The 2006

G20 The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stabil ...

Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia between 18 and 19 November 2006. Issues discussed included "the outlook for the

global economy The world economy or global economy is the economy of all humans in the world, referring to the global economic system, which includes all economic activities conducted both within and between nations, including production, consumption, econ ...

; developments in resource markets and ways to improve their efficiency; the impact of demographic change on global financial markets; and further reform of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

and the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

Venue

The Grand Hyatt Melbourne Hotel on Collins Street was the venue for most of the events and was also the location where most of the dignitaries stayed.

Security

Security throughout Melbourne was extremely tight for the duration of the summit. As of midnight 14 November parking was banned throughout the eastern CBD surrounding the Grand Hyatt. Concern had been sparked that

Victoria Police Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''. , Victor ...

may be overstretched due to the large number of events in Melbourne that weekend, on top of the G20 summit there was a U2 concert at

Docklands Stadium Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands, Victoria, Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 199 ...

and a Make Poverty History Concert at the

Sidney Myer Music Bowl The Sidney Myer Music Bowl is an outdoor bandshell performance venue in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is located in the lawns and gardens of Kings Domain on Linlithgow Avenue close to the Arts Centre and the Southbank entertainment prec ...

. Victoria Police also warned that protesters may attempt to occupy inner-city buildings, and they recommended "corporations (should) consider hiring extra security."

G20 Meeting

In a first for the G20 meeting, an elite business group was able to address the Finance Ministers and Reserve Bank leaders. A new organisation, the Energy and Minerals Business Council comprising

BHP Billiton BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

, Rio Tinto and many of the world's most powerful mining and oil companies met in the same hotel and could lobby G20 delegates over a business lunch. The meeting of finance ministers in their communique called for free markets in oil and other forms of energy, and warned that economic policy needed to be tightened to reign in big deficits and 'easy money'. "We need to take advantage of the present strength in the global economy to get policy settings right," they declared in their statement. The ministers rejected Australia's timetable for reforming the

and the

, but reiterated their commitment to reform.

Climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

was not on the formal agenda, but a strong push by chief secretary to the British Treasury,

Stephen Timms Sir Stephen Creswell Timms (born 29 July 1955) is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ham, formerly Newham North East, since 1994. He has served as Minister of State for Social Security and Disabi ...

forced

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

and the ''

Stern Review The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is a 700-page report released for the Government of the United Kingdom on 30 October 2006 by economist Nicholas Stern, chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Envir ...

on the Economics of Climate Change'' to be briefly discussed as part of the context of promoting free markets as the way to energy security. The G20 communique said "We discussed the links between energy and climate change policy, including the role of market-based mechanisms, and agreed that the G-20 would monitor this issue." Development aid was also given only brief discussion despite calls for development aid to be increased by

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...

and other

non-governmental organisations A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

Protests

On Friday the 17th there were several invasions in buildings by small bands of protesters in Melbourne, such as

Orica House 1 Nicholson St. (formerly ICI House) is a 19-storey office building in Nicholson Street, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Begun in 1955 to house the headquarters of the Australian subsidiary of Imperial Chemical Industries (since spun off as ...

where over 100 protesters occupied the chemical services department, delivering a letter to the general manager for mining chemicals, and faxing it to communities along a cyanide transport route. All ANZ branches in the Melbourne CBD were closed during the afternoon of 17 November due to protest action against ANZ investment in military industries.

Behaviour of protestors

The main

anti-globalisation The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...

protest was organised by the StopG20 coalition for Saturday 18 November. This march stopped at the police barricades in Russell Street where a festive carnival atmosphere prevailed. Some protesters moved to other streets, where confrontations with the police occurred, while most protesters who went to the main rally and march went home never being aware of the confrontations on other streets until they watched the news that evening. On Collins and Russell Streets, barricades were ripped down and pushed at riot police who were called in to help quell the situation. A militant group of protesters known as the Arterial Bloc, dressed in white clothing with hoods covering their faces, collected industrial bins and dumpsters and used Melbourne's tram tracks to slide them into barricades and police, resulting in minor injuries to several police, the most serious being a broken wrist. At one stage a police riot truck was attacked with its windows smashed. By 15:00 local time, the nearby Grand Hyatt had gone into 'lock down'. The organizers of the protesters had expected up to 10,000 people to come, however the number of people that showed was slightly over 3,000.

Police response

A preliminary report by an independent human rights observer team noted "high level overall of police discipline and restraint in the face of deliberately provocative actions by some protesters, lasting many hours" and "Police command were seen to be encouraging the consideration of force as a staged option, rather than as a first response, which is to be commended." However the report noted that "Our timeline analysis points to a decline in police restraint over a period of time". On Sunday police executed a baton charge against a group of anti-G20 protesters at the Melbourne Museum causing injuries to one person requiring an ambulance. The same day, non-uniformed police detained a man, Drasko Bolejevic, after he was mistakenly identified as being involved with the G20 protests. Mr Bolejevic alleged he was abused and assaulted before being released from custody without charge two hours later.

Operation Salver

set up ''Operation Salver'' to investigate further possible charges from the G20 protest. In January 2007 police released to the media 28 photos of 'persons of interest' to their investigation. As of March 2007, 40 people have been arrested over the protest on charges including riot, affray, and criminal damage.Police makes further arrests over G20 protests
ABC 14 March 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2007

Participating members

G20 countries: :1. :2. :3. :4. :5. :6. , including :7. :8. :9. :10. :11. :12. :13. :14. :15. :16. :17. :18. :19. :20.

References

External links

Official G 20 website
– website changes each year with chair country.
Discussion and reflections on the g20 protests
{{DEFAULTSORT:G20 ministerial meeting,2006 2006 in Australia Ministerial meeting,2006 Diplomatic conferences in Australia 21st-century diplomatic conferences 2006 in international relations 2000s in Melbourne 2006 in Victoria (state)