In an unprecedented attack on the right to protest, NSW Labor (with support from the Liberals) rammed through harsh new anti-democratic laws in the early hours of Christmas Eve.
The new laws will give the Police Commissioner the power to ban protests for up to three months, within 14 days of a terror incident. This could include static gatherings, if police regarded them as a “breach of the peace.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns recalled parliament in the wake of the December 14 Bondi Beach terrorist attack to pass his Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025.
The Legislative Council approved the bill 18 votes to eight on December 24, which now has to go back to the Legislative Assembly for final approval.
MPs from the Nationals and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, as well as Liberal MP Wendy Tuckerman, voted against the bill.
The Greens abstained, explaining they supported stronger gun laws but did not agree with the anti-protest aspects of the bill, describing them as “an assault on democratic freedoms”.
Proponents of these anti-democratic laws have sought to justify on the lie that anti-genocide, pro-Palestinian actions led to the Bondi Beach terror attack.
Exploiting the horrific murder of 14 people at a Jewish Hanukkah festival, Minns has implied a link between the actions of terrorists Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram and those of pro-Palestine protesters.
Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal went further, explicitly linking the peaceful 300,000-strong anti-genocide march over the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the Bondi killings.
Minns is now threatening to proscribe the phrase “globalise the intifada”, labelling it a terrorist slogan. Intifada is an Arabic word that means uprising or “to shake off.”
The new laws are a deliberate attempt to repress the Palestine solidarity movement. But they will impact all campaigns.
For example, if the ban on protests is extended to next month, it would cover the traditionally huge Invasion Day protests. Last year’s January 26 protest for First Nations justice was attended by up to 15,000 people in Gadigal Country/Sydney.
There is also a real danger that other states will follow suit with similar anti-democratic attacks.
The Palestine Action Group, Jews Against the Occupation ’48 and Blak Caucus (which organises the yearly Invasion Day protests) have announced a constitutional challenge to the anti-protest laws in early January.
Previous anti-protest laws, introduced by Liberal and Labor governments alike, have been successfully challenged in NSW courts. These new attacks on our democratic rights must also be opposed.
The Socialist Alliance is calling on trade unions and community groups to support the constitutional challenge.
It is also calling on activist groups to build the Invasion Day rally in Gadigal Country/Sydney. Building protests for Palestine and First Nations justice can help push back against Minns’ anti-democratic, pro-genocide agenda.
A united mass movement is needed to defend the right to protest in NSW.
[Rachel Evans is a Socialist Alliance Sydney organiser, organiser with City of Sydney for Palestine and long-term LGBTIQA+ rights campaigner.]