NSW Police spend $130k opposing pro-Palestine protests on Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House

The eye-watering costs taxpayers have had to pay have been revealed after police tried to disrupt two pro-Palestinian protests in Sydney earlier this year.

The NSW Police Commissioner has twice dragged the Palestine Action Group and organizers Joshua Lees and Amal Naser to the NSW Supreme Court in an attempt to stop planned protests for the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House.

The court allowed the march across the bridge, called the Humanity March, to continue after a one-day decision.

Meanwhile, the Opera House protest has been banned by an unprecedented court order that could charge marchers with contempt of court.

Documents obtained by NewsWire under a Public Access to Government Information request reveal that the Police Commissioner spent $59,456.92, including GST, on the court challenge.

Another $72,727.89 in taxpayer funds was spent on the unsuccessful attempt to stop the Harbor Bridge march during a one-day hearing in August.

Expenses included in the total include $4589 for subpoena filing and transcription fees, excluding GST, and attorneys’ fees protected by contract privilege.

Police Minister Yasmin Catley said the decision to oppose the protests was made by NSW Police, but public safety was at the heart of it.

“Decisions regarding protest management and legal action are operational decisions made by the police; they are experts and are best placed to make these calls,” he said.

“NSW Police’s and this government’s top priority is to protect the people of NSW and we support our police’s tireless efforts to do this.”

It comes as the NSW government is considering sweeping changes to public meetings legislation following the bondi beach terror attack.

The proposal would allow police to ban protests in a particular area out of concern for social cohesion following a terrorist incident.

Speaking ahead of the Bondi terror incident, opposition police spokesman Paul Toole said the taxpayer was being asked to foot the bill for “endless protests”.

“Costs are out of control,” he said.

“The disruption continues relentlessly and the government continues to ignore this issue.

“It’s time to draw a line in the sand. If protesters want to close down our streets, shut down critical infrastructure, they must pay the price.”

The coalition has proposed introducing a paid model, where protest groups would be given three “free” protests and then be asked to pay some police costs.

The government rejected the idea in parliament in August; Prime Minister Chris Minns warned that this could be found unconstitutional.

However, Mr Minns has sought to strengthen police powers over protest activity, including reintroducing a bill earlier this year on actions outside places of worship deemed unconstitutional and taking other measures in response to a neo-Nazi rally outside the state parliament.

“The Minn. Labor government has an opportunity to enact changes that actually support our policing and stop using critical infrastructure for these political protests,” Mr. Toole said.

Greens MLC Sue Higginson said opposition to pro-Palestinian protests showed “a form of strident political intolerance” and officers’ evidence of the failed attempt to stop the Harbor Bridge march was “inadequate, insufficient and… appalling”.

“There was no public safety issue,” he said.

Mr Minns was staunchly opposed to crossing the bridge, despite suggestions from organizers that it could be postponed for a short time.

“That was all he had to say,” Ms Higginson said.

“He didn’t need to say he supported it, he just needed to say he didn’t want to get in the way, but instead he jumped up and said, ‘No, no, no, no, no. We can’t allow this.'”

Ms Higginson attended the March for Humanity alongside several Labor MPs and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who broke ranks with Mr Minns.

Ms Higginson said the Court of Appeal ruling on the Opera House protest “left the law of protest and public assembly in a bit of a shambles”.

He warned this could have a “chilling effect” on the Form 1 system, the mechanism by which protests in NSW are “permitted” or disallowed by police.

“How will things play out in the future and how will the state weaponize its victory in the Court of Appeals, and if so, what will that look like and who will suffer in the end?” Mrs. Higginson said.

Mr Lees joined the Jewish Council of Australia and the NSW Civil Liberties Council on December 22 when parliament met for an emergency session to discuss post-Bondi reforms.

He claimed that people were trying to link the attack with the pro-Palestinian movement.

“What we are seeing now, a concerted campaign by some to link the horrific Bondi attack to the Palestinian protest movement, is ludicrous,” Mr Lees said.

“This is deliberately dishonest and outrageous.”