Victorian Government defends protest spy-plan deals with big project owners; Wonthaggi/Kilcunda desalination plant, power stations

First 6 of 6 paragraphs shown Gayle Tierney, Labor Member for Western Victoria told the Victoria the Legislative Council, it was not spying, but 'protection' of the public from protestors in spy deals betweeen Police and project developers. These appplied to most large projects; the Sugarloaf pipeline, forestry projects, and power stations where police will inform operators of threats to supply.
Public interest blurry: Tierney argued 'The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Victoria Police, the Department of Sustainability and Environment and AquaSure is about protecting public and worker safety while this important water project is being constructed"
'We spy on protestors for the greater good': Tierney said "Victorians expect the police to be prepared, they expect workers and the public to be protected, and they expect major projects such as the desalination plant to be properly managed in the event of many things, protests included".
The spy plan details: 'The MOU formalises the exchange of information to manage these events. When they have such information the police may warn AquaSure that activists intend to protest and trespass. Anyone knows that any MOU cannot override things such as the Privacy Act or the Police Regulation Act; personal information about individuals is protected.
Why we spy: 'MOUs apply to the Sugarloaf pipeline project as well as forestry projects, and similar arrangements are also in place for critical infrastructure such as power stations where police will inform operators of threats to supply. The MOUs are entered into by Victoria Police at a regional level. The reality is that the desalination plant, including the pipeline and power supply is a very large construction project and will assist in securing our water supply. It stretches over 87 kilometres — that is, 84 kilometres in pipeline and 87 kilometres in power. The government believes it is critically important that police are regularly updated on what is happening on the project and whether there are any incidents on site.."
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