On 4 October 2022, a by-election was held for the inner-Melbourne seat of Brunswick in the Legislative

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On 4 October 2022, a by-election was held for the inner-Melbourne seat of Brunswick in the Legislative Assembly (Victoria). The seat of Brunswick was strongly contested by 7 candidates. At 5pm on 3 October 2022 volunteers arrived at Brunswick North Primary School ('BNPS') to put up signs of their respective candidates on the fences of BNPS (located on Albion Street, Brunswick West). The signs were properly authorised, and came within the voting centre signage limits. The volunteers were granted the necessary permissions to enter BNPS in order to attach the signs to the fence. Ollie Ray (20 years of age), Danni Jalen (18 years of age), James Logan (16 years of age) and Aubrey Jude (18 years of age) are all enthusiastically involved in grassroots activism in Merri-bek. They actively participate in a WhatsApp group chat about local political matters, including discussing the by-election in the seat of Brunswick and their shared disdain for the policies and politics of the Individuals Against Politics Party ('IAPP'), who is running a candidate in the by-election. Their friend Asa Evans (17 years of age), who is also part of their WhatsApp group, lives across the road from BNPS and noticed volunteers attaching signs for the IAPP. She immediately takes a photo and sends it to the WhatsApp group chat. Within 2 minutes Danni, James, Ollie and Aubrey all respond that they are making their way to BNPS to protest and have 'put out the call' to everyone on their respective contacts lists to join their protest movement. Danni, James and Aubrey took the train to Anstey Railway Station. Once they disembarked, but before tapping off their Myki cards, they started chanting 'yes yes we protest, yes yes we detest, IAPP' and blowing their whistles. Numerous other commuters were inspired to join in and soon there were 80 people chanting 'yes, yes we protest, yes yes we detest, IAPP'. Fearing for the safety of commuters during peak hour, two Protectives Services Officers approached Danni, James and Aubrey and gave them an order to move on and to stop chanting and blowing their whistles. Danni, James and Aubrey refused stating 'it is our right to protest, you can't stop us. James then spotted a large sign, mounted just inside the fence of Anstey Railway Station, which listed the policies of the IAPP. James ran over to the sign, took out a can of spray paint from his backpack and proceeded to write 'scum' in capital letters across the sign. Danni and Aubrey take in turns drawing peace signs and daisy flowers on the sign using chalk. The two Protective Services Officers again approach James, Danni and Aubrey but they refuse to leave Anstey Station and Victoria Police are called. James was arrested by Constable Beck Ash and 11 subsequently charged, convicted and sentenced. At the time of the incident, James was on parole. The Youth Parole Board had granted James parole however, as a result of being charged, convicted and sentenced, the Youth Parole Board cancelled James' parole but failed to give proper consideration to the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) in their decisionmaking process. Danni and Aubrey were detained by Victoria Police for 24 hours and subsequently released without charge. During those 24 hours Danni and Aubrey were not told of the reasons for their detention and were held in a room with three people who had all been convicted of criminal offences. Ollie took a bus which dropped her off on Albion Street, directly outside the entrance of BNPS. She was met at the front gates of BNPS by 45 individuals from her WhatsApp contact list. Ollie started chanting 'yes, yes, we protest, yes yes we detest IAPP'. Once Ollie arrived at the fence, where the two IAPP signs had been attached, Ollie cut up the first sign using a Stanley knife and set the second sign on fire shouting 'yes, yes, I protest'. Ollie proceeded to lead the group of 45 people onto Albion Street where they staged a sit in. One of the volunteers ran over and started screaming 'what are you doing? What are you doing? You are sitting in peak hour traffic! Get off the road, get off the road. I'm calling the police'. Ollie told the volunteer 'we are all exercising our rights to engage in a political non-violent protest against the policies of the IAPP, the Charter says we can'. Ollie then grabbed the volunteers mobile phone, threw it on the ground and proceeded to jump on the mobile phone yelling 'freedom, freedom, I protest. Freedom, freedom, I will not rest'. Ollie was arrested by Senior Constable Camden Tanner and was charged, convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment in February 2023. Ollie was concerned about the impact that the conviction and sentence may have on her ability to gain future employment. Ollie decided to appeal the conviction and sentence imposed however was denied legal aid funding in March 2023 to facilitate the appeal. The events detailed above received extensive media coverage. As a result, the elected Member of Parliament for Brunswick, Ali Arden, wants to introduce the Crimes (Political Protests) Bill 2023 (Vic) to Parliament to prevent groups of people protesting directly outside of a primary school. The current draft of the Crimes (Political Protests) Bill 2023 (Vic), which has yet to be tabled in Parliament, states: 12 1. Purpose The main purposes of this Act are - (a) to criminalise the act of protesting outside a public primary school in Victoria. (b) to ensure timely prosecutions. 2. Commencement (1) This Act shall be deemed to have been in force from 1 February 2022. 3. Definitions In this Act - "Public place" has the same meaning as in the Summary Offences Act 1966. 4. Offences relating to protesting (1) It is a criminal offence to protest in a public place. (2) A person charged with a criminal offence under this section will be prosecuted within 72 hours. (3) Under this section, the defendant bears a legal burden of proof, to demonstrate that they were not protesting in a public place.

analyse this story and answer whether any public authorities breached their obligations under the Charter? use IRAC, present cases relevant and references