{"id":461636,"date":"2026-02-06T05:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T05:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461636\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T05:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T05:49:09","slug":"nsw-chief-justice-says-tony-abbotts-criticism-of-harbour-bridge-march-judge-misconceived-and-ignorant-australian-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461636\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW chief justice says Tony Abbott\u2019s criticism of Harbour Bridge march judge \u2018misconceived and ignorant\u2019 | Australian law"},"content":{"rendered":"

The chief justice of New South Wales has criticised former prime minister Tony Abbott<\/a> for what he says was a regrettable, misconceived and ignorant attack on a judge\u2019s decision regarding last year\u2019s pro-Palestine Sydney Harbour Bridge march.<\/p>\n

Andrew Bell said in a speech on Thursday evening that Abbott\u2019s post on X in August last year threatened social cohesion.<\/p>\n

Abbott commented on a NSW supreme court decision<\/a> before the Gaza harbour bridge march that an estimated 225,000 to 300,000 people attended<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The former Liberal leader posted that \u201cit should not be for judges to decide when a political protest is justified\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to close the Sydney<\/a> Harbour Bridge to facilitate this protest is a political decision and should be made by elected and accountable ministers \u2013 who, it happens, think the march should not go ahead,\u201d Abbott wrote at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are on a slippery slope when unelected judges start making political judgments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell, in a speech at a dinner to mark the opening of the law term, said on Thursday that Abbott had \u201cregrettably\u201d posted about justice Belinda Rigg\u2019s decision. He said the comment on X was \u201cmisconceived\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe judge\u2019s decision was not one concerning whether \u2018a political protest was justified as any understanding of the statutory framework and case law set out in the judge\u2019s reasons would have made plain to anyone who took the time to read it,\u201d the chief justice told diners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe judge did not make \u2018the decision to close the Sydney Harbour Bridge\u2019. The authorities had already taken the decision to close the harbour bridge in any event, that is to say, irrespective of the judge\u2019s decision, a fact twice recorded in the judgment and one which was influential in the ultimate decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cResponsibility for the decision the subject of the criticism was one expressly given to the court by the legislature; it was not an unauthorised assumption of jurisdiction by \u2018an unelected judge\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell concluded that Rigg\u2019s decision \u201cwas not a \u2018political\u2019 judgment but involved the careful weighing of the common law and constitutionally protected right to free speech and public assembly\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added that a subsequent court of appeal decision over which he presided, which prevented a march to the Opera House<\/a>, was also not a \u201cpolitical decision\u201d but involved a similar weighing exercise.<\/p>\n

Bell, earlier in Thursday\u2019s speech, criticised other \u201csimplistic but frequently highly personal criticism\u201d in the press and on social media of some judges who had granted bail where the prisoner had subsequently reoffended.<\/p>\n

\"ThousandsThousands march across Sydney Harbour Bridge in one of biggest protests in city\u2019s history \u2013\u00a0video<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile judicial decisions on subjects such as bail and public assemblies should not be free from scrutiny or criticism where justified, social cohesion to which I have already referred is not enhanced when judicial decisions are attacked on bases and in terms that betray an ignorance of the statutory framework for the decision and, in very many cases, an ignorance of the judge\u2019s reasoning process and of the evidence before the court by reference to which the decision was made,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch attacks, often dashed \u2018off the cuff\u2019, are a form of misinformation that undermines trust in and respect for the judiciary and the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chief justice added: \u201cI should note in this context that two judges of the supreme court, who have been the subject of highly personalised and misconceived criticism in some sections of the media for particular decisions, have received death threats in the last 18 months. This is obviously of grave concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about Bell\u2019s criticism, Abbott said: \u201cNaturally, I stand by my comment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a separation of powers issue. Whether a political protest goes ahead or not should be a question for the executive government, not for judges,\u201d he said on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The chief justice of New South Wales has criticised former prime minister Tony Abbott for what he says…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-461636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}