Alt-right attention seeker Lauren Southern had mixed results lobbing hollow bombs of content-free provocation on the streets of Melbourne over the weekend. Asking people whether she should be executed was greeted with indifference or incomprehension. But her talk with fellow alt-right podcaster Stefan Molyneux attracted 100 protesters who clashed with police and were met with pepper spray.
It ended up being a costly stunt for the Canadian. She was reportedly hit with a bill from Victoria Police to compensate them for having to augment her private security detail — keeping her safe from the people she’d gone out of her way to antagonise. Southern has been asked to stump up $67, 000. But will she?
Can the cops do this?
The Victoria Police (Fees and Charges) Regulations gives the police very broad powers the right to charge any organiser of a commercial event for the use of police resources.
Private events are generally responsible for organising their own security. Indeed, it’s alleged by some that Southern has been engaging local neo-Nazis for just that purpose. Crikey understands if Victoria Police believe any given event might lead to violence, they will meet with the event organisers and discuss what policing is needed and what it will cost the organisers.
“Victoria Police has the right to charge any event organiser for the use of police resources,” Senior Sergeant Anthoula Moutis told Crikey. “Victoria Police does not disclose the cost of engaging our services, or the private discussions held as part of the arrangements.”
Has this happened before?
When he visited last year, sparkly bully Milo Yiannopoulos faced a similar situation. Around 300 riot police were called to separate protesters and right-wing supporters outside Yiannopoulos’ event in Melbourne. The Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville said he owes Victoria Police $50,000 to cover those costs.
“They’ll certainly be getting a bill,” Neville said at the time. “There were a lot of resources put in and I’ve had a lot of interesting tweets sent to me saying ‘what a waste of police resources’ but unfortunately in that situation, we’ve got two groups who pretty much set out to cause the harm that they did… try and cause violence and try and get on the TV so police are there to try and protect the general public.”
Neville said it was common practice for organisers of large-scale or controversial events to be billed if large numbers of police resources were required.
The big question then becomes, can the bill be enforced? Yiannopoulos — or more accurately, the tour organisers — just plain refused to pay.
Tour promoter and Penthouse publisher Damien Costas said:
The people that attended, 3000 of our people, we have three hours worth of footage where you actually see them lining up very peacefully. The people causing all the trouble and being violent were people not attending the event. If you want to take it further, sue me and I will call every single one of those 3000 people as witnesses.
Victorian Police would not comment on what further steps were available to them should Southern refuse to pay.
Do you know of other events where police have sent a bill to organisers or what negotiations are involved? Write to boss@crikey.com.au and let us know.
Is my memory faulty or did not NPol, and presumably other states, routinely require prohibitively large bonds from peace march organisers, from Vietnam onwards?
Not to mention environmental protests when it is just simple hard working punters trying to turn rapacity into dollars who are being protected.
It is the standard tactic of authorities, just because they can, that the “process is the punishment”.
That is 3000 paying at least $80-$100 per ticket if not a lot more for special time with the mouthy blonde tart and/or her platform buddy .. so that is a gross of at least $240,000 (-$300,000) … so this disruptive duo of gutter pests can afford to pay for their SECURITY, which is what this is.
But hey, when did (an aspiring member of) the “loathsome elites” pick up the tab for any thing they could get on the taxpayers dollar?
Charlie Lewis, you’re running a very ugly line of anti-democratic propaganda lately.
The very idea of protestors being billed by the police is anathema.
What idiocy are you proposing here? That the police decide who protests? That the government decides?
Your authoritarianism is just the sort of thing we don’t need. Just because you think you support the “right” people makes no difference – at the end of the day it will be the vested interests who exercise the most control over state decisions about who has the right to protest.
Shame on you again, Crikey.
Bob the Builder
Why should taxpayers pick up the bill for something that the organisers are making a motser out of?
And these shallow performers expect to make money too. I’d grab their passports until they paid the bill. Surely Mr PotatoHead can come up with some small print justification, even if nobody else can see it.
If these creeps wanna come here to spread chaos (the bimbo said this) then they should pay the price, not me.
Private security can be upwards of about $50/hour/person. What did this ‘event’ cost?
I don’t know whether other functions pay for protection .. I know that open public meetings/demos do not, but have no idea about concerts and other admission paying events.
Firstly, did these people request the police presence? Would we prefer they relied totally on neo-Nazis?
Even if they did request the police presence, everyone has the right to be protected – even if they’re being provocative. You could easily argue that the counter-demonstrators (who I’d have been proud to be amongst) should pick up the bill, as they’re causing the confrontation – conflict takes two sides.
If they didn’t request the police presence, then there’s an even weaker case for them paying.
As someone who has proudly protested in the past, and will hopefully again in the future, I would be horrified if my actions were subject to payment to the police. Imagine being in a protest against policy brutality – and being charged by the police for their presence?!
Unless you believe in a make-believe apolitical world of expert technocrats deciding how our society functions, you have to admit that there will be protests and some of them will be by people you vehemently disagree with.
Stop pretending like you & your ilk are concerned about democracy. If you were you’d be screaming your head off about all the draconian anti-protest legislation that Malcontent has recently introduced.
Ummmm …. ? I have been. Not sure who “my ilk” are though.
Bob, I’m genuinely curious — what have you concluded I’m proposing with this piece? Where do you detect advocacy for or against anything?
Two high profile figures where hit with bills for collectively over $100, 000 (a bill that would otherwise be footed by the public). It’s in the public interest to look at how the decisions are made regarding these costs. It’s also worth interrogating what happens if someone so charged decides they’d rather not pay, particularly if they live overseas — if a government agency issues a bill for $50,000 and someone can get off scot free without paying, then regardless of whether you think the agency should have that power in the first place, it’s worth knowing, don’t you think?
So again, I’m interested in what you think I’ve advocating for or against.
Although you don’t say it directly, the tenor of the piece is that these right-wing scum (the phrase I would use to describe them, anyway) have caused a provocation and should pay the Police for their services (requested or not).
It has a similar tone to the one about Jim Saleam being able to run for Parliament, despite being a convicted criminal (who’s served his sentence, I might add).
The general vibe is that of the slowly emerging authoritarian cultural left, who wish to ban things they find objectionable. I’d prefer to be out in the streets, or at the least in the public debate, protesting against these fascists, rather than enlisting the support of the state to silence them. This is classic right-wing behaviour – I not only disagree with it on principle, but because it also endangers any radical left movements who are outside of the mainstream. The arguments and tactics used against the racist right, will inevitably (and have been) be used against the left.
What happens when some climate activists shut down a coal-fired power station? Or blockade a port? What happens when a bicycle protest clogs the city? What happens when an anti-war protest shuts down the US embassy? When animal welfare activists shut down an abattoir? When GM protestors burn a symbolic field?
If the original Sydney Mardi Gras had been billed for police time (as they were being bashed by the police) there may not have been another one. If the Franklin Dam protestors had been billed? Unions would not have won the rights which we still, in limited form, benefit from if they had had to compensate for the ‘economic damage’ they caused.
This and more is the logical extension of protestors, of whatever ilk, having to pay a bill to the police for their protests. If the protestors do anything illegal, they can be arrested and charged. If not, the police are there to do their job and they should get on with it, without privatising their activities.
What next? Theft victims billed if they don’t lock their house properly? Accident victims billed if they don’t take due care? Assault victims billed if they walk in dangerous areas at night? The police are paid to do a job, to perform a public service, whatever that might entail and the public accept that the burden falls on all to finance it.
Lastly, why your focus on this aspect of the protests?
If the picture illustrating your story is any guide, the police in their thuggish uniforms were using unnecessary violence, as is very frequently the case at protests.
Most of the other events in all the “Whataboutery” going on are not intended to 1) make a profit and 2) explicitly cause chaos. These two factors IMHO make a a bot of a difference.
I hope that liberal, labor and all political party’s or figures will pay for any police expense incurred at any fund raising gathering / public meeting ??
Victorian (political) police are treading a dangerous line.
Hello Crikey Chaps and Chapesses … Looks like you have fixed the Reply problem .. . Thank You from somebody with longer to live now… Now about the Edit/Delete buttons… Best Me 🙂
Ahhhhh … Good. Emoticons … =-O 🙂 =D>
… now to fix the “awaiting moderation” issue.
Two comments in limbo since before 17:30 today (24/07)