Victorian ministers urge climate activists to cancel protest on high fire danger day
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Version 0 of 1. Emergency services minister says it’s ‘reckless and selfish’ to rally when police are busy in bushfire-affected communities Two senior Victorian ministers have endorsed a police call for climate activists to abandon a planned protest on the state’s next high fire danger day. The demonstration has been set down for Friday night in Melbourne’s CBD in response to the bushfires, which have blackened more than 1.2m hectares of Victoria. Authorities on Wednesday urged Uni Students for Climate Justice organisers to call off the action, change the date or at least confine it to one spot. The emergency services minister, Lisa Neville, said she was stunned to hear the protests were going ahead when fire conditions were expected to worsen and urged organisers to reconsider. “This is a really reckless and selfish thing people are doing,” she said. “I don’t want to see police having to pull people out of [fire-affected] communities to come in and manage a protest. “There is a time for protests. It’s not this Friday.” The environment minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said the last thing emergency services needed was people “deviated or distracted” by a well-meaning but poorly-timed protest. “People are entitled to protest, absolutely, but the timing is wrong,” she told reporters while at the airport to greet North American firefighters coming to help. “People are recovering, trying to recover, at the same time they’re preparing for another spike event.” The acting assistant police commissioner, Tim Hansen, also said Friday was not a good time. “This is a distraction for us. We see frontline staff returning from the fire ground ... fatigued that do need a break and this is now another operation we need to resource,” he told reporters. “We are frustrated by this protest timing and we are also frustrated by the lack of flexibility by the protest organisers to work with us in trying to find a more suitable time. “These are unprecedented times for emergency services.” The protest is expected to draw thousands of people who believe the fires are the result of decades of climate change. The protest organiser Anneke Demanuele has been contacted for comment. |