More than 100 people rallied outside Queensland parliament on March 3 in a snap protest against the Liberal National government’s bill which attacks free speech. The protest was organised by Students for Palestine.
Protesters held signs reading “From the River to the Sea” - a Palestine freedom slogan and one of the phrases the government wants banned in its bill presented to parliament that day.
Greens MP Michael Berkman is the only politician to strongly oppose the Fighting Antisemitism and Keeping Guns out of the Hands of Terrorists and Criminals Amendment Bill 2026.
The Labor opposition, in social media posts, has said it opposes the bill. Leader Stephen Miles said in one that “these laws are just not right”. It has raised a number of “concerns” in a minority report from the committee considering the bill, however it has also promised to pass the laws.
Berkman told parliament on March 5 that the bill attacks free speech and the anti-genocide protest movement. He said it “does not fight anti-Semitism; it does not keep guns out of the hands of terrorists and criminals.”
Alex Bainbridge, an Palestine activist and member of Socialist Alliance told the protest the LNP government wanted to scare people away from supporting Palestine and the best response is to “defy their intimidation”.
The day before the bill was tabled, the LNP made a last minute change to restrict to parliament the power to ban the Palestinian freedom slogans. Previously, that power would have been granted to the attorney general alone.
This reflects the pressure is mounting on the LNP from the Palestine solidarity movement and a broach range of civil society organisations which spoke out against the bill in the rushed consultation period.
The change means the bill has less potential to be immediately used to attack other sections of society. It also makes it more susceptible to be challenged by the High Court, according to previous analysis by constitutional law expert Anne Twomey.
