More than a year after the eruption of conflict between Hamas and Israel, the escalating war in the Middle East is roiling Australian society and politics.
Demonstrations about the conflict are a routine event, with mobilisations by pro-Palestinian activists especially commonplace on the streets of the major cities. In this impassioned climate, an unfocussed debate has emerged about political protest. Questions have been raised – though far from cogently answered – about what ought to be the acceptable limits of political expression and dissent in this country.
In this context, writers have contended that it is the Liberal Party that has traditionally upheld the right to freedom of political speech and the expression of dissenting views in Australia. Working from that premise, some of these writers have further suggested that Peter Dutton’s intimidatory remarks about pro-Palestinian demonstrators constitutes a significant departure from the party’s conventional habit of mind. Dutton has urged, for example, that flag waving activists be “subject to the full force of the law”, demanded amendments to Commonwealth law to empower the Australian Federal Police to arrest transgressors and made threatening noises about deporting them.
