Mark Powell was ripped from his seat at state conference by police. He has provided this statement to Labor Tribune.
As Premier Chris Minns delivered his keynote speech to NSW Labor state conference on Saturday 4 July, long-standing ALP member and Labor Friends of Palestine stalwart, Hassan Hijazi, quietly let a Palestinian flag unfurl from the observer seats (see image below). A silent and peaceful protest at Minns’ support for the genocidal regime in Israel.
The response from police and security was swift and ruthless. Both Hijazi and a man sitting next to him, Mark Powell, were roughly expelled from conference. Their crime? Silent, democratic, peaceful and dignified protest at a genocide.
The police have no place in our conferences. Of course, security is important – but the labour movement is more than capable of organising its own security.
The whole point of the police roaming the halls was intimidation.
This was seen again on Sunday when I witnessed police questioning and harassing two Young Labor members. They asked for ID, photographed this and questioned both.
I intervened and invited the two to walk away with me. When the police said, “We are just talking to them now”, I just said “Maybe they want to talk to me more. Are they detained or arrested?”. When the police said no, they melted away and we walked away, both young men shaken. [See letters.]
Mark Powell, a member of the ALP for nearly three decades has provided the statement below. Needless to say, no apology has come from the Premier or the NSW ALP General-Secretary.
Indeed, Sussex Street replied to Powell backing the cops.
Labor Tribune says: no cops in conference. No intimidation of dissent.
Marcus Strom, Labor Tribune editor
Statement from Mark Powell: I will not be silent
My name is Mark. I have been a rank-and-file member of the NSW Labor Party for 29 years. What happened to me at state conference on Saturday should never happen to any member of a democratic party — and I am speaking out because the party’s first instinct has been to silence me, not to listen. I was a credentialed delegate, sitting in my allocated seat. A person near me had a flag. I didn’t hold it. I didn’t wave it. I wasn’t protesting. I wasn’t chanting. I was simply sitting next to that person. Without warning, without any instruction to move, security approached, grabbed me, and physically dragged me out of my seat. Past my fellow delegates. Past people I’ve known for decades. I was treated like a criminal, an intruder, an enemy. I have given 29 years to this party. I’ve doorknocked in the rain, handed out how-to-votes in the heat, staffed polling booths when we were deeply unpopular, donated what little I had, and defended Labor to friends, family, and strangers. I am not a factional player. I am not a troublemaker. I am the kind of ordinary, loyal member that parties depend on. And my reward was public humiliation.
If that wasn’t enough, the response from Sussex Street has made things worse. Party officials have made it clear to me: if I speak to the media, my membership of 29 years could be terminated. They are threatening to strip me of the party I have spent my adult life building, solely because I want to tell the truth about how I was treated.
That is not accountability. That is a gag order. I am afraid. Not of the media, not of public scrutiny — I am afraid of my own party. I am afraid that speaking the truth will cost me something I have cherished for nearly three decades. And that fear is exactly what they are counting on.
I am still waiting for an explanation. Why was I removed? What did I do wrong? Why is a loyal 29-year member being threatened with expulsion simply for wanting to be heard?
I have reached out to Premier Chris Minns and received nothing but silence. This is not the party I joined. The party I joined believed in fairness, solidarity, and treating people with dignity. The party I saw on Saturday believes in force, intimidation and protecting factional control at all costs.
I am speaking out not because I want to damage the party, but because I want it to be better. I want rank-and-file members to know they are not alone. And I want the public to know what is happening behind the doors of the party that claims to represent them. They dragged me out for nothing. They threatened me for telling the truth. But I will not be silent.
Mark Powell, NSW Labor rank-and-file member, 29 years
