The Human Rights Law Centre has strongly condemned the NSW Premier Chris Minns’ latest attempt to stifle peaceful protest. 

The proposed laws will add financial penalties up to $22,000 for people who obstruct trains, on top of two years imprisonment. 

Earlier this year, the Human Rights Law Centre’s Protest in Peril report found that the right to protest has been under attack by governments and institutions over the last 20 years, with NSW having introduced the most anti-protest laws. These laws have disproportionately targeted environmental defenders and people advocating for action on climate change.  

Last year, the NSW Supreme Court found that parts of draconian anti-protest laws enacted in NSW, under the Perrottet government, were unconstitutional.  

Quotes attributed to David Mejia-Canales, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre:  

“The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy, and today’s announcement from NSW Premier Chris Minns is a blatant attack on this fundamental democratic right. 

“These laws could see peaceful community protesters hit with enormous fines, alongside the existing threat of up to two years in jail.  

“NSW already has some of the most heavy-handed anti-protest laws in the country, with successive governments enacting the highest number of anti-protest laws over the last two decades. 

“Peaceful protest has been critical to advancing reforms we now take for granted, like women’s voting rights, workplace safety, and the protection of the environment from pollution. Instead of criminalising peaceful protesters with draconian laws, Premier Minns should be listening to the urgent calls for climate action.  

“NSW anti-protest laws are anti-democratic and disproportionate, they also raise constitutional and human rights concerns. They must be scrapped.” 

Media contact:
Chandi Bates, 0430 277 254, chandi.bates@hrlc.org.au

Media contact:
Chandi Bates
Media and Communications Manager
Human Rights Law Centre
0430 277 254
chandi.bates@hrlc.org.au