The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) celebrates the NSW Court of Appeal’s decision to strike down the Public Assembly Restriction Declaration (PARD) powers. This ruling confirms that the Minns Labor Government’s rushed, draconian laws were unconstitutional.

For the past several months, the NSW Government and NSW Police have knowingly wielded unconstitutional powers to harass and silence citizens protesting peacefully. Under the PARD laws, the Police Commissioner was granted unprecedented authority to unilaterally block authorised assemblies with zero transparency. Declarations to ban protests were made with no requirement for community consultation, and bypassed the Form 1 processes originally designed to assist organisations communicate with police when arranging demonstrations.  

The government used the horrifying attack against the Jewish community in Bondi to push a repressive agenda against a legitimate right to assembly. They operated under the false premise that social cohesion can be prosecuted into existence and deliberately pursued the chilling effect of these laws that pushed citizens dissenting against unjust governments to the margins, disproportionately affecting First Nations and the Palestine solidarity movement.   

Today is a victory. However, the NSWCCL remains alarmed at the blatant attempts of the Minns Labor Government to restrict democratic freedoms. Rushing legislation through under the cloak of night is a hallmark of this government, and without protections like a Human Rights Act in NSW, there is nothing but committed members of the civil society community stopping them from attempting to revive these unconstitutional powers under a different name tomorrow.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) condemns the Albanese Government’s decision to activate the new ‘arrival control’ powers under the recently passed Migration Amendment Act 2026. This move, which effectively bars over 7,000 Iranian visa holders from entering Australia for the next six months, is a betrayal of human rights that sets a perilous precedent for the exercise of executive power in Australia.

This ban follows only weeks after the government granted humanitarian visas to seven members of the Iranian women’s football team. To embrace high-profile asylum cases while slamming the door on 7,000 others fleeing the same conflict is not humanitarianism - it’s border politics.

The new laws grant the Minister unprecedented discretion to block entire classes of people based on their nationality. Such expansive executive power escapes parliamentary oversight and undermines the core principles of merit based migration.

The government claims the ban is necessary because Iranians are "unlikely" to leave due to the worsening conflict. Yet, Australia is simultaneously committing military personnel and assets to the very regional war that is making the situation worse for civilians.

By preventing travel, the government is deliberately blocking the only practical pathway for many Iranians to reach Australian soil and make an onshore claim for protection - a fundamental human right. The Albanese Government is happy to use the plight of Iranians to justify military involvement, but when those same people seek the safety of their already approved visas, they are treated as a threat to 'migration integrity.' This is a dangerous step toward a system where fundamental rights are subject to the whim of a Minister.

The NSWCCL calls for the immediate revocation of the arrival control determination and for a transparent, rights-based migration process.

Today the NSW Police Commissioner has again decided to renew the Public Assembly Restriction Declaration (PARD) power for a further 14 days.  This power was established in the latest tranche of anti-democratic laws passed by the Minns Labor Government. While a PARD is in effect, Form 1 applications to hold an authorised assembly will not be accepted for the specified policing zones of the declaration. 

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties believes this is a disgraceful misuse of power.

The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) urges parliamentarians to reject the creation of proposed hate organisation powers in the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill. This Bill represents an unprecedented extension of executive power and as such has serious potential for misuse. By its broad and vague definitions, concentration of power and lack of procedural fairness the Bill creates a real risk that the powers could be used to inappropriately target groups who work against the political interests of Government, such as protestors or opposing political parties.

The proposed laws represent a very significant risk to freedom of political communication, free speech, and freedom of association. Further, it is fundamental to the rule of law that the law is accessible, intelligible, clear, and predictable. The proposals in the Bill do not meet this basic principle.

If passed, these laws could see a group designated as a hate group, by the actions of one person who happens to be a member of a group (or associated with), even if that person was not actually convicted of a hate crime, or they committed an action that was legal at the time it was committed. This is entirely too vague for the seriousness of the penalties.

Today, the Federal Government has unveiled proposed new, broad laws targeting speech and political expression. The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026 (Cth) combines practical reforms such as the creation of a National Gun Buyback Scheme with radical and unprecedented reforms to our democratic rights and liberties. 

The atrocities at Bondi necessitate a response that will address the causes of violence and increase harmony. The NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Liberty Victoria and Queensland Council for Civil Liberties condemn the proposed Bill due to its remarkable impact on human rights and civil liberties, and because there is no evidence that it will make any of us safer.

Amongst other things, the Bill would create a new framework for “prohibited hate groups”. This would grant the Home Affairs Minister extraordinary powers to designate organisations as “hate groups”, which would effectively make it illegal to be a member of or associated with that organisation. The Bill is also clear that the Minister “is not required to observe any requirements of procedural fairness" in making this decision. This gives the Minister an extraordinary discretion along with a remarkable lack of accountability. 

The Bill would also create a new racial vilification offence with a limited defence available if an individual was quoting from or otherwise referencing a religious text for the purpose of “religious teaching or discussion”. There is a risk that offences with selective exclusions or defences might create hierarchies of justice when they are directed to some attributes (such as race) but not others. Any such inequality, perceived or otherwise, only deepens division in the community.  

Many measures in the Bill go far beyond what’s required to address the horrific events at Bondi. For example, in relation to displaying symbols offences, the Bill will greatly expand the number of prohibited symbols, reduce the fault element to prove the offence, and place a reverse onus on an accused person to make out a public interest defence. This is in circumstances where the mandatory minimum sentence for the offence is 12 months’ imprisonment. This is highly likely to produce unjust outcomes.

The proposed legislation also expands the government’s already incredibly broad powers to refuse and cancel visas, allowing a person to be excluded based on a risk they “might” engage in certain conduct in Australia like inciting discord. This dangerously lowers the existing threshold into the realm of speculation.

Finally, given the far reaching and consequential nature of the reforms it is particularly concerning that the government has only given two days for stakeholders and civil society to make submissions to the inquiry. 

Today, the NSWCCL has made a submission to the NSW Government’s inquiry into measures to prohibit slogans that incite hatred. NSWCCL condemns the decision to allow only four weeks over the Christmas and New Year period for public submissions on such a radical proposal as shamefully anti-democratic and reflects a disregard for principles of transparent and responsible governance.

The NSWCCL is concerned about the weaponisation of hatred directed towards vulnerable groups as a political tool to pass legislation which unduly restricts civil liberties and calls for no further criminalisation of speech or thought to be passed into law in NSW. The criminal law alone is not equipped or designed to achieve social cohesion. It is a reactionary and coercive mechanism that should be reserved for the targeted punishment of harmful conduct, and is not effective when used to encourage broad-brushed social change.

Attempts to restrict the use of “globalise the intifada” are divisive as they target and disproportionately impact the Arabic speaking community, Palestinian community, any others who see the phrase as applicable to the causes that interest them, those supporting these communities or related causes. It does not assist social cohesion for the NSW Government to take up and codify a contested meaning in opposition to these communities. The division caused by doing so is only magnified by the inherent injustice of seeking to suppress a phrase that to many members of the NSW community speaks to fighting oppression.

Today the NSW Police Commissioner has decided to renew the Public Assembly Restriction Declaration (PARD) power for a further 14 days. This power was established in the latest tranche of anti-democratic laws passed by the Minns Labor Government. While a PARD is in effect, Form 1 applications to hold an authorised assembly will not be accepted for the specified policing zones of the declaration. 

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties believes this is a disgraceful misuse of power.

Tomorrow the NSW Police Commissioner will have to decide whether to renew the Public Assembly Restriction Declaration (PARD) power for a further 14 days. This power was established in the latest tranche of anti-democratic laws passed by the Minns Labor Government. While a PARD is in effect, Form 1 applications to hold an authorised assembly will not be accepted for the specified policing zones of the declaration.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties is calling on the NSW Police Commissioner not to renew the PARD which is currently in effect in South West Metropolitan, North West Metropolitan and Central Metropolitan policing areas for a further 14 days.

The Minns Labor government has reintroduced the Places of Worship police move-on power. This power was previously struck down by the NSW Supreme Court because it impermissibly burdened the implied constitutional freedom of political communication.