CONTAINER Transport Alliance Australia is calling for a protest permit system in Victoria after trucks and port infrastructure were targeted in a pro-Palestine protest at the port of Melbourne.
The pro-Palestine protest took place on Friday (22 November) with protesters gathering at the major intersection at Kooringa Way and Webb Dock Drive.
A statement from Victorian shadow minister for ports and freight Roma Britnell suggests the protesters smashed traffic lights, graffitied shipping containers and set rubbish alight.
They are also said to have slashed the tyres of trucks and cut their airlines – a tactic CTAA director Neil Chambers describes as “a very worrying trend”.
Mr Chambers said this leads to deflated tyres and immovable combinations, and that cutting the air pressure also impacts braking systems.
“Innocent truck drivers and transport operators, just trying to go about their lawful right to earn a living and keep Victoria’s vital supply chains open, are being targeted,” he said.
“The international container terminals in the Port of Melbourne, like all port facilities across Australia, are critical infrastructure.
“Yet, container transport operators and drivers in Victoria are feeling increasingly vulnerable to attack, criminal damage and delayed operations costing thousands of dollars in insurance claims and lost productivity.”
Mr Chambers said CTAA has “joined the chorus” led by the likes of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Victorian opposition, seeking the implementation of a protest permit system in Victoria.
Under a permit system – like that used in NSW (where 170 people were arrested for a protest at the port of Newcastle) – police may authorise a protest that a person or group has applied for.
Victoria does not have a permit system; people “don’t need permission … to conduct a demonstration, rally or protest”, according to local government authority City of Melbourne. However, state laws enable police to make arrests and move people on.
Shadow minister Britnell said the protesters in this latest incident need to be held to account.
“After the Port of Melbourne was shut down during violent protests in January, we are unsure as to whether any charges laid on individuals have stuck,” she said.
“This is a concerning new trend, where protesters who claim to be peaceful instead show the intent to cause deliberate harm to property. This time by cutting the brakes of heavy vehicles – placing the lives of the drivers and other road users at risk.
“The Port of Melbourne is critical infrastructure, and these ongoing disruptions are not only impacting livelihoods and the economy, but also the movement of crucial goods in and out of our state.”
The damage for replacing one truck’s tyres alone is estimated to be $30,000, on top of the cost of towing trucks away and the productivity losses due to the disruption, the shadow minister’s statement said.
Meanwhile, Victoria Police has issued a public appeal over the Land Forces Expo protest in September this year, where trucks were vandalised and immobilised during a wider protests around the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Detectives on Sunday (24 November) released images of people they believe can assist with inquiries into incidents such as an affray on Seafarers Bridge and the discharge of multiple missiles.
One-hundred-and-ten people have now been arrested over the Land Forces Expo protest.
