The seemingly never-ending standoff centred on the need to protect the privacy of women attending an Albury abortion clinic has taken yet another twist.
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Pro-life protesters have insisted for years that they do so peacefully, while those on the other side of the debate say the protesting invariably leads to great distress for the Englehardt Street clinic’s clients.
Public meetings to find some way to end the weekly Thursday protest, on the opposite of the street to the clinic, have been strongly supported in more recent times.
That would seem to support the general community view; that whatever the protesters say, they have a questionable moral right to do so given the upset this creates.
We live in a democratic society and integral to that is the right to protest.
Certainly no one wants a return to anything resembling the Bjelke-Petersen years in Queensland when peaceful protests were shut down with brute police force.
It is blindingly obvious though that those protesting are not about to budge from their stance. Common decency does not get a guernsey.
Regardless of how much a reasoned argument is put before them, they won’t budge.
That is why, almost regrettably, another path has to be found to sort out the mess, which means seeking a legal solution.
It was only a few years ago that the possibility of an exclusion zone, as has been utilised in the past at an East Melbourne clinic, was raised as a way out though it went nowhere.
But as a result of an approach made by Albury Council late last year, it has come to light – via two senior Sydney lawyers – that an exclusion zone around the clinic remained a possibility.
As would have probably been expected though, enforcement could be an issue and the lawyers have stated they believe the council would really need to leave the matter in the government’s hands to create safe exclusion zones.
Deputy mayor Amanda Cohn reckons the council should show leadership, but – as her colleague Darren Cameron rightly points out – that amounts to nothing if it simply does not have the power to make change.
It does though have the ability to lobby, individually and through organisations such as Local Government NSW, to achieve legislative change. Until that happens, the unpalatable situation faced by those using the Albury clinic will continue.