AU ACT: Calls for Tightened Security After Second Day of Protests Ends Peacefully December 01

AU ACT: Calls for Tightened Security After Second Day of Protests Ends Peacefully December 01

CONSTRUCTION is about to begin on a controversial 2.5 metre steel security fence outside Canberra’s Parliament House.

Six months after senators signed off on the fence, crews finally erected temporary metal fences around the front lawn ramps of Parliament House today so construction could begin.

The new fences, part of a $126.7 million security upgrade, will be built three-quarters of the way up the lawns.

Senators signed off on the measures in December on the same day two activists abseiled from the Parliament House roof to unfurl a banner protesting the detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru.

The two protesters will face court later this month over the stunt, along with seven other activists from the Whistleblowers, Activists and Citizens Alliance allegedly responsible for shutting down Question Time the day before by shouting slogans and gluing their hands to the railings.

Senate President Stephen Parry said last month the public would still be able to access the roof through the internal lifts.

A hedge will also be planted to hide the fence.

“Despite recent comment, the public has not been able to walk up the grass ramps and right over the top of Parliament House for some 11 years, since the existing fences were erected on security grounds in 2005,” Senator Parry told a senate estimates hearing in May.

Senator Parry also confirmed there would be no changes to current rules allowing for protest action in the authorised assembly area in front of the building.

After news of the fence’s imminent construction broke in December Canberrans organised a mass gathering to roll down the lawns of Parliament.

Hundreds turned up on the day.