NSW government refuses to grant Covid exemption for Invasion Day rally
The NSW government has rejected a request from Sydney’s Invasion Day rally organisers for an exemption from Covid-19 gathering limits, as authorities warned people against attending.
More than 3,000 people have indicated they will go to the Invasion Day rally in the Domain/Djarrbarrgalli, according to the event Facebook page.
On Monday, organisers called on the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, to grant an exemption to the public health orders, which currently cap protests at 500 in the greater Sydney area.
There have been eight straight days without community transmission in NSW, but Berejiklian has insisted rules will not be lifted until after 26 January, to prevent super-spreader events. On Monday, she urged people not to go to the protest.
The premier indicated five days ago that if community transmission remained low, Sydney would return to pre-Avalon Covid-19 conditions, which would include allowing up to 3,000 people to attend a public demonstration.
However, the office of NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, confirmed to Guardian Australia that the exemption application had been denied.
The NSW police minister, David Elliott, warned that anybody attending the rally would risk being fined and imprisoned.
“I can’t believe any organisation, let alone one that pretends to advocate for Indigenous rights, would say ‘let’s put aside the risk of Covid-19, let’s breach public health orders, let’s get together despite the pleas of the community asking them not to get together’,” he said.
Sydney rally organiser Lizzy Jarrett was undeterred.
“Being threatened with fines and imprisonment is a daily occurrence for Aboriginals in Australia,” she said.
Karly Warner, CEO of Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT, pointed to the fact that the third cricket Test match was able to go ahead in a Covid-safe way with 10,000 people in attendance.
The exemption application had included a Covid-safe plan including mandating QR codes, masks, social distancing and hand sanitisation.
“It would be a political crime to refuse the exemption and send in police to violently break up the Invasion Day rally, only to see these same restrictions lifted within 24 hours,” said Greens NSW MP David Shoebridge.
“What is the difference between a gathering at the cricket, Westfield, and this rally? It’s led by First Nations people. If you can’t see the racism in that, you’re not looking.”
The Victorian Invasion Day rally was also set to go ahead, with 3,500 participants saying on Facebook they planned to attend.
“There is nothing to celebrate on Australia Day,” rally organisers Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance said in a statement on Monday.
“Aboriginal communities continue to be oppressed, policed, discriminated against and disenfranchised.
“Australian nationalism – a project reinforced by the Howard years yet continued by governments since – is nothing more than white supremacy, ignorance and racism.”
In line with the state’s public health rules that limit public gatherings to 100 people, participants have been told to gather in groups of no more than 100 and to remain at least 10 metres apart from other groups.
The Victorian minister, Melissa Horne, said she understood 26 January was a difficult day for First Nations people and implored protesters to safely demonstrate.
“There will be increased police presence out there on the streets, but don’t blow the freedoms that we’ve got right here and now,” she told reporters on Monday.
The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service has provided advice for anyone confronted by police attending Invasion Day protests in Victoria tomorrow.
In a statement, VALS said exercising the right to protest on Invasion Day was a “reasonable action in response to the systemic racism and injustices Aboriginal people have been subjected to every day since this land’s violent colonisation”.
It continued, “Victoria police must not misuse Covid-19 health measures to impede the right to protest. Health experts have stated that the risk of community transmission of Covid-19 is currently low, but that people attending a protest should take precautions.”
VALS said anyone who is fined or arrested at the protest should call them on 1800 064 865, and urged people to save the number for a legal service in their phone before attending the virus.