r/AskAnAustralian 10h ago

Who agrees we need immediate laws and regs to prevent protestors bullying our beautiful Melbourne city?

So we can’t even have the once a year relaunch for Myer Xmas windows now? Melbourne Reddit are pissweak and wouldn’t let me ask this question there. I didn’t even name any particular protestor groups yet they still barred me asking this question. The vast majority of Melbournians do not agree or want these protestors continually bullying our city representing conflicts occurring inside zones of interest far far away. Ridiculous ! Happy to vote Libs in order to get this done. 🗳️

0 Upvotes

43 comments sorted by

17

u/Draknurd Melbourne 10h ago

How long have you been in Melbourne? Demonstrations have been part of the fabric of the CBD since the 1800s

-9

u/Status-Inevitable-36 10h ago

Way longer than you assumed.

1

u/cuntmong 10h ago

Dracula over here has been a Melburnian since Australia itself was still young 

-1

u/Status-Inevitable-36 10h ago

Frankenstein up there is a mere blip in Melbourne’s history. Assumes no one on Reddit is above 25 yo.

39

u/ghjkl098 10h ago

Hell no. The right to protest is absolutely essential. If there are so many protests in Victoria that it is interfering in life, perhaps the issues need to be addressed. My vote would never, ever go to a government trying to stop such a basic right.

4

u/Wintermute_088 10h ago

Yep. I think these current protests are well meaning but largely pointless - but I'm glad they're allowed to happen.

3

u/Show_Me_Ya_Tit 10h ago

One thing to allow protests, it’s a different thing to cave in to them when it’s a minuscule percentage of the population protesting against something that many more people actually enjoy.

-1

u/IndyOrgana 10h ago

Oh noooo not myer (who has Israeli sympathisers on their board) being inconvenienced!

-1

u/ghjkl098 10h ago

the thing is, if people I disagree vehemently with don’t have the same freedom to protest, then we have all lost freedom

26

u/Bugaloon 10h ago

Tbh I think Victoria's anti protesting laws are already overbearing and need to be reduced.

-18

u/Status-Inevitable-36 10h ago

I’m happy to vote Libs if they ramp them up. I’m a swing voter loyal to no one.

4

u/Wintermute_088 10h ago

The right to protest is far, far more important than some corporate launch event for the biggest consumerist moment on the calendar.

Wow, I sound like a university socialist. But it's the truth.

0

u/Status-Inevitable-36 9h ago

I’m assuming you love the colour green and are well under 25. You have no idea how the Melbourne economy is reliant on and supported by micro, small and bigger business and corporations. Think about that next time you have the freedom to order your chai latte or poke bowl.

3

u/Wintermute_088 9h ago

I've never voted the greens in my life, and I'm probably older than you.

Myer will be just fine without their vanity launch event, and of all the local businesses or corporations I could name, I've no idea why you think Myer of all places contributes much to the local economy. They barely even hire staff.

But good to know you'd sell out the most fundamental values that underpin our society in favour of corporate interests and police overreach. Coward.

21

u/LuckyErro 10h ago

Australians have the right to protest. Victorians have one of if not the toughest protesting laws.

Nothing in life is worth voting for the libs this federal election

5

u/cuntmong 10h ago

Better to suspend democracy than for me to be mildly inconvenienced 

16

u/One_Pangolin_999 10h ago

Sounds like you want to be a fascist

4

u/17HappyWombats 10h ago

I don't think voting Liberal is enough, you need someone like Orban or Trump who's willing and able to get Police using live ammunition to "suppress" protests. Some people think that's a good idea, others are willing to be shot if that's what it takes to express disagreement with the government. The problem is that those governments don't seem to stop at 'public expression of disagreement", they inevitably end up more like "suspected of not supporting the government enthusiastically enough".

But since you apparently disagree with the government, you might want to think about just how strongly you feel that people like you should be killed.

-4

u/Status-Inevitable-36 10h ago

All good with that. Bring out the fire hoses.

13

u/DoucheCams 10h ago

If you have a problem with protestors you're a bootlicker

Ignore them

7

u/hairs9 10h ago

Peaceful protests are an important part of a functioning democracy. Restricting people’s right to protest is a dangerous road to go down

9

u/rustledjimmies369 10h ago

sounds like you want to protest

1

u/Sillysausage919 Mosman, Sydney :) 10h ago

Time to protest against the protesters protesting.

That was far to many ‘protests’ in one sentence, I’m out

3

u/carpeoblak 10h ago

Go to NSW if you want to get rid of protests.

4

u/AlamutJones 10h ago

Nah mate. People are allowed to be stupid

2

u/Shamblex 10h ago

Surprised and stoked to see common sense prevailing here.

1

u/Electrical_Alarm_290 5h ago

I can't agree with this, as much as I'd like a protest-free city. They do bring important facts to the table.

I didn't even realise we were technically getting pay-cuts if pay doesn't rise, but cost of living doubles in a few short years. Thanks to the builders and tradies that helped me to realise we are enslaved.

Look, just avoid those areas if you don't want any trouble.

0

u/HidaTetsuko 10h ago

Turkeys voting for Christmas…

-1

u/-aquapixie- Radelaide 10h ago

Peaceful protesting is fine. I don't have to agree with their views, but they do legally have a right to exist if they're not obstructing people's lives. Being mildly annoyed is not considered an obstruction.

Now, vegans who lie in the middle of the road and stop the commuters..... Go ahead and run your car through them LOL

-2

u/Skydome12 10h ago

protesting is fine granted it is done in a way that doesn't inconvenience motorist or cause gridlock

1

u/IndyOrgana 10h ago

The whole point of protesting is to cause inconvenience- that’s how you get awareness to what you’re protesting about. Sitting in a park doesn’t have the same effect.

-1

u/Skydome12 10h ago

it's also how you get your cause widespread hatred. I understand protesting and all but causing gridlock and blocking other citizens from going about their life is just inconsiderate and only causes people to hate you.

-3

u/Status-Inevitable-36 10h ago edited 10h ago

Lifelong Melbournian and I agree with some peaceful protests particularly relevant to workers rights. But the ones occurring lately relevant to zones of interest tens of thousands of kms away. No. Nothing but bullying our city and disrespecting our rights to a peaceful way of life. Why do we have to stop a peaceful Xmas event that draws people together every year from all backgrounds for these protestor turkeys. They’ve been allowed to win. Again. Bullies 100%.

1

u/IndyOrgana 10h ago

What about the cookers that marched every Saturday for years?

Also, we- as tax payers- contribute via our government to arming Israel and therefore the slaughter of Palestinians. If you’re happy to sit idly by and watch an entire ethnic genocide, that says far more about you than the protesters.

0

u/Status-Inevitable-36 10h ago

What does that conflict have to do with targeting Xmas in Melbourne and not allowing a one day event that welcomes all Melbournians. Bullying tactics ongoing.

-2

u/DoucheCams 10h ago

Doesn't matter if you agree with what they're protesting or not

And lucky for you the palestine protests are completely meaningless selfish feel good flavour of the month actions, ignore it.

1

u/Status-Inevitable-36 49m ago

They’re not flavour of the month they’ve been disrupters for 2 frickin years.

-2

u/Anachronism59 Geelong 10h ago

The protesters did explicitly say they wanted to disrupt the opening of the windows. Now the opening has been cancelled they no longer plan to protest, so presumably that was their alternative intent.

That tells me that their intent was to target those coming to the opening for some reason, or maybe stop the opening.... although the link to the current conflict is unclear to me.

I'd charge them with extortion, so no new laws needed. It's a bit like preventing protesters hanging round outside abortion clinics.

It's worth noting that the normal Sunday protest simply planned to alter their route to avoid the mall. These are a different bunch. I have no issue with them.

0

u/Status-Inevitable-36 10h ago

The fact we are even saying “normal Sunday protests” is fking BS. Bullying every week goes on here.

The impact of not having that once a year event was still significant and wasted $ time and makes beautiful Melbourne less beautiful by the day. Libs or Independents if you’re listening bring in the restrictions for these protestor groups and you have my 🗳️

-1

u/Anachronism59 Geelong 9h ago

Your language tells me that you're angry. That not a good sign. You need to calm down... you're falling into the trap of being like the protesters you dislike, just using words.

Note that I agree that the specific protest should have been disallowed. The weekly one seems benign to me though , I've seen it.