2025-08-07
Tensions around protest rights in NSW have reached boiling point following the Government’s attempt to block a peaceful march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge over the weekend.
Now, NSW Greens MP and Spokesperson on democracy Kobi Shetty is taking action and progressing the Greens Bill to repeal NSW’s draconian anti-protest laws. These laws have repeatedly been used to silence dissent and criminalise peaceful protest.
Kobi Shetty MP for Balmain and NSW Greens Democracy Spokesperson says:
“The right to protest is not a privilege to be granted or denied by politicians – it is a fundamental democratic right that must be protected.
“Trying to stop a peaceful march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on what is one of the biggest humanitarian issues of our time shows just how far these heavy-handed laws have gone. Thankfully, the Supreme Court upheld the right to protest in this case, but organisers shouldn’t face battles like this in the first place. The right to protest is being rapidly eroded in NSW, and the cracks are really starting to show.
“This government has created a legal environment so hostile to protest that even peaceful community demonstrations are being shut down. It’s completely unacceptable in a functioning democracy to see this level of opposition to peaceful protest.
“We know the existing laws – rushed through by the previous Liberal Government with full support from Labor – have already been found to be partially unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Instead of repealing them, the Minns Labor Government has doubled down – expanding anti-protest laws and further undermining our democracy.
“The Greens will not stand by while our rights are eroded. That’s why I’m proceeding with the bill I introduced in March this year to repeal these dangerous laws and restore the right to peaceful protest in NSW – something that should be at the core of a mature democracy.”
Zack Schofield, Organiser at Rising Tide Australia says:
“The Labor movement was formed by direct industrial action and mass protest, but the Minns Government has been more concerned with appeasing the coal lobby, a foreign government, and the 2GB audience than their own members' interests.
“That misstep is fundamentally arrogant and anti-democratic, but it is consistent with a government that fights against nurses, psychiatrists, and transport workers - while providing blank cheques to police officers and multinational corporations.
“If Premier Minns does not repeal these laws designed to criminalise working class people standing against genocide and climate breakdown, Labor members should be asking: which side is he really on?”
Timothy Roberts, President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties says:
"The NSW Government has politicised, criminalised, and stigmatised protests so that they are now over-policed and conducted in an unnecessarily adversarial atmosphere. This is not in keeping with community expectations and damages our democracy.
"The protest this weekend has shown this more than ever. The vast number of people that turned out for the march has made clear that the Premier is out of step with the community and his government's anti-protest agenda must end. Supporting this legislation is a good place to start."
Sue Higginson MLC and Greens NSW Spokesperson on Justice and Police says:
“The actions and voices of the community in their tens of thousands, who joined the March for Humanity across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, in the pouring rain, must be responded to by us as law makers. The incremental erosion of our democratic right to protest has gone on for too long, and under Labor Premier Chris Minns it’s gone too far.”
“Unpicking the anti-protest agenda of the Liberal Party and Premier Chris Minns is a serious piece of work, the Member for Balmain and I are doing this important work for our democracy,”
“I am focussed on the excessive and poorly defined powers that the police have been handed by successive Governments, and to ensure that no peaceful protestor is sent to prison for exercising their democratic rights.”
“We have seen how dangerous the overreach of police powers are as they are used to remove lawful protestors from public spaces. Shockingly they have resulted in assaults by Police against innocent people including Hannah Thomas, who was violently assaulted and may have lost sight in one of her eyes, for simply attending a pro-Palestine rally.”
Background
What this Greens Bill does:
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Amend section 144G of the Roads Act to
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Remove roads and major facilities from the prohibition so it reverts to just bridges and tunnels
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Ensure the application of penalties will not apply unless damage to a bridge or tunnel is substantial
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Limit the penalty to either a fine or imprisonment, but not both
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Amend the Crimes Act to repeal Part 4AF, which includes the various changes that make it an offence to obstruct a railway, damage or disrupt a major facility, and block, impede or hinder a person accessing a place of worship
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Amend section 200 of the LEPRA Act to repeal changes that broaden police move-on powers for a demonstration, protest, procession or assembly that is occurring in or near a place of worship
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Retain the carve-outs for industrial action in both the Roads Act and the Crimes Act.