The NSW Opposition today sought to urgently bring on new laws that would improve the States protest laws.

Earlier this year, the NSW Opposition introduced amendments to government legislation that would have required courts to consider the cost, disruption, frequency, economic impact, and other less disruptive routes of protests before approving them. Protesters would have had three free protests a year. After that, they could be required to pay for the police resources they use. The laws would also ban non-religious face coverings by protesters that can be used to avoid criminal behaviour during a march.

These amendments were voted down by the Minns Labor Government, however today the NSW Opposition gave the Minns Labor Government the opportunity to make these changes to the law. The Minns Labor Government voted down the opportunity to urgently debate a private members bill and pass these laws, and in doing so has enabled protests as we saw on the weekend to continue to cause major disruption in our city.

Shadow Attorney General Alister Henskens said that the Premier himself admitted that weekend protests had already cost taxpayers more than $5 million annually in police overtime. 

“That’s taxpayer money that could have gone to hospital beds, school resources, or fixing our broken child protection system. Instead, it’s being spent so the same group can protest in the same places week after week. Let’s not forget that these protests are happening on infrastructure we all paid for. Roads, bridges, parks belong to everyone. No single group, no matter how passionate, has the right to hijack them at the expense of the rest of us.”

“Freedom to protest is a fundamental part of a liberal democracy, but it’s not absolute. It has to be balanced with public safety, fairness to taxpayers and the rights of everyday citizens to go about their business and use public infrastructure. Our reforms seek to strike a fair balance.”

Chris Minns and the Labor Government had the opportunity to right their wrong and protect the rights of everyday people to get to work, take their kids to sport, or enjoy a weekend without gridlock. Instead the Minns Government has refused to prevent our city from being held to ransom by protesters on our major public spaces.