Source : the age
Had Western Australia’s so-called “post and boast laws” been in place during the 2017 campaign against the Roe 8 highway extension, Labor’s own federal Fremantle MP Josh Wilson could have faced charges.
The WA government’s admission came during a debate in the upper house this week, as crossbench and Greens MPs peppered Parliamentary Secretary to the Attorney General Dan Caddy with scenarios in which people documenting and uploading protests on social media could be charged.
On Thursday, WA Greens leader Brad Pettitt raised a photo Wilson took of Pettitt’s sister up a tree while trespassing on the Roe 8 construction site in 2017, with the caption: “supporting the tree-dwelling protectors this morning as we try to slow down the damage”.
“Of course, [Wilson] was not breaking the law in 2017 because these frankly horrific laws were not in place then. But if the Honorable Josh Wilson were to do exactly this next year, could he be charged and jailed for two years?” Pettitt asked Caddy.
Caddy conceded Wilson could face charges if the photo documented trespassing and met other elements in the legislation.
“If all the elements were met – I have not seen the photo – my very good friend Josh Wilson could be charged. It does not mean he will be; it means he could be,” Caddy said.
The legislation was introduced to WA parliament last year in response to a growing number of “crimfluencers” on social media posting videos and photographs of crimes to gain followers and notoriety.
The laws aimed to stamp the practice out, but opponents warn it is a risk to protest and democracy, given the inclusion of offences like trespassing and breaching the peace.
A Labor-chaired parliamentary inquiry recommended the Cook government remove trespass, breaching of the peace and unlawful assembly from the post and boast laws – but so far the government has only removed unlawful assembly.
During the exchange on Thursday, Caddy added a caveat that prosecution of the laws would be at the discretion of the director of public prosecutions, and every criminal offence had a degree of prosecutorial discretion.
“A really good way of demonstrating this to everyone in the chamber is that if I walk past you in the street and I hit you on the shoulder because I have known you for some years – ‘Hi, Brad’ – you could seek to charge me with assault. That probably would not go anywhere,” Caddy said.
Pettitt maintained the law was too wide-ranging.
“I suspect the Barnett government would have a very different view of Josh’s post if it had had post and boast [laws],” he said.
Hamish Hastie is WAtoday’s state political reporter and the winner of five WA Media Awards, including the 2023 Beck Prize for best political journalism.Connect via X or email.
