16 March, 2016
Majority of voters oppose Premier Baird’s anti-protest laws
Polling commissioned by the NSW Nature Conservation Council shows only 23% of people support the Baird government’s tougher anti-protest laws, which passed the upper house of the NSW Parliament last night.
The poll (attached), which was conducted by Reachtel on Monday, March 14, has found 61.4% of people opposed increasing police powers and fines for protest action, while only 19.4 % support the measures. 19.2% were undecided.
The polling also showed the overwhelming majority of people opposed reducing fines for mining companies (81.6%), another contentious element of Premier Baird’s package of pro-mining, anti-activist changes.
Perhaps surprisingly, Coalition voters (80.6%) were slightly more likely than Labor voters (79.3%) to oppose these changes.
Nature Conservation Council CEO Kate Smolski: “The overwhelming majority of people oppose these anti-democratic measures because they place unnecessary new limits on our political freedoms,” she said.
“Mr Baird’s decision to push these laws through parliament without community consultation reinforces the perception that he is doing the bidding of coal and gas companies rather than responding to genuine community concerns.
“Not even Coalition voters support these anti-democratic reforms because they recognise that they will further limit people’s ability to protect the environment and to express their opposition to damaging development.
“When governments fail to protect our natural heritage, people have little choice but to resort to peaceful civil disobedience to make the wider public aware of injustices.
“We would have lost many our most cherished natural areas to mining and logging if Mr Baird's anti-protest laws were in place during key environmental battles in NSW’s history, including the campaigns that saved the World Heritage-listed rainforests of northern NSW and the stunning Myall Lakes.”
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