By Stephanie Tran of Michael West Media
The Supreme Court of New South Wales has struck down the state’s draconian anti-protest laws, ruling they impose an “impermissible burden” on political communication and are invalid.
In a landmark decision yesterday, the court declared key provisions of the anti-protest laws introduced after the Bondi terrorist attack unconstitutional, finding they gave police sweeping powers to shut down protests across large parts of Sydney without sufficient justification.
“The impugned provisions infringe the implied freedom of political communication,” the court found.
The court held that the laws were “not compatible with the maintenance of the constitutionally prescribed system of representative and responsible government.”
Not constitutionally legitimate
“It is not a constitutionally legitimate purpose to seek to discourage all forms of public assembly across a nominated geographical area to preserve social cohesion, on the grounds that the very act of holding public assemblies is apt to cause tension and division in the community,” the court found.
The challenge centred on a suite of laws rushed through on Christmas Eve under the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (NSW), in the aftermath of the Bondi attack that killed 15 people.
The laws allowed the NSW police commissioner to issue sweeping “public assembly restriction” declarations across broad areas.
Once in force, those declarations effectively shut down protests by preventing them from being authorised under the Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW), cancelling existing approvals and enabling police to disperse gatherings using expanded powers under the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW).
In its reasoning, the court stated:
“peaceful protest is indispensable to the exercise of political sovereignty by the people of the Commonwealth”
and the laws imposed “substantial burden” to this right.
It rejected the government’s argument that the measures were necessary to preserve “social cohesion”, finding the scheme was disproportionate.
The system of government “does not permit the state … to impose such a sweeping and indiscriminate restriction on all public assemblies,” the court said.
The constitutional challenge was brought on behalf of Blak Caucus, Palestine Action Group and Jews Against the Occupation ’48.
‘A big win for everyone’
Josh Lees, a spokesperson for Palestine Action Group Sydney, said the ruling was “a big win for everyone who cares about the right to protest”.
“These laws were terrible. They were so wide-ranging, and that is what the court has found today, that they unfairly and disproportionately burdened our rights to political communication,” he said.
Lees said the laws had been used by NSW Premier Chris Minns to violently suppress protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza and called for Minns to “take accountability” and resign.
The challenge came against the backdrop of heavily policed protests in early 2026, including the violent crackdown on the Sydney Town Hall protest against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Enabled police violence
Nick Hanna, solicitor for the plaintiffs, said the laws had enabled “the most violent crackdown … against protesters in decades”.
“Today’s decision makes clear that, in my view, it is inevitable that prosecutions of every single person who attended that protest will be unsuccessful, and they will be found not guilty if they proceed to hearing,” he said.
“The maintenance of these prosecutions is untenable, and it’s time for police to do the right thing and discontinue them.”
Hanna is currently representing a number of protesters who were arrested during the Herzog protest.
Chris Minns responsible
NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson said the ruling raised serious questions about police conduct during those protests.
“What we saw … was police brutality on a scale we have not seen for decades in this state,” she said.
“I hold Chris Minns responsible for that violence because it was his unconstitutional laws upon which the police acted.”
Higginson said the state could now face “tens of millions of dollars in civil liability claims” arising from the policing of protests under the invalid laws.
Stephanie Tran is a journalist with a background in both law and journalism. She has worked at The Guardian and as a paralegal, where she assisted Crikey’s defence team in the high-profile defamation case brought by Lachlan Murdoch. Her reporting has been recognised nationally, earning her the 2021 Democracy’s Watchdogs Award for Student Investigative Reporting and a nomination for the 2021 Walkley Student Journalist of the Year Award. This article is republished from Michael West Media with permission.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
APR editor | Radio Free (2026-04-17T01:37:56+00:00) ‘Unconstitutional’ – NSW court strikes down Minns’ draconian anti-protest laws. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2026/04/17/unconstitutional-nsw-court-strikes-down-minns-draconian-anti-protest-laws/
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