Activist groups to challenge NSW protest laws on free speech grounds as Minns says he’s ‘confident’ in reforms | Bondi beach terror attack

New South Wales premier Chris Minns said he was “confident” new laws banning protests for up to three months could withstand constitutional challenges from three groups who regularly stage protests in Sydney.

Palestine Action Group Sydney, Jews Against Occupation 48 and Blak Group said on Tuesday they planned to take legal action as soon as the laws were passed, but none had immediate plans to protest.

The groups said they could lodge a court challenge, possibly in the high court, without having a form 1 permit for a protest, which was rejected because there was a constitutional case to argue the law was a violation of the implied right to free speech.

The legislation was before the New South Wales upper house on Tuesday morning. The bill was expected to pass parliament late Tuesday night.

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“The Minns government is trying to take away everyone’s right to peacefully protest… for potentially up to three months with no evidence that this will make anyone safer,” said Josh Lees, an organizer with the Palestine Action Group, flanked by representatives of a dozen groups and organizations that oppose the legislation.

“No one denies the fact that the Palestinian movement, for the last two years and for many years before that, has been a peaceful protest movement protesting the terrible violence and genocide that has been taking place in Gaza,” he said.

“These are the rights we are fighting to defend today.”

Lees said the Palestine Action Group has no plans to protest in the near future, but his group “will have to continue protesting at some point.”

“Israel has killed more than 400 Palestinians since the declaration of the so-called ceasefire,” he said.

Lawyer Nick Hanna, advising the group, said the legislation in its current form had the potential to effectively ban all protests for any reason, whether left or right.

“That’s what will deeply concern the Australian people, because we have a very proud history of protest in this country, and many of the rights we have guaranteed were won through mass protest movements,” he said.

“This will ban marches that mobilize protests, but in relation to static protests it will also allow the police to continue them effectively in certain situations,” he warned.

Asked Tuesday about the constitutional challenge, Minns said he was “reluctant to go first to the court.”

“The only thing I would say is that we are running our legislation from start to finish through the crown attorney,” he said

“We’re facing the threat from the Supreme Court and the threat of reversing these changes. And in some cases, that has softened us on rushing through bills. In other cases, we don’t think we can wait.”

“We are confident the legislation will withstand constitutional challenges,” he said.

Protest groups also objected to government plans to ban the phrase “globalising the intifada”.

“The definition of ‘intifada’ is… a shake-up or uprising,” Lees said.

“When people say ‘intifada’, it is a fundamental act of our support for the Palestinians to rise up against oppression, illegal occupation and genocide,” he said.

Lees said the phrase was rarely used at rallies in Australia and Minns’ ban risked the phrase becoming a popular chant.

At a demonstration organized by the Australian Democracy Network on Monday night, a crowd of 300 people marched at Sydney town hall against NSW’s protest laws and briefly chanted “globalise the intifada”.

Minns said Lees’ comments were “almost troll-like.”

“We were repeatedly assured that yesterday’s protest would be a peaceful vigil for the lives lost last Sunday. Instead we are met with calls or slogans to ‘globalize the intifada.’

“That tells you everything you need to know about what it could mean if we don’t have bright red lines in relation to protests in New South Wales in the context of a terrorist incident.”

The three groups are supported by a wide range of groups, including climate activists Rising Tide, the NSW Civil Liberties Council, the NSW Greens and Labor Friends of Palestine.

Labor Friends of Palestine convener Peter Moss said the majority of ALP members supported the rights of the Palestinian people and had put forward motions at hundreds of branches and conferences.

“So we know where members stand; it’s a long way from where Chris Minns stands in terms of his own MPs,” Moss said.

Moss referenced a march across the Sydney Harbor Bridge in August to protest Israel’s behavior in Gaza, a rally that Minns opposed. Police estimated 90,000 people were at the march, while organizers said as many as 300,000 were there.

“There were 200,000 or 300,000 central Australians on this march, people from every corner of our community, including hundreds of Labor members, federal, state MPs, local Labor councilors and ordinary members like me,” Moss said. “This is treason.”