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The Minns government refuses to say when it will introduce laws banning the Palestinian protest phrase “globalise the Intifada” despite labelling them urgent after the Bondi terror attack.
Despite moving quickly to announce it would ban the phrase – which is popular among pro-Palestinian groups, but which many Jewish organisations deem hate speech – after the Bondi terror attack, the government has yet to introduce legislation to make the contentious change.
The delay has prompted NSW Jewish Board of Deputies President David Ossip to urge the government to swiftly legislate the ban and end the “era of tolerating dangerous rhetoric”.
Opponents of the ban have questioned the government’s justification for a “rushed” inquiry, announced days before Christmas and which held no public hearings before it handed down a report more than two months ago.
In the days after the shooting, Premier Chris Minns labelled the phrase “hateful, violent rhetoric” and explicitly tied it to the shooting.
“You’ve seen what the consequences of globalising the intifada are,” he said after the attack.
“It’s the deaths of 15 innocent people on the beaches of Bondi Beach simply for practising their religion in a peaceful way.”
In February, the phrase was used by 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame in a speech to thousands of protesters demonstrating against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, which ended in multiple arrests and allegations of police heavy-handedness.
Despite warnings from legal authorities including leading constitutional expert Professor Anne Twomey that a ban on the phrase would probably be struck down by the courts for breaching the implied freedom of political communication, the government insists it will push ahead with the change.
NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley now says the government is monitoring a similar ban on protest phrases already passed in Queensland.
“Legislation in this area is complex and may face constitutional challenge,” Daley said.
“The government is continuing work on this and is carefully considering a number of matters, including the findings and recommendations in the committee report and the recent laws passed in Queensland.”
Those comments mark a notable change to the government’s previous position. When Minns was asked last month whether the government would delay the legislation to see how the law plays out in Queensland, he said: “No, it’s coming in soon.”
But, he conceded, the legislation was “tricky”.
“These are not simple pieces of legislation to move through parliament. They’re all subject to constitutional challenge,” he said.
“I don’t want to be in a situation where that bill is eventually struck down, because I think it might incite more people than use the phrase.”
A previous attempt by the government to crack down on protests around places of worship was struck out by the courts last year after activists argued it infringed upon the implied freedom of political communication. The laws have since been rewritten and reintroduced.
A Labor-controlled parliamentary committee was tasked with investigating the best path to banning the phrase, with legal groups and community stakeholders given three weeks over the Christmas holiday period to provide detailed submissions.
No public hearings were held, and the report recommending the phrase be banned was tabled in parliament on January 30.
Committee chair Edmond Atalla said in a media statement at the time the tight turnaround was essential “due to the urgency of the issue and the need for parliament to consider the matter when it resumes next week”.
Ossip said banning the phrase would lower the temperature on Sydney’s streets and repair social cohesion.
“Those chanting this phrase are giving rise to combustible forces which can’t be controlled,” he said.
“The phrase must be swiftly proscribed to put its illegality beyond question.”
The Inner City Legal Centre was one of several legal groups which made submissions to the inquiry urging the government not to proceed with the proposed ban in the context of what it called the “rushed” inquiry and the “potentially chilling effect” of the changes.
Katie Green, the centre’s chief executive, said she was not surprised the government had been forced to slow down the proposed ban.
“Surely the NSW government received advice that there is a risk that it will be found to be unconstitutional,” she said.
She said given the changes had not progressed, the government should hold a more detailed inquiry.
“There has been great time, rightly, dedicated to considering lots of other hate speech laws, and the appropriate response to Bondi, but censoring free speech today might have very serious consequences tomorrow,” she said.
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