The passing of the Perrottet government’s new anti-protest law will undermine the ability of everyone in NSW to exercise their freedom to protest, a group of environmental, social justice and human rights organisations has warned.

The organisations slammed the bill, which was passed by the Legislative Council on Friday after being rushed through in less than a week.

The group, comprising the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT), the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Human Rights Law Centre, Environmental Defenders Office and Australian Democracy Network, expressed concern about the constitutional validity of the new law and called on the Perrottet government to repeal it.

Regarding the new law, our President Pauline Wright said:

"It's shocking that a law threatening peaceful protesters with significant fines has been passed in Australia in 2022. In a liberal democracy, the government should welcome citizens expressing their views, not try to ban it. This law is an outrage, but it isn't the end of the road - we fought for protest rights in the 70s and won, and we'll do the same now."

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