NSW Premier Chris Minns vows Crimes Act review after heated Israeli-Palestine protests
A law that outlaws threatening or inciting violence based on race or religion will be urgently reviewed, with the premier conceding it hasn’t resulted in any prosecutions.
NSW
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An urgent review of laws that outlaw threatening or inciting violence based on race or religion will be undertaken by the NSW Government following heated protests over the Israeli-Palestine conflict in Sydney, with Premier Chris Minns saying “something has got to change”.
Mr Minns made the comments on section 93Z of the Crimes Act, which criminalises threats or incitement of violence over religious or racial grounds, which hasn’t resulted in a successful prosecution since it was introduced in 2018.
“It’s resulting in no prosecutions. And if you’re going to have a law on the books saying racial vilification and hate speech is not allowed in New South Wales, then it can’t be toothless,” he said.
“You’ve got to have a situation…where it does result in charges in the end and I don’t think anyone would, with a straight face, make the claim that hate speech has been extinguished in this state.”
Mr Minns said the government would look at the law, with the Premier suggesting it could be strengthened.
“I take the point on that it hasn’t resulted in successful prosecutions, and yet there is naked racism in our communities and incitement to violence,” he said.
“So something’s got to change…we’re looking at it.”
Mr Minns also confirmed his government would talk with the Commonwealth government over tackling the bill of weekly pro-Palestine protests, which he said on Sunday were costing more than $1m each time in overtime pay and additional police resources.
It comes after a Jewish-run restaurant in Surry Hills, Shaffa, was tagged with graffiti over the weekend
“I’m obviously horrified about that event,” Mr Minns said.
“I feel deeply to the restaurant involved. It’s no fault of theirs. They’re running an honest business, providing food and hospitality for people in their community. And my understanding is that they’re well loved and well respected and local community. No one deserves… naked anti-Semitism or racism in their own community.
“New South Wales Police are investigating that… (anyone who commits) hate speech, racial vilification, it will be prosecuted. There’s been a number of arrests even in the last few weeks, and I’m really concerned about the family that runs that restaurant.”
NSW FOOTING MASSIVE PROTEST BILLS
The state government wants Canberra to help pay to deploy hundreds of police to manage weekly pro-Palestinian protests, with the bill coming to more than $1 million for every event.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal that the Minns government is in high-level talks about how to get the Commonwealth to stump up the cash amid concerns that deploying hundreds of officers to each protest is crippling the NSW Police roster.
The NSW Police Association has already lobbied the state government in a bid to get the federal government to help pay the overtime bill, with 3,400 police shifts spent managing the protests so-far since they started last month.
NSW Police Association President Kevin Morton said the protests are putting a major strain on police resources, and “absolutely” risks taking police away from their job keeping the community safe.
“For every shift that you drag away from that constable for protests, it’s going to be a bit more difficult to fill that first response, which is the required number of police that has been determined to keep the community safe,” he told the Telegraph.
“Because they’re not going to peel the numbers back from the protests.”
Requiring hundreds of police to manage major protests risks leaving other shifts vacant due to a lack of police resources.
The need to pay officers overtime to work shifts they are not rostered on for risks crippling the NSW Police budget, Mr Morton said.
He said if the commonwealth chips in funds to help pay the overtime bill, it would help NSW Police avoid a staffing shortfall.
Mr Morton wrote to the Minns government last month in a bid to get the NSW government to lobby Canberra for the money.
The Police Association called for the Commonwealth to cover the costs of extra shifts.
“Any arrangement other than this will see a decreased police presence in performing their usual duties, and therefore risk community safety,” the submission said.
Mr Morton said he has also raised his submission with federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.
A NSW government source said the states were looking to engage the Commonwealth on the ongoing costs of managing the protests.
The Telegraph understands the NSW government has already spoken with Victoria about approaching Canberra with a united front to ask for help.
Mr Minns on Sunday revealed that the protests now occurring every weekend are costing the taxpayer more than a million dollars each.
“It’s in excess of a million dollars for a major protest, and the reason for that is that there is a large police presence associated with these protests.”
The Telegraph understands the million dollar figure relates to protests of about 20,000 people and takes into account police staffing.
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters shut down the CBD on Sunday, gathering in Hyde Park after a separate pro-Israeli rally in Sydney’s east.
At the rally in the CBD, led by the United 4 Palestine organisation, protesters wearing “stop the genocide” and “free Palestine” shirts clapped and cheered as organisers spoke on stage.
Hand made cardboard signs which read “bring peace to Palestine, don’t bring Palestine to pieces” and “1 child murdered every 10 minutes. Ceasefire now” we’re thrust into the air as protest leaders took to the stage.
Earlier, around 5000 people gathered at the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park calling for freedom of Jewish hostages.
Jewish leaders said the “solidarity vigil” aimed to honour the victims from Israel and over 40 countries whose nationals were “murdered, injured or taken hostage by Hamas.”
Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin led the event for the flag-bearing and teary-eyed crowd who stood on the grass and watched on, dressed in white and blue.
In a statement, NSW Police said there were “no arrests and no incidents” at either gathering, to which “large numbers of police were deployed”.
Mr Dreyfus was contacted for comment.
Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said Jewish Australians had “never felt less safe”.
“Clearly, anti-Semitism doesn’t have a place in our country and it’s very important that we are able, no matter what is happening elsewhere in the world, to maintain social cohesion here in Australia,” he said.
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