Civil liberties advocates say Sydney may have been chosen as the location for an international mining conference to take advantage of the state’s strict anti-protest laws.
Legal observers also say, separately, that law enforcement agencies in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT have been pre-emptively visiting the homes of climate activists in an effort to intimidate protesters ahead of the conference next week.
The International Mining and Resources Conference (Imarc) is being held from 2 November in Sydney and has faced pressure from activists under the banner Blockade Imarc.
Not all the mining companies connected with the event are involved in fossil fuel extraction, but the World Coal Association is a host partner. Speakers include representatives from the Saudi Arabian and Sudanese governments.
The three-day conference includes exhibitions, networking events and presentations on issues involving mining; the opening session is titled Promoting Opportunities, Minimising Disruptions and Building Resilience.
South Australia has a slot alongside Chile for a session showcasing opportunities for exploration and project development. SA mining and energy minister Tom Koutsantonis is scheduled to speak.
A notice on the conference website warned attendees of potential disruptions and advised them not to wear a name badge outside the conference or engage with protesters.
Melbourne Activist Legal Support (Mals), which supports activists and runs observer teams at protests in Victoria, issued a statement on Friday alleging police had been engaged in “pre-emptive attempts to silence public participation in protests”.
Anthony Kelly, a Mals organiser, said there had been more than 15 visits over the past week in a coordinated effort that “goes far beyond” normal policing, which “respects the basic civil and political rights we expect in Australia”.
“It looks and feels like political policing,” Kelly said. “[Victorian police are] seemingly targeting people on the person-of-interest list that NSW police have. It’s opaque, we don’t know the criteria for being on that list.
“Some have been visited twice. Some have been encouraged to come to the station. Not everyone has a history with police.”
Brad Homewood, 49, from Williamstown, Victoria was among the climate activists in the state to receive a visit from police.
He is currently on bail and barred from NSW for having participated in a previous protest with Blockade Australia in June, but he is not involved with any upcoming protest in Sydney and has no intention of travelling to the state.
“It was a little bit shocking but not surprising,” he said. “North Korea. Russia. Iran. It’s the sort of thing you expect in these repressive regimes. It’s not the thing you expect in a free country.”
Homewood recorded his conversation with police on video. During the interaction, officers ask him a pre-prepared set of questions about the protest before offering him a Form 1 – a legal document required to obtain permission to carry out a protest in NSW. It has no legal effect within Victoria.
In a second video from NSW sent to Guardian Australia, two officers read a similar set of questions from a script asking for information about Blockade Australia.
The activist in that case said he had no prior history with police but had supplied his contact details when he filled out a Form 1 and acted as a liaison with law enforcement at past protests. He believed his contact information had been obtained from the Form 1 in what he described as an “abuse”.
A spokesperson for NSW police said the agency “does not comment on the activities of other law enforcement agencies” and “does not comment on any ongoing operations, to ensure the integrity of those operations and the safety of the officers involved”.
Victoria police were contacted but said as NSW police were the lead agency “we do not comment on operations where we are not the lead agency”.
Josh Pallas, the president of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, questioned whether Imarc organisers had been “jurisdiction shopping” by moving the conference to Sydney to take advantage of the state’s strict anti-protest laws.
Imarc has been held in Melbourne for the last eight years but was cancelled in January over Covid concerns.
A month later a new date was set for October but this was changed a third time in June, when the entire conference shifted from Melbourne to Sydney for the first time and was re-scheduled to begin on 2 November.
NSW passed strict anti-protest laws on 30 March 2022, which came into effect from 1 April. The first arrests under the laws took place five days later.
“If true, it would be concerning because New South Wales appears to have sent a signal to business interests that it is a place where you can hold these events more freely from protest,” Pallas said.
“And that dissent or grievances or disagreements may be potentially easier to quash here in New South Wales.”
Imarc was contacted for comment.
