NSW Labor ‘inquiry’ pushes dangerous new laws against dissent |
A hastily drawn-up “inquiry” into hate speech in NSW, following the Bondi Beach terrorist attack, will hand down its report on January 31.
The inquiry’s narrow term of reference is looking into the “threat” that words pose to “community cohesion and safety”. Labor Premier Chris Minns is campaigning to outlaw what he terms “hateful” phrases, such as “Globalise the intifada”.
Minns also wants to give councils new powers to shut down “factories of hate”, which, he says, operate without planning approvals. The new laws will allow councils to cut off utilities to targeted venues and raise fines on individuals from $11,000 to $110,000 and for corporations from $22,000 to a massive $220,000.
Minns claims to be motivated by concerns for people’s safety, but his practice over the past two years shows this to be a lie. Since October 2023, he has followed the Zionist copybook and smeared the anti-genocide movement as antisemitic.
His efforts to ban several Palestine marches backfired, including the historic March for Humanity over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which the NSW Supreme Court ruled should go ahead. His attempt to stop the protest likely compelled more people to exercise their conscience and join despite the driving rain.
Just as last year, the NSW Supreme Court ruled that aspects of Minns’ new anti-protest laws were unconstitutional. This year, Palestine Action Group, Jews Against the Occupation ’48 and Blak Caucus are challenging his new rushed laws after the Bondi terror attack in the courts.
Minns may be overreaching — as his counterpart in South Australia has done by publicly urging the Adelaide Writers Festival to uninvite Australian-Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah. Premier Peter Malinauskas’ anti-democratic push may come back to bite him at........