Slogans and imagery targeted in clamp down on protests

Chris Minns has come out swinging at pro-Palestinian protesters, pointing the finger at offensive slogans and imagery he argues contributed to volatility before the Bondi massacre.

As he defended wide-reaching protest bans after terror events, expected to become law on Tuesday night, the NSW premier rattled off a list of placards and flags at protests he said were hateful and disparaging towards the Jewish community.

Among the offending content were swastikas painted on the Star of David, flags of terror-listed groups Hamas and Hezbollah and posters of former Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

“Words ultimately lead to actions,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“How can we say the protests that have these signs have no bearing on either the culture, the temperature or even extreme actions within our community?”

His comments came after legislation was introduced to limit demonstrations, stem hate speech and crack down on gun ownership in quick response to the Bondi massacre.

The attack on December 14 killed 15 people after two gunmen fired on a Jewish festival.

The state’s lower house on Monday night overwhelmingly backed the sweeping changes, led by Labor and supported by the Liberals, and the upper house was expected to pass them swiftly late Tuesday.

Under the reforms, a terrorist attack designation would give police powers to reject protests for an initial 14 days and for up to three months.

But the premier bristled when pressed on why he was singling out pro-Palestine demonstrations and how the tough laws would curtail protest rights for other causes.

“The verdict is in after two years, after the marches, after the division, after the huge police resources that have been poured in – this will divide the community,” he said.

“When we do see hate speech, we can’t turn away from it, even if it’s an uncomfortable conversation and even if it is coming or directed from the Palestinian Action Group – we have to call it out.”

The action group, which has mobilised thousands of people weekly in Sydney’s city streets for two years, is seeking to mount a constitutional challenge in the courts.

“The Minns government is seeking to introduce laws that will represent the single most aggressive assault on our civil liberties in living memory,” solicitor Nick Hanna, who will represent the activists, told reporters.

He agreed law reform was needed following the Bondi attack.

But protest changes were a knee-jerk attempt at politicising a tragedy and taking away basic democratic rights, he said.

The constitutional challenge is expected in January.

The protest crackdown championed by the premier represented a shameful departure from Labor beliefs, senior left-wing party figure Peter Moss said.

“This is a betrayal of Labor values, a betrayal of our hard-won democratic rights, and a betrayal by Chris Minns of his own colleagues,” the Labor National Policy Forum member and convenor of Labor Friends of Palestine said.

“These laws are not about saving lives.”

Several outspoken Labor MPs who broke ranks with the premier over pro-Palestinian protests and marched across the Harbour Bridge in solidarity in August were at the earlier press conference.

But they are likely to vote for the laws under party rules forbidding MPs from crossing the floor.

Parliament was recalled to debate the laws after the Bondi massacre, which highlighted flaws surrounding access to high-powered rifles.

A poll on Tuesday suggested three in every four Australians backed toughening gun laws.

The Resolve poll of 1010 people conducted after the mass shooting found similar support among Labor voters (80 per cent), the coalition (78 per cent) and One Nation (82 per cent).