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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Business
Royce Kurmelovs

Strict anti-protest laws may have encouraged mining conference to move from Melbourne to Sydney

Environmental protesters clash with police outside the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre where the 2019 Imarc conference was to be held.
Environmental protesters clash with police outside the 2019 Imarc conference in Melbourne. The conference has been moved to Sydney after eight years in Victoria. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

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.

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