Islamic leaders accuse premier of threatening social cohesion over protest ban

Islamic leaders have accused Chris Minns of stoking community division by flagging plans to make it harder for pro-Palestinian demonstrators to hold marches through Sydney, saying the premier’s continued criticism of the protest movement undermined their calls for calm.

Minns flagged on Tuesday his intention to make it easier for police to object to protest marches because of their impact on police resources, saying the weekly pro-Palestine demonstrations had forced police to divert resources from other duties such as roadside drug and alcohol testing.

NSW Premier Chris Minns.Credit: Janie Barrett

Citing the costs of policing the protests – he said police had spent $5.4 million on wages for officers to be at the demonstrations between January and September this year – Minns announced a review into “the resources committed to continual protests”.

Following a year of weekly demonstrations by pro-Palestinian activists, Minns said he wanted NSW Police “in a position to be able to, if they feel they don’t have the resources, deny an application for a march through Sydney”.

The announcement – which caught members of the government off guard – also prompted criticism from union leaders. Despite Minns saying industrial action would be hived off from any crackdown, the head of Unions NSW Mark Morey said adding a “financial hurdle” to the freedom of protest “undermines that very freedom”.

“Democracy should not be monetised. We might not like every protest, but we should uphold the right to conduct them in a safe and co-ordinated fashion,” he said.

Minns’ comments came after a week in which he repeatedly criticised the group organising the protests, Palestine Action Group (PAG), in the lead-up to a vigil planned for the anniversary of the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7. It followed demonstrations the week before in which attendees held images of the slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and some waved flags associated with the Lebanese militant group.

The premier last week hit out at the leaders of the PAG, saying they were “not from the major Arabic or Islamic communities in Sydney”. He compared them to Islamic religious leaders, who he said had been in positive dialogue about “lowering the temperature” through the government’s Faith Affairs Council.

But some of those same Islamic leaders have accused Minns of unnecessarily inflaming community tensions through his criticisms of the protests.

Bilal Rauf, a spokesman for the Australian National Imams Council, which sits on the faith council, said Minns had “little to no interaction” with his community and had been “very inaccessible and difficult to engage with”.

A spokesperson for Minns denied the premier had been difficult to contact, saying he had not refused any request to meet the ANIC.

Rauf accused Minns of undermining social cohesion, saying the premier’s sustained attacks on the pro-Palestine demonstrators was “having the effect of provoking, disrupting and threatening” public unity.

“While we’re not directly involved with the protests we can say there is a large proportion of our community who have been attending,” he said.

“It is an opportunity for them to express their deep distress and anxiety about what is happening to their family and friends abroad in Palestine and now in Lebanon where people have had family members and friends killed.”

The Faith Affairs Council was set up by the government last year to “enhance community harmony, security and well-being” after the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East. But Rauf said the premier had shown a “partial” view of the conflict which had undermined the council.

“Rather than listen to the grievance and distress of different segments of society he has chosen to find every opportunity to shut it down,” he said.

“In some ways it has entrenched things, and creates further disruption to social cohesion. In a sense what he is doing is having the effect of provoking and disruption and threatening social cohesion.”

Dr Ali Alsamail and Julie Karaki from the Shia Muslim Council of Australia said Sunday’s turnout showed the people of NSW cared deeply about the loss of life in the Middle East.

“It is disheartening that the premier is seeking to stop these protests,” they said in a statement. “Instead, he should be listening to his constituents and genuinely addressing their concerns.”

The review will centre around whether courts should have more power to uphold police concerns about protest marches due to their drain on police resources. The $5.4 million cited by Minns is taken from the $3.8 billion police allocated to employee-related costs in the most recent budget.

Angus McFarland, Secretary of the Australian Services Union, said making it harder to obtain authorisation for protests could backfire because organisers may choose not to engage with police before events.

“Restricting the right to safely and peacefully protest could lead some people to ventilate their frustrations through other means that may create a greater risk to community safety and cohesion,” he said.

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