MEDIA STATEMENT Monday 20 October 2025
The events in Melbourne on Sunday were not protests in any democratic sense; they marked a continuation of the collapse of civic responsibility and public decency.
A democracy cannot function when anger replaces argument and violence replaces persuasion. Police officers were injured, the city was vandalised, and the line between dissent and disorder was trampled underfoot. Australia’s right to protest is not a licence for anarchy. It exists to strengthen democracy, not to destroy it.
As Victorian Police Acting Commander Wayne Cheeseman said last night, “It appalls me, really. This could kill someone. That’s the bottom line.” When police are struck with rocks, bottles and burning debris, when officers are hospitalised for doing their duty, no one can claim this is peaceful expression. Cheeseman’s words capture a truth many Australians feel; the right to protest does not absolve the duty to maintain common decency. We are better than this.
We are witnessing a dangerous coarsening of public discourse. Protests that once sought justice now too often descend into rage, division and violence. Over recent months, this anger has found a particularly poisonous outlet in the rise of antisemitic hate on our streets and online. Synagogues vandalised and burned, Jewish-owned businesses targeted and Australian families living in fear. These are not the hallmarks of a free and fair democratic society. They are a warning of how quickly legitimate expression can be hijacked by intolerance and hate.
The vast majority of Australians understand that you can stand for something without tearing others down or putting lives at risk. The NSW Supreme Court’s decision last week reaffirmed that principle, and it must be respected. But freedom of expression is not freedom to assault, destroy or intimidate. When people turn up to rallies and demonstrations intending to fight police and hurl projectiles, they are not exercising their hard-won democratic rights; they are violating them.
Our nation’s police are stretched thin. Every officer pulled off frontline duties to protect the community during riots is one less serving our families and businesses. The damage done by this kind of violence runs deeper than broken glass. It undermines public safety and corrodes what should be the mutual respect that binds a free society together.
It is time for leadership, from all levels of government, to make this clear. Freedom of expression remains one of our most valued rights, but it must never be twisted into a licence for hate or harm. We can protect both liberty and law and order. Indeed, it is difficult to have one without the other in a functioning democracy. But Australians want their political leaders
to draw this red line and to hold it.
If Australia wants to remain a free society, Australians must first choose to be responsible, decent individuals and we must call out any behaviour that transcends this red line.
Only a Coalition Government will back our police, strengthen our laws, and restore safety and security for the Australian community.
ENDS
Media Contact: Brendan West – 0402 556 646 – Brendan.west@aph.gov.au
