04-08-2025
NSW reviews Harbour Bridge march amid ‘cultural precedent' fears
NSW Premier Chris Minns has warned the Sydney Harbour Bridge pro-Palestine march does not mean 'open season' for protests at the state's major landmarks, as a leading constitutional lawyer says the decision to allow the rally bestowed unprecedented authority on its organiser.
Mr Minns on Monday said his government was investigating the implications of a Supreme Court's judgment against a police bid to shut down the Palestine Action Group's March for Humanity, fearing it could provide a legal pathway for follow-up protests.
'We're examining the judgment to determine whether this is a precedent or there's circumstances in relation to the judgment that specifically make it applicable to just that form one (protest) application,' Mr Minns said.
'No one should believe that it's open season on the bridge.
'We're not going to have a situation where the anti-vaxxer group has it one Saturday, and then the weekend after that Critical Mass takes over, and then the weekend after that we have an environmental cause, and then the weekend after that because of an industrial dispute. I think you'd accept that that's a situation that a big city like Sydney couldn't cope with.'
No other protest groups had yet lodged an application to march on the Harbour Bridge, Mr Minns said, and the Palestine Action Group had no plans for an immediate follow-up. Mr Minns and NSW police opposed the march in its lead-up, saying it would cause 'chaos'.
Constitutional lawyer and academic Greg Craven said NSW Supreme Court judge Belinda Rigg's decision on Saturday would carry a 'very weak' legal precedent in isolation for future bridge protests, but it gave authority to experienced protest organisers like PAG's Josh Lees.
'What you've got is a single decision of a single judge of the Supreme Court of NSW. So in strict legal terms, it doesn't bind the rest of the Supreme Court,' Mr Craven told The Australian.
'The weirdest thing about this is the extent to which Lees was treated almost as an expert witness. That is very unusual and the implications of that are huge, because it means that if you're applying for protests then, theoretically, you can get someone like Lees standing up, and he can simply justify the protest on his own personality.
'He's literally in a situation where he can now run protests with a stamp on it 'as approved by the NSW Supreme Court'. It's almost like a sponsorship.'
Mr Craven said it made the argument for large-scale protests more credible and was a 'crazy' legal achievement.
'Whatever you think of Lees or his group, it's an astonishing victory to be able to appropriate the biggest national symbol in Australia,' he said.
'To be able to enlist the judiciary – in an unbiased way – to give legitimacy to that, I think that's one of the craziest legal achievements that I've seen in my life.'
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief Alex Ryvchin took aim at PAG for its role in the march, arguing it made the protest more divisive and 'ignored' the plight of hostages held by Hamas.
'Our national landmarks are there to bring Australians together. This march did not do that,' Mr Ryvchin said.
'While the majority of those who marched were no doubt there in solidarity with Gazan civilians and do not harbour pro-Hamas views, the organisers are the same group that held a pro-Palestinian rally as the October 7 massacre was still unfolding.'
The Palestine Action Group earlier on Monday said the March for Humanity had been misrepresented by police and politicians in the hours after it dispersed.
Protesters in NSW are required only to provide police a week's notice for any planned demonstration, during which time authorities can decide to challenge the authorisation of the protest in the Supreme Court – usually citing safety concerns, as was the case ahead of the Harbour Bridge march. James Dowling Science and Health Reporter
James Dowling is a reporter for The Australian's Sydney bureau. He previously worked as a cadet journalist writing for the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and NewsWire, in addition to this masthead. As an intern at The Age he was nominated for a Quill award for News Reporting in Writing. Nation
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