Police will retain the power to bar people from the centre of Sydney during the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog after a court win.
Protest organisers Palestine Action Group were unsuccessful in their legal action against the NSW government on Monday after it declared Mr Herzog’s visit a major event.
The declaration grants police extra powers to bolster officer numbers, search anyone in the declared event area and prevent them from entering ahead of a rally at Sydney’s Town Hall planned for the evening.
Less than 45 minutes before the protest was due to begin, NSW Supreme Court Justice Robertson Wright announced the challenge to the declaration was dismissed.
“Submissions on both sides had … considerable force,” Justice Wright said.
“My conclusions have not been reached easily or lightly.”
Thousands of protesters will still show their opposition to Mr Herzog despite the ruling, Palestine Action Group spokesman Josh Lees said outside court.
“We’ve lost this case, but that does not affect what we’re doing tonight,” Mr Lees said.
Palestine Action Group is still seeking a compromise with NSW Police that would allow the activists to march from Town Hall to Parliament House, Mr Lees said.
Hundreds of protesters and about 200 police had descended on Town Hall more than half an hour before the planned protest.
Lawyers for the protesters told the court that the government’s declaration was too broad and did not meet legal requirements because no participants or geographic area were specified.
The scope of police powers was illustrated in a hypothetical constructed by barrister Peter Lange SC.
“A stereotypical barrister might happen to be searched without a warrant because he happens to be in the eastern suburbs,” he said.
“If he refuses to undergo a search … he may be excluded from the area in which he resides.”
However, the government’s barrister Brendan Lim SC argued the scenario was not useful for adjudicating whether protesters were the intended target of the declaration.
“(It is) a distorting hypothetical that is of no assistance … there is no attempt to focus on the consequences for the plaintiff,” Mr Lim said.
He argued the declaration was not made to suppress Monday evening’s protest but rather to relocate it to Hyde Park, where Palestine Action Group has conducted hundreds of rallies.
Evidence suggests that separating protesters from mourners and the Israeli president was the motivation, Justice Wright noted.
The NSW government passed laws following December’s Bondi Beach terror attack which restricted protections typically granted to authorised protests.
Those temporary powers – which can be extended for up to three months after a terror event – were fortified by the major event declaration announced on Saturday.
NSW Premier Chris Minns incorrectly claimed the major events powers had previously been used when Sydney hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2007.
The laws were not implemented until 2009, with separate specific legislation developed for the APEC event.
Mr Herzog’s role is largely ceremonial, but he has sparked outrage for being photographed signing an Israeli artillery shell.
A United Nations inquiry found his comments after the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 – in which he described Palestinians as an “entire nation out there that is responsible” – to reasonably be interpreted as incitement for genocide.
Rallies against Mr Herzog’s visit are scheduled across Australia on Monday evening.
Anyone who fails to comply with NSW police directions will face penalties that include fines of up to $5500.
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
