By Carla Jaeger
The Allan government is on a collision course with civil libertarians and pro-Palestinian groups over a plan to criminalise behaviour at peaceful protests including wearing masks, displaying flags of proscribed groups, and carrying ropes, bike locks and glue.
Premier Jacinta Allan said increased police powers were needed to stamp out extremist influences at public demonstrations, but the government’s proposal was denounced by civil rights and protest groups who described it as “knee-jerk lawmaking” that would have a chilling effect on democratic rights.
The raft of reforms announced on Tuesday add to strengthened anti-hate laws introduced to state parliament last month. The government cited a rise in antisemitic incidents across Australia and Victoria – including the arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in the heart of Melbourne’s Jewish community – as the catalysts for the additional bans.
The crackdown will place a blanket ban on symbols and flags of listed terrorist organisations – including Hamas, Hezbollah and white nationalist groups – which extend beyond existing restrictions in federal counter-terrorism laws. It will also prohibit protests outside places of worship.
Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) chief executive Naomi Levin cautiously welcomed the reforms. Zionism Victoria president Elyse Schachna described them as an important step to address rising levels of antisemitism in Melbourne.
“Victorians have had enough of their city being overtaken by often hostile and aggressive protesters,” Schachna said.
A Hezbollah flag displayed at a rally in Melbourne.Credit: AAP
Liberty Victoria vice president Sam Norton said the proposed changes would lead to people being prosecuted for non-crimes, and that the prohibition on protests outside places of worship could unintentionally prevent advocacy groups from bringing public attention to institutional abuse.
“What would their answer be to the protests that occurred, for example, outside Catholic churches in Ballarat? Are you going to prevent victims of child sex abuse from tying ribbons on the fence of the church?” he said.
“There’s about 700 things wrong with this proposal.
“Firstly, it’s being done without one scrap of consultation. Secondly, there is absolutely no link whatsoever between the recent firebombing and any form of protest. The firebombing is a crime, a serious crime, unconnected to concepts of demonstration or protests.”
Norton said the proposed bans would likely be counterproductive. “What’s not going to lead to a decrease in tension is criminalising behaviour that is not criminal. What will assist is a mature exchange of views.”
The proposed ban on face masks at protests revives legislation introduced by the then-Andrews government in 2016, which it subsequently abandoned after concerns raised by civil libertarian groups.
At the time, the proposed laws were aimed at far-right extremists who wore face masks to shield their identity from police.
Pro-Palestinian activists have staged weekly protests in Melbourne’s CBD since October 7, 2023, when Hamas’ attack on Israel ignited the war in Gaza.
They believe the state government’s revived proposal is aimed squarely at them. Some protesters wear keffiyeh scarves to cover their faces.
Islamic Council of Victoria president Adel Salman, who has spoken at the Melbourne rallies, said the proposed new powers were an overreaction.
“It all presents a view that somehow, there is something insidious about the protests,” he told The Age. “[The Pro-Palestinian protests] have been going for 62-plus weeks. They’ve been peaceful. I cannot recall when there’s been violence clashes, forms of intimidation.”
Salman also expressed concern at a proposed new requirement for multicultural groups to make a binding “social cohesion pledge” to receive government funding.
Anti-war protesters in Melbourne in September.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Levin said the JCCV had been pushing for more than a year for the government to adopt the pledge.
The Victorian government has been under growing pressure to do more to combat antisemitism and prevent attacks on Jewish people since this month’s firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue. The attack drew condemnation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Australian Jewish community leaders, and prompted a travel advisory from US-based human rights group to any Jews visiting Australia.
Allan said no arrests had been made in relation to the attack. The Australian Federal Police this week charged a 36-year-old man for displaying a Hezbollah flag at a pro-Palestinian rally in Melbourne three months ago.
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network described the proposed changes as “a dangerous attack on civil liberties, aimed at suppressing legitimate public political action by Palestinians and their supporters demanding an end to Israel’s 15-month-long genocide in Gaza”.
Allan said the government would consult on the proposed reforms, which won’t be legislated before parliament next sits in February.
There will be some exemptions for wearing face masks at protests, including for health or religious reasons, and for members of the media. Allan said the details would be developed over the summer.
Greens justice spokesperson Katherine Copsey said the government reforms would set a dangerous precedent.
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