Statement of concern - excessive police presence, surveillance & display of the Australian flag at Invasion Day 2025

On 26 January 2025, Action Ready fielded a team of 9 Legal Observers to monitor policing at the Invasion Day rally and march (the Rally), which took place between the so-called Queens Gardens and Musgrave Park. We are appalled at one police officer’s inflammatory decision to display an Australian flag on the back of his motorbike when policing the Rally. We call on the Queensland Police Service to dismiss the officer responsible and take steps to ensure that any police officers attending rallies in future treat the community organising the rally and their cause with respect and dignity.

Photo 1: taken by a Legal Observer on 26 January 2025 on William St, at the front of the march as people filtered out of Queens Gardens. The officer’s motorbike has the registration 414 VL.

The officer and his motorbike were initially present at the front of the Rally as people left Queens Gardens (Photo 1 above), but ultimately moved towards the back of the Rally where he continued to display the flag (Photo 2 below).

There is no doubt that a police officer attending an Invasion Day rally would understand that displaying the Australian flag is an inflammatory act. The rally is a longstanding tradition calling out the violence of celebrating a day that represents the dispossession and brutalisation of a people. Every year discourse centres around the flag - this year, in the lead up to 26 January, Peter Dutton made remarks calling for people to celebrate Australia Day “under one flag”. Crikey reports that between 1 January 2025 and 27 January 2025, there were 17 front page stories in major newspapers about the “controversy” surrounding the 26 January.

In January 2024, Ellen van Neerven wrote for IndigenousX: “The experiences of First Nations people and people of colour are heightened on [26 January] through what Palestinian professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian calls ‘occupation of the senses’. Slogans, chants, posters, flags, sausage sizzle and other auditory, visual and olfactory stimuli feel like oppressive reminders of the racism and ongoing colonisation in this continent. These reminders carry a weight.”

Photo 2: taken near QPAC by a Legal Observer on 26 January 2025, at the back of the march.

The decision to obtain and display an Australian flag on the back of a police-issued motorbike was a premeditated and deliberate display of disrespect toward the community who had gathered to attend the Rally. Moreover, this police officer plainly felt confident that there would be no genuine repercussions. This is no surprise, given the sense of impunity that has been nurtured within the Queensland Police Service when it comes to attitudes and acts of racism.

Indeed, many of the speakers on the day spoke about their experiences of racism perpetrated by members of the Queensland Police Service and the Rally included a sit-down demonstration outside of the South Bank Police Beat. Actions like these reinforce negative feelings between the community attending the Rally and the Queensland Police Service, and are indicative of the Queensland Police Service’s complete lack of interest in the safety and wellbeing of First Nations peoples.

OVERPOLICING

Action Ready also raises concerns about the significant number of police officers in attendance at the Rally - a blatant example of ‘overpolicing’ designed to intimidate those attending the Rally. Each year, the Invasion Day rally and march attracts large numbers of people, including families, children and elderly people, and are consistently well-organised and peaceful. Legal Observers noted larger numbers of police than in previous years, far more than needed for mere traffic control.

Photograph taken by a Legal Observer outside Musgrave Park as the march concluded and people moved into the park.

The officers tended to gather in large groups facing the Rally attendees, blocking roads which the Rally was to continue along and using intimidating body language (including crossed arms and power stances), which contributed to a sense of intimidation and anxiety for attendees. Large numbers of police also risk deterring people from exercising their rights to peacefully assemble, and feeds into anti-protest sentiment and narratives by falsely portraying that a heavy police presence was necessary for the Rally.

Photograph taken by a Legal Observer on 26 January 2025 outside the South Bank police headquarters.

SURVEILLANCE AND INTELLIGENCE GATHERING

Photograph taken by a Legal Observer on 26 January 2025 at Cultural Centre busway prior to the rally commencing, as people were arriving. The LO observed police holding a printed booklet displaying peoples’ faces.

Action Ready is also concerned about targeted surveillance activities carried out at the Rally. Legal Observers at the Cultural Centre busway, stationed there as people were arriving and walking over to the Rally, noted two officers carrying printed sheets of paper with a large number of peoples’ faces. They appeared to be monitoring the crowds to locate various people and at 9:40am they walked across Victoria Bridge toward Queens Gardens with the print outs. This is suggestive of intelligence gathering in relation to protest attendees and is deeply concerning. We have written on this inappropriate surveillance at protests previously: https://www.actionreadyqld.com/statements.