Experts unpack the anti-lockdown COVID-19 protests that hit Australia’s capital cities last weekend

Academics say a lack of bipartisan leadership has contributed to anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination sentiment, urging politicians to present a united front and treat protesters with empathy to curb their dissatisfaction.

Images of thousands of so called “freedom” protesters marching through city streets last weekend left many Australians shocked and worried about the potential spread of COVID-19.

While crowd numbers are difficult to estimate, some put the Sydney crowd who broke lockdown rules at up to 15,000 and thousands also turned out in Melbourne.

Queensland police estimated the crowd in Brisbane was about 7,500.

There have been similar scenes in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Protesters waved placards with messages including: “Stand up take your freedom back”, “COVID is an illusion” and “No vax passports”.

There were other grievances on display too, such as claims about 5G, complaints about the media and signs referencing the discredited conspiracy theories of far-right group QAnon.

The anger was palpable in some places with small numbers of protesters scuffling with police and verbally abusing the media.

NSW Police arrested 63 people for breaching public health orders, 35 have been charged with various offences, including assaulting a police officer in execution of duty.

Two men aged 33 and 36 were charged with animal cruelty for allegedly striking police horses during the protest.

In Melbourne six people were arrested and dozens of fines were issued.

Queensland police are making enquiries.

In Brisbane a young mother with a baby strapped to her chest said she was “standing up for her children’s future”.

A Sydney construction worker told of financial hardship, “we’re hurting … $600 a week does not cut the mustard,” he said.

How to persuade people

University of Queensland political psychology academic Dr Frank Mols said while the protests appeared large, it was vital to keep the number of participants in context.

“The biggest risk here is what’s called pluralistic ignorance,” he said.

“That’s the majority who are doing the right thing, who are complying, suddenly believing that a large proportion of the population isn’t complying,” he said.

Dr Mols said leaders should present a bipartisan front, so that individuals do not filter health messages and information through a political lens.

“There might be a naïve idea that the more evidence, the bigger the tables and the graphs and the numbers, the more compelling it will be and that’s typically not the case, we know that from research,” he said.

“To create a sense of shared interest and shared identity and that might actually give you an opportunity to influence them with that evidence that you have.”

Is it a sign public trust has broken down?

PHD candidate and University of Queensland Global Change scholar Bernadette Hyland-Wood does research on crisis communications.

She also said policymakers should avoid “lumping people together in one group”.

“Addressing those inconsistencies is very important, because if people feel they’re not being heard by politicians and their day-to-day realities are not contemplated in how the policies are set, that’s going to lead to lack of public trust,” she said.

She said Australia’s slow vaccine rollout has added to “a dissolution in public trust”.

“Eighteen months ago, when we felt we were all in it together there was a sense of urgency,” Ms Hyland-Wood said.

“This period in between availability of the vaccine — and where we are today — has allowed doubt and thoughts and misinformation to really promulgate … we have to be very proactive about combatting misinformation,” she said.

Ms Hyland-Wood said the science showed there would always be a proportion of people who have extreme anti-vaxxer views and “they’re unlikely to come to the other side”.

But there are strategies everyone can use when communicating with community members who feel hesitant about getting vaccinated.

“And having casual conversations with people that we come across at the check-out, at sporting events, colleagues.

“We always have to defer to the science and the medical practitioners, but I think making it [vaccination] a common conversation … having those communications and conversations with people around us will do a great deal.”

A grassroots uprising, or something else?

New South Wales police said there were murmurs about a second rally being planned for Sydney this weekend, despite some organisers having their social media accounts and pages shut down.  

Dr Mols questioned whether the protests were truly a homegrown, grassroots uprising.

“I think there’s some of that, there’s some dissatisfaction and desperation of course.

“But I think there’s also a lot of cultivated anger, fermented anger by actors who’ve provoked and suddenly when things go haywire they run off and they hide behind the bushes.

He said these “actors” could include so called “astroturfing groups” which seek to create the impression of widespread support for a particular issue.

“They can be all sorts of actors, they can be astroturf organisations funded by consultancy firms, they can be sports celebrities who join in for whatever reason, perhaps publicity, they can be regional politicians who see this as an opportunity to get attention,” he said.

As the coronavirus emergency drags on, Dr Mols said politicians needed to present a united front.

“Sadly, there was a breakdown of that bipartisanship,” he said.

“There were some attempts to do that, it broke down, because at some point the temptation became too high [it became] an opportunity for point scoring and I think both parties would be equally at fault here.

“That actually created the conditions for this to become re-politicised and therefore different sides of politics viewing the evidence in a different way.

“That’s a shame and we’re actually paying the price for that lack of leadership right now.”

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