{"id":619255,"date":"2026-04-20T13:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/619255\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T13:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:45:09","slug":"minns-doubles-down-on-rational-anti-protest-law-despite-nsws-highest-court-ruling-it-unconstitutional-chris-minns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/619255\/","title":{"rendered":"Minns doubles down on \u2018rational\u2019 anti-protest law despite NSW\u2019s highest court ruling it unconstitutional | Chris Minns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New South Wales<\/a> premier has doubled down on an anti-protest law struck down in the state\u2019s highest court last week, defending the legislation introduced by his government as \u201crational and proportionate\u201d.<\/p>\n

But advocates for protesters charged at demonstrations restricted under the laws have criticised Chris Minns\u2019 comments, calling them a \u201cextraordinary attack\u201d on the judiciary.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the New South Wales court of appeal ruled in favour of the Palestine Action Group and Blak Caucus, finding an anti-protest law that gave police the power to restrict marches was unconstitutional. The law was introduced after the Bondi beach terror attack<\/a> last year, in which 15 people were killed.<\/p>\n

The full bench in the court of appeal found restricting all protests in order to protect social cohesion was not a \u201cconstitutionally legitimate purpose\u201d. Legal experts have said the landmark judgment could have far-reaching consequences by limiting future attempts by the government to control speech and protests<\/a> on the basis of \u201csocial cohesion\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

On Monday, in his first public statement about the court striking down the law, Minns said the government was \u201cstudying the judgment\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked about the finding that social cohesion did not justify the law, Minns took aim at the Greens for supporting protesters charged after February\u2019s anti-Herzog protest at Sydney\u2019s town hall, when the law was in force. The rally is now subject of a police watchdog investigation into allegations of police misconduct and brutality.<\/p>\n

Minns claimed there had been \u201cviolent confrontations\u201d and \u201cviolent rhetoric and hateful, hateful phrases via loudspeakers on Sydney streets\u201d in the two years leading up to the anti-Herzog protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that the police and the government\u2019s rational and proportionate changes to the law that we pursued after that Bondi terrorist attack somehow spurred these people into a violent confrontation is utter garbage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The premier did not respond to a follow-up question by Guardian Australia about whether he rejected the court\u2019s findings. His office referred Guardian Australian to his comments made during the press conference.<\/p>\n

He also did not respond to a question about which allegedly violent confrontations or rhetoric he was referring to. His office pointed towards comments he made in December after the Bondi attack, where he criticised the alleged use of Hezbollah flags, images of former supreme leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and protest signs comparing Zionism to neo-nazism.<\/p>\n

The Greens justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, released a statement after Minns\u2019 comments, saying the premier had \u201claunched an extraordinary attack on our independent judiciary\u201d.<\/p>\n

Majed Kheir, who is representing several of the 26 protesters who have been charged in the wake of the rally, said the court \u201cvehemently disagreed\u201d with the premier\u2019s claims that the laws were \u201crational and proportionate\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully, the separation of powers is protected, and the decision as to whether those laws were rational, reasonable or proportionate was a question for our judiciary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever personal views the premier has, in accordance with the interpretation of our most qualified and most experienced judges, they were not reasonable, they were not proportionate, and they were unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police reviewing charges<\/p>\n

During the same press conference, the NSW police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said officers were reviewing the charges against the anti-Herzog protesters amid calls for them to be dropped in the wake of Thursday\u2019s finding. Before the court ruling, police had indicated to Nick Hanna, another lawyer representing several of the protesters, that the police planned to charge 30 more people.<\/p>\n

The now defunct law, known as the public assembly restriction declaration, or Pard, meant protesters could not use the form 1 system in areas designated by police for up to three months after a terrorist attack, effectively meaning protesters could not march without the risk of arrest.<\/p>\n

Minns has argued that because the anti-Herzog protest was also covered by a major events declaration, charges would still stand for those who did not comply with police directions. The major events declaration gave police similar move-on powers to the Pard laws.<\/p>\n

Kheir said in all the police facts sheets \u2013 which outline police\u2019s allegations against a person charged with a crime \u2013 he had seen, there were references to the area the protest was in being the subject of a Pard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears to be a pro forma reference that\u2019s made in all of the facts sheets that I\u2019ve seen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In one facts sheet, seen by Guardian Australia, there is a specific reference to the arrested protester being before the courts for contravening the law, which now does not exist.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice, clearly identifiable by uniform, issued the group a move-on direction pursuant to their contravention of the PARD. This move-on direction was repeated over loudhailer and broadcast into the group,\u201d the facts sheet says.<\/p>\n

The facts sheet makes no reference to the major events declaration.<\/p>\n

Higginson called on the premier and Lanyon \u201cto accept that they got it wrong and stop these bad prosecutions against the community\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actions by the premier and the police caused serious harm and the police relied on powers that were unlawful. For the premier and the police commissioner to double down in the face of this failure and say \u2018Oh well we had the major event declaration as backup\u2019 likely won\u2019t cut it in the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New South Wales premier has doubled down on an anti-protest law struck down in the state\u2019s highest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-619255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619255","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=619255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}