Chris Minns flags further crackdown on protests in central Sydney | New South Wales politics
New South Wales premier Chris Minns has cited tough new laws to curb regular protests in Sydney’s CBD and landmarks such as the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House.
NSW has a system where protest organizers notify the police of a planned protest by filling out a form. Authorized protests protect against prosecution for crimes such as obstructing pedestrians and traffic.
Following the terrorist attack on Bondi beach on December 14, the NSW government introduced new laws that allow police to effectively ban all protests for 14-day periods after a declared terrorist incident has been made.
Responding to a reporter’s question on Monday about whether he planned to introduce a stricter approval process for protests, Minns said he was not aware of the approval process but said his government was not done making changes.
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“I believe we need to confront the idea that central Sydney could be dominated by the same protests on weekends,” he said. “People have the right to protest, but other Australians also have the right to enjoy the city, go to services, go to church or go to the synagogue in Hyde Park every weekend without trying to join a protest.
“And if you’re the subject of that protest, it’s particularly confrontational and very divisive,” he said.
“So I won’t be announcing anything today on Australia Day, but I certainly won’t be telling you that’s the end of the changes we’re proposing.”
Minns said the protest changes introduced in the wake of the Bondi attack were necessary to ensure social cohesion, but also heralded further changes.
On Monday he said he still believed it was necessary for NSW to ban the chanting of certain slogans at protests.
Minns singled out “globalization of the intifada” as one of the statements he wanted banned, and a specific requirement was requested for the state parliamentary inquiry to examine hate speech and take it into account.
Intifada, which means uprising or “total shake-up” in Arabic, is used by pro-Palestinian supporters to refer to the uprisings against Israel in 1987 and 2000. Members of the Jewish community said it was a call to violence against Jews.
“We will look at the parliamentary committee’s report to the government on the proposed changes and, again, I am not drawing a line nor am I suggesting this is the end of it, as is protesting against the changes to the law,” Minns said.
Minns noted that Australia, like the United States, did not have free speech laws that could curb some of the measures he flagged. A legal challenge has been launched against NSW’s laws restricting protests.
“I think if you have a country, a multicultural country, people and races and religions from around the world, and you expect them to live together not just in tolerance but with a common mission, there needs to be recognition that you have different rules of the road in a place like Australia than you do in the United States,” he said.
The NSW government is also deciding whether the Community Security Group (CSG), the Jewish community’s security arm, will be allowed to carry guns outside buildings owned by Jewish organisations.
