78ers In Support Of Legal Challenge To New Anti-Protest Laws In NSW

Five 78ers, veterans of the first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in June 1978 are speaking out against new anti-protest laws passed in NSW last week.

The group, who were attacked by police while peacefully demanding basic civil and human rights for sexual minorities, support a coalition of groups including Jews against the Occupation, Palestine Action Group and Blak Caucus in their legal challenge to new anti-protest laws in NSW.

They are calling for public opposition to the anti-protest laws and unity for the community. 

New anti-protest legislation in NSW is another threat to Australians’ democratic right to peacefully assemble

In the aftermath of the horrific Bondi Beach killings of December 14, targeting members of the Australian Jewish community, we call for political and community leadership that brings all Australians together. 

Now is not the time for leaders to exploit the moment for narrow political or sectarian interests. Now is not the time for leaders to carelessly or angrily cast around blame and poisonously defame and scapegoat whole communities. This can only delay the time when we can say that all of us can be safe and secure living in a peaceful land. 

Jewish Australians know this very well and so too do Muslim Australians. LGBTIQA+ Australians, who transcend all cultural and faith groups, also have an interest in Australia being a safe place free from targeted criminal attacks that seek to instil terror and fear. 

We are concerned at false perspectives designed not only to blame but to inflame, such as the conflation of peaceful protest against war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide with antisemitism. Many thousands of LGBTIQA+ Australians have attended and marched in anti-genocide rallies over the past more than two years. They have done so because they know that silence in the face of oppression is not an option.

The Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 which passed the Upper House of the NSW Parliament at 3.00am on Christmas Eve has been hastily drafted as a response to the Bondi Beach massacre. While tightening access to lethal guns is a welcome move, we 78ers are deeply concerned about the new limitations placed on peaceful activism and the right to protest.

Under both Labor and Liberal state governments more and more laws have been passed that place ever greater restrictions that limit or deny the civil, political, and human rights of protestors. The new anti-protest legislation in NSW is another threat to Australians’ democratic right to peacefully assemble in public, a right that should be protected.

If activism and peaceful protest are under threat, then so too are fundamental human rights. Promoting and protecting these rights is essential for a healthy democracy. We believe that the expansion of the powers at the executive levels of the police and government to make unaccountable decisions is a step too far and must not be permitted to further limit civil, political, or other human rights. 

Referring to the new powers to curtail or ban peaceful protest constitutional lawyer Anne Toomey states that when “a public assembly restriction declaration applies it will apply to every public assembly that takes place within that area, even when a particular assembly, be it a Mardi Gras parade or a protest about the closure of a local school, is not something that would be likely to cause fear or risk of public safety.”

Stifling dissent with draconian measures that include placing a ban on public assembly for a period of up to 90 days after the designation of a terrorist event and imposing heavy fines and prison sentences result in increased tension and a further erosion of trust.

It is the clear intent of the Minns government to restrict protests against Israeli government actions which amount to genocide against the Palestinian people. This is the kind of sectarian response to the terrible massacre of Jewish people at Bondi that can only increase social division and alienate entire communities from government.

Call for public response

We call for broad public opposition to the anti-protest laws just passed in the NSW Parliament.

We note and welcome the words of Police Minister Yasmin Catley speaking at Parliament House on November 21. At an update on implementing the recommendations of Justice Sackar’s ‘Report on the Special Commission of Inquiry into Gay and Trans Hate Crimes 1970-2010,’ she stated:

“And I know a lot has been said about protests, and where the limits of lawful protests lie, but we must never lose sight of the fact that the right to protest is not just a symptom of a liberal, democratic society, it is the cause of it.” 

“The right of the public to assemble and publicly speak up against injustice is the cornerstone of our free society.”

We assert that rights to peaceful protest should be enshrined not only in law but in the hearts and minds of all citizens. Education, dialogue and collaboration are required to build trust and to foster a healthier interaction between governments, the police, minority groups and the broader community.

This piece was written and signed with the support of the following 78ers:

Gary Schliemann, Mark Gillespie, Peter Murphy, Jesse Hooley and Steve Warren