Case 29: Ban on protests on public housing estates overturned

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In 2013, two men living in public housing used the Victorian Charter to successfully challenge Victorian Government rules that banned political rallies on public housing estates and banned residents from putting political information on noticeboards. The rules also banned door knocking by political representatives and candidates on public housing estates and barred them from booking community facilities. The two men, supported by the Human Rights Law Centre, advocated with government to change the new rules, arguing that the rules breached public housing residents’ rights to freedom of assembly and expression in the Charter. In response, the government revised the new rules to remove the bans.

Source: Human Rights Law Centre, Protecting protesters’ rights using Victoria’s Human Rights Charter: Your advocacy guide, 2018