In response to the recent terrorist incident at Bondi Beach, the New South Wales parliament is poised to approve significant changes to hate speech and gun legislation. Premier Chris Minns is adamant about pushing these measures forward despite facing legal challenges.

Premier Minns announced that the proposed legislation, aimed at overhauling both hate speech and gun laws in New South Wales, has successfully moved through the lower house. He anticipates it will receive full parliamentary approval either later today or by tomorrow morning.

“Passing this legislation is the most immediate and effective action we can take to ensure the safety of New South Wales residents,” Minns stated during a press briefing today.

He acknowledged the complexities involved in uniting political parties to enact substantial reform but praised the collaborative efforts of both the Labor and Liberal parties in achieving this legislative progress within the past 24 hours.

The proposed reforms include a contentious provision that would prohibit protests during a declared terrorism emergency. This would empower NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon to extend an initial 14-day emergency declaration to a maximum of three months.

It has already received a constitutional challenge in the High Court over the potential impact it will have on civil liberties.

But Minns said he is confident the law will withstand the challenge.

“All I will say is that we’ve run our legislation thoroughly through the Crown solicitor,” he said. 

Minns linked the actions of some who have attended pro-Palestine protests to the Bondi shooting and said organisers are “unleashing force that they can’t control”.

“In virtually all aspects of government policy, there’s an acknowledgement that words lead to actions. We hear it all the time. We accept that it is true,” he said.

“But if that’s the case, as an idea or a concept, then that must be the situation as it applies to protests in NSW.

“How can it be that a protest can take place in the state and there’s a swastika tattooed on the Star of David on a poster in the middle of the city?

“Or photos of the Ayatollah, the leader of Iran? Or posters or flags of Hezbollah or Hamas? The terrorist leader, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, a big framed picture of that leader there? Shirts saying, ‘Death to the IDF’. A sign that says ‘All Zionists are neo-Nazis.’”

Minns reiterated he wanted a “summer of calm” following the horror scenes at Bondi Beach on December 14. 

“I think that a big mass protest through the heart of Sydney at the moment would be ruinous for our unity, and I don’t resolve from that,” he said. 

The Palestine Action Group, Jews Against the Occupation and the First Nations-led Blak Caucus together have launched the constitutional challenge, saying the proposed reforms are undemocratic.

“This is the latest set of Chris Minns knee-jerk, undemocratic anti-protest laws, which are being passed again on the basis of a series of lies and misinformation and outrageous conflating of this horrible antisemitic attack at Bondi, with the protest movement more broadly, and with the Palestine protest movement in particular,” Palestine Action Group organiser Josh Lees said at a press conference today.

“These laws, if passed, don’t just affect the Palestine movement.

“These laws will take away the rights of everyone in NSW to gather together as a community, to express their views, to express their opposition to whatever government policies they oppose, to demand change.”