Protest organisers in NSW would be less likely to face legal battles for permission to hold protest if the state adopted a human rights charter, according to a legal expert.

On Thursday, Sydney’s pro-Palestine rally organisers were in the supreme court, contesting a police attempt to block their Sunday protest and another event planned for Monday. The police eventually approved Sunday’s protest after a last-minute route change. The organisers of the Monday event chose to cancel their application for Monday’s protest, choosing instead to hold a vigil, which doesn't require approval.

This standoff reignited calls for the NSW government to replace the current approval process with a human rights act.

Premier Chris Minns previously supported police, arguing that neither event should proceed due to concerns over potential violence.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties president, Lydia Shelly, said the form 1 system was an “international embarrassment” that “lent itself to litigation” and had “no place in a democratic society”.

“The public in a democracy should not be forced in a position where they need to go to court to try to exercise their democratic freedoms,” Shelly said. “They are consistently placed in that position again and again and again in NSW.”

The NSW CCL urged the Minns Labor government to scrap the form 1 system and legislate a human rights charter like those which exist in Victoria and Queensland.

Shelly said a NSW charter would protect people’s right to peaceful protest as well as the rights of independent legal observers to attend rallies. She said the Minns government’s response to the proposal had been “lukewarm” at best.

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