This article examines the strategies used by a democratic state to suppress dissent by criminalizing social protest activities. We compile and tabulate new legislation in Australia affecting protest rights from 2010 to 2020. Using data collected from the Facebook pages of 728 environmental groups and climate-related arrests reported in media articles, we then examine connections between climate change protest and protest criminalization in Australia between 2010 and 2019. Australian governments are shown to have criminalized climate protest via large-scale arrests by introducing laws curtailing protest freedoms and expanding police and corporate discretionary power in the application of those laws. State, corporate, and media actors are shown to engage in the rhetorical criminalization of climate protest, portraying protesters as threats to economic and political interests and to national security. However, the ongoing growth of climate change activism indicates that these criminalization strategies seeking to prevent climate protest may have been largely ineffective.
Robyn Gulliver is a Research Fellow at Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, and the School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland. She researches the antecedents and consequences of environmental collective action. She uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine how climate change groups communicate with bystanders, supporters, and third parties; how they mobilize supporters; how they build and sustain networks; and what their campaigns achieve. Email: r.gulliver@uq.edu.au
Robin Banks is a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Law at the University of Tasmania. She has practiced as a lawyer, particularly focusing on public interest matters and the impact of the absence of human rights protections in Australia on civil society and democratic processes. Her PhD research is focused on discrimination law and the potential for reforms based on evidence relating to prejudice, stigma, and discrimination in social psychology. Email: robin.banks@utas.edu.au
Kelly S. Fielding is a Professor at the University of Queensland. She is a Social and Environmental Psychologist whose research focuses on understanding environmental attitudes and behavior and on using this understanding to develop effective environmental communication and behavior change programs. Her research ranges across environmental issues, from sustainable urban water management, to climate change communication, to biodiversity and conservation. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to her research working with academics from a range of disciplines. She also works closely with industry partners including local and state government agencies and is a member of government and nongovernment scientific advisory committees. Email: k.fielding@uq.edu.au
Winnifred R. Louis, who earned her PhD from McGill University in Montreal in 2001, is a Professor in Psychology at the University of Queensland and a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. She has published more than 140 journal articles and book chapters and attracted over $1,000,000 in research funding. Her research interests focus on the influence of identity and norms on social decision-making. She has studied this broad topic in contexts including political activism, peace psychology, health, and the environment. Email: w.louis@psy.uq.edu.au