South Australia’s opposition leader has defended controversial penalties intended to deter disruptive public protests, saying that in some countries “your head would be cut off” for taking to the streets. 

But that choice of words has been criticised by some opponents of the changes, with the Greens and a representative of Human Rights Watch saying that avoiding the threat of violence was not something that protesters should have to feel “grateful” for.

In response to this week’s Extinction Rebellion demonstrations in Adelaide — which resulted in huge traffic delays in the CBD when a protester abseiled from a road bridge, and the entrance of the Santos building being covered in paint — SA Parliament’s lower house passed amendments to a state law relating to the obstruction of public spaces.

Under the proposed changes, anyone who “intentionally or recklessly engages in conduct that obstructs the free passage of a public place” would be at risk of a three-month jail sentence. 

The maximum financial penalty would also increase by more than 66 times, from $750 to $50,000.

While the changes were swiftly introduced to parliament by the SA government, Opposition Leader David Speirs said they were drafted by his party.

“What this change of law meant was quite simple — that the threshold in terms of what a magistrate or a judge could access as an upper limit was increased. They probably should have been increased long, long ago,” he said.

Asked whether the law change would result in the silencing of political opinion, Mr Speirs said Australia had a good track record when it came to freedom of expression.

“If you can march down King William Street in a planned protest supported by the police … I think we’re doing pretty good,” he said.

“Protest is a good thing — but if you’re going to do stupid stuff that puts your life at risk, that puts other lives at risk, you can expect to get up to a $50,000 fine.”

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But Mr Speirs’s remark referencing decapitation has been criticised by SA Greens MP Tammy Franks, who compared it to a comment made in 2021 by then-prime minister Scott Morrison, who said the fact that protesters “in this country” were not “met with bullets” represented a “triumph of democracy”.

“Democracy is participatory and those sorts of analogies are not appropriate,” Ms Franks said.

“It is harking back to the time that then prime minister [Scott] Morrison told women marching that day that they should be grateful to be in a country [in which] bullets wouldn’t be fired upon them.”

Human Rights Watch senior researcher Sophie McNeill also said she was “really disappointed to hear” Mr Speirs’s remarks.

“Those comments are actually pretty disgraceful,” she said.

“Peaceful protest is not something we should feel grateful for — it is a basic human right that is guaranteed to us under international law, that Australia is obliged to uphold and protect.

“South Australia was the first place in the world to let women stand for parliament, it was the second place to allow women the right to vote — that was achieved through mass protest, through disruption.”

Mr Speirs has since doubled down on his comments, saying he supported the right “of every South Australian to protest safely”.

“Protest is — and will always be — a crucial part of democracy in Australia and we are so very fortunate to have the opportunity to express our views and beliefs in a peaceful way,” he said.

Mr Speirs recently voiced opposition to South Australia’s involvement with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament on human rights grounds, describing the Saudi government as a “despotic regime”.

A protest calling for better support for people receiving welfare payments was held on the steps of SA Parliament Sunday afternoon.