Protest organisers in New South Wales would be much less likely to end up fighting police in court for permission to hold rallies if the state had a charter of human rights instead of its “undemocratic” approvals system, a legal expert says.
The organisers of Sydney’s weekly pro-Palestine rallies were in the supreme court on Thursday fighting NSW police’s attempt to stop them from holding a protest on Sunday and another event on Monday.
Police agreed to the protest scheduled for Sunday after organisers changed the rally route in last-minute negotiations. Organisers withdrew their application for an authorised public assembly on Monday 7 October – the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel – and said they would instead hold a stationary vigil which didn’t require permission.
Thursday’s court action – not the first time protest organisers have ended up in a last-minute standoff with police – prompted renewed calls for the NSW government to scrap the current approvals system and legislate a human rights act.
The premier, Chris Minns, had earlier backed police and said neither the protest nor the vigil should go ahead because the risk of violence was too high.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had said a pro-Palestine event on 7 October would be “seen as incredibly provocative” and he was “worried about social cohesion”.
But human rights and civil liberties advocates condemned NSW police for trying to prevent the demonstrations, especially as the Palestine Action Group had lodged the paperwork required to stage protests lawfully.
A NSW police spokesperson on Thursday afternoon said it was inappropriate for the force to comment as it was dealing with the matter in court.
Victoria police have previously said they have no legal power to prevent similar protests from occurring in Melbourne because the state does not have the permit system which exists in NSW.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, on Thursday said the chief commissioner of Victoria police, Shane Patton, had “made pretty clear on previous occasions that he doesn’t see there’s a need for the permit system”.
In NSW, people who wish to stage a protest must lodge paperwork known as “form 1” or a “notice of intention to hold a public assembly” with the police commissioner in advance of the demonstration for it to be considered lawful.
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties president, Lydia Shelly, said the form 1 system was an “international embarrassment” that “lent itself to litigation” and had “no place in a democratic society”.
“The public in a democracy should not be forced in a position where they need to go to court to try to exercise their democratic freedoms,” Shelly said. “They are consistently placed in that position again and again and again in NSW.”
The NSW CCL urged the Minns Labor government to scrap the form 1 system and legislate a human rights charter like those which exist in Victoria and Queensland.
Introduced in 2006, Victoria’s charter protects 20 civil rights including freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly, including for protest or demonstration. Queensland’s Human Rights Act implemented similar safeguards when it became law in 2019.
The Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) has urged the Victorian government not to introduce a permit system, arguing this could conflict with its human rights charter. The Australian Human Rights Commission has called for a federal human rights act since 2022 that would protect the “freedom to speak, create, protest, travel and organise”.
Shelly said a NSW charter would protect people’s right to peaceful protest as well as the rights of independent legal observers to attend rallies. She said the Minns government’s response to the proposal had been “lukewarm” at best.
Amal Naser from the Palestine Action Group said on Thursday evening the Sydney rally organisers had “got what they wanted” following the agreement with police.
Naser said it was “a good moment for democratic rights”. “We had a strong case and we were going to win [in court] anyway,” she said.
The state’s attorney general, Michael Daley, was contacted for comment.
Additional reporting by Adeshola Ore and Mostafa Rachwani
