literacy.
It has been referred to a Legislative Council committee following a challenge from the Greens, Nationals and Liberal crossbench (for different reasons). The report is expected in three months, after which it will be debated.
The WA bill comes as Victoria debates a similar anti-protest bill.