Thursday, 13 August 2026

 Tim READ (Brunswick) (09:49): I wish to raise a concerning pattern of police raids on the homes of peaceful protesters earlier this year. In March and April the homes of 12 women were raided at dawn by groups of around a dozen black-clad police using battering rams and dogs. Children in the homes were terrified. Women were handcuffed for long periods, drawers were upended and clothing and possessions were scattered throughout their homes. Public order response and counterterror police were involved. Phones and laptops were confiscated. The women were mainly charged with graffiti and littering. Eight of those women had protested at the Zelda D’Aprano statue outside Trades Hall, putting an apron with a slogan on Zelda and chalking slogans on the footpath. Four had performed political theatre at the US consulate, which did involve spilling some fake blood on the tiles. They were protesting the US bombing of a girls school in Iran.

These police raids are so out of proportion to any threat posed by people performing political theatre, committing nuisance-level offences at worst, that they constitute extrajudicial punishment of citizens the police do not like. Who is making these decisions? The Minister for Police and the Attorney-General should explain to Parliament why these actions are being mischaracterised as terrorism, what happened exactly and what steps they are taking to ensure that we are not living in a police state.