Brisbane City Council is still fighting a discrimination complaint from a climate activist more than two years after banning climate action group Extinction Rebellion from booking public library meeting rooms.
In October 2019, as Extinction Rebellion protests blocked Brisbane streets for weeks on end, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner banned the climate activists from using council's library meeting rooms.
The ban followed concerns from the council that Extinction Rebellion was frequently booking the rooms, which the Lord Mayor said were not suitable spaces for organisations "that advocate or incite illegal activities".
Extinction Rebellion member Miree Le Roy, who is part of a seniors sub-group of the climate activism organisation, lodged an appeal with the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, complaining she had been discriminated against for her political beliefs.
Ms Le Roy and other members of the sub-group, "Grey Power", successfully booked a library meeting room immediately after the ban to protest the council's crackdown, arguing the action was discriminatory.
Ms Le Roy later amended her complaint, requesting QCAT consider it a representative complaint for all Queensland-based Extinction Rebellion members who were allegedly discriminated against by the council's ban.
A QCAT member agreed to consider her complaint representative of all Extinction Rebellion members involved, a ruling that is now being appealed by Brisbane City Council.
Ms Le Roy told ABC Radio Brisbane all she and Extinction Rebellion members wanted was access to public library facilities again, and for council to stop "censorship and … infringement on people's rights".
"At a time when people from the Northern Rivers are experiencing their second major flood event in the space of one month it is obscene that public officials are trying to stop public education and discussion on this existential crisis," she said.
A spokesperson for Mr Schrinner said Extinction Rebellion's "ridiculous antics" had "impacted thousands of Brisbane residents".
As of February, the council had spent $25,888 on legal fees in the Queensland Human Rights Commission and the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal on the case.
