Protesters challenge NSW anti-protest laws after Bondi attack
Protesters will launch a constitutional challenge against laws restricting protests during designated terrorism incidents, as a Labor MP says the proposed legislation is disproportionate.
During debate over the government’s Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025,
Labor MP Anthony D’Adam said the link between words and actions was “tenuous” and “hard to establish”.
The omnibus bill was introduced by the Minns government following the Bondi terror attack, which left 15 dead. It proposes outlawing phrase chants, such as “globalise the intifada”, commonly heard during pro-Palestine protests, as well as restricting protest rights after terrorism incidents.
Labor MLC Anthony D’Adam (left) has questioned the necessity of proposed laws restricting protest activity after terrorist attacks.
Joined by Greens MP Sue Higginson along with a chorus of other groups on Tuesday morning, Palestine Action Group spokesman Josh Lees said the laws would remove the rights of “everyone in NSW to gather together as a community” and demand change.
“This is the latest set of Chris Minns’ knee-jerk, undemocratic anti-protest laws which are being passed again on the basis of a series of lies and misinformation, and outrageous conflating of this horrible antisemitic attack at Bondi with the protest movement,” Lees said.
During his contribution to the debate, Labor MP Anthony D’Adam raised concerns about elements of the bill. Attempts to constrain chants during protests was a “a fool’s errand”, he said.
The Labor backbencher, who was sacked as an assistant minister for criticising the police treatment of Palestinian demonstrators, said it was difficult to see how specific words or symbols can “lead to a series of actions”.
“Arguments around a line of causality that extends beyond those two people is to absolve those perpetrators of some level of responsibility for their criminal act. I don’t think we should be doing that,” he said.
“What is the purpose of proscription of protest? It seems that actually what we’re objecting to is the slogans and the posters … It strikes me that banning all protest activity is not proportionate.”
