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The Queensland Police Service Counterterrorism Investigation Unit executed five search warrants across Magandjin-Brisbane on 23 January last year, in relation to two nonviolent antiwar demonstrations that had recently taken place in the southeast of the state.
Wage Peace activist educator Margaret Pestorius was amongst five taken into police custody on the day, in relation to two protests that had occurred: the first involved aerospace company Ferra Engineering’s factory in Tingalpa on 8 January last year, with the second demonstration having occurred in the reception area of the Boeing offices in Brisbane city on 17 January 2024.
Fellow activist David Sprigg and Pestorius faced a four-day trial in the Queensland Magistrates Court, which commenced on 5 November 2024. And on 20 December, she and two others, Sprigg and activist Tempest Knight, were convicted.
Pestorius was found guilty on one count of unlawfully entering a premises with intent to commit an indictable offence and one count of common assault. However, the magistrate exercised discretion not to record a conviction for the assault offence, but did impose a fine of $1,000 as, unlike in New South Wales where court-imposed fines for criminal offences must carry convictions, this is not the case in Queensland.
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