00:00In November, police declared central Melbourne a designated area for six months, giving them
00:07extra powers to search people and vehicles for weapons and to remove them from the area.
00:13It also allowed police to request people remove face coverings and move them on if they refused.
00:18Today the federal court found the size and scope of the designated area made it invalid
00:24and that its failure to comply with Victoria's Charter of Human Rights made it unlawful.
00:28So it will be significantly harder for Victoria Police to make these sorts of broad declarations.
00:35The finding will still allow police to request face coverings be removed in lawful designated
00:40areas.
00:41This case does put Victoria Police on notice.
00:44Tarlene Onis-Brown is an organiser of the annual Invasion Day rallies and argued the new police
00:49powers would have deterred people from attending.
00:52This is a significant win for First Peoples though we didn't get everything that we wanted.
01:00Victoria Police cancelled the declaration two weeks ago and it hasn't made one for Monday's
01:04rallies in the CBD.
01:06It says it respects the court's decision and that its intent has always been to protect
01:11the community and remove dangerous weapons from the streets.
01:14It's a lengthy decision by the judge and lawyers will be reading it closely to see if its findings
01:19could potentially go beyond the CBD case.
01:22There's a question mark now over Victoria Police's other declarations that have been made
01:29for designated areas.
01:30Victoria Police says it will also take time to consider the findings.
01:34stake through the result.
01:47There's...
01:50First Peoples
01:53Why does this docope work work?
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