BILL THE REBELLIONS
Member for Western Victoria Region, Bev McArthur used an adjournment debate in parliament this week to raise concern over the cost to the taxpayer for police resources attending Extinction Rebellions in Melbourne and Geelong.
Last week’s rebellions in the Melbourne CBD reportedly cost the taxpayer $3 million in police officer time while also diverting resources from attending to crucial road safety issues, domestic violence cases, youth gang and drug activity and other more pressing criminal activities, a conservative figure, given that the total cost to the economy would have been much higher, with the obvious disruption to business, travel and the lives of hard working taxpayers.
In 2017, the Andrews Government charged Milo Yiannopoulos with a $50,000 bill for the cost of extra police resources used to attend the violent far-left protesters that turned up to stifle his free speech.
In 2018, the Andrews Government charged Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux with a $68,000 bill for the police presence necessary to fend off the same violent far-left totalitarian protesters.
Bev McArthur said “The Minister and this Government should remain consistent. Either, charge Extinction Rebellion organisers the millions of taxpayer dollars for the disruption to business and traffic with a bill to cover the police presence, or concede that the bills charged to Yiannopoulos, Southern and Molyneux, were intentional attempts to suppress free speech exercised by those with whom they ideologically disagree.”
“If the charge rule only applies to movements with allegedly extremist views, then Extinction Rebellion cannot be exempt. One of the movement’s founders, Gail Bradbrook, started the movement after taking copious amount of hallucinogenic drugs in Costa Rica where she heard voices and now calls for mass ingestion of psychedelic chemicals. Another of its founding 15, Stuart Basden has said that “Extinction Rebellion isn’t about the climate,” but rather about toppling “European civilisation” and what he calls “neo-colonialism”, essentially referring to the modern capitalist system.”
“This movement is undoubtedly radical and rebellious, perhaps even far more so than the libertarian and conservative voices that the Andrews Government attempted to stifle by charging them with bills for police resources.”
“The Minister should charge Extinction Rebellion organisers with the total cost of police resources used to manage the protestors in Melbourne and Geelong, or withdraw the bills charged to right-wing speakers in the past,” she concluded.
18 October 2019