The NSW premier has rejected suggestions he is stoking division among Middle Eastern communities and denied wanting to charge protesters for police at pro-Palestinian rallies.
Chris Minns has faced accusations of "dog-whistling" and "anti-Palestinian racism" after floating law tweaks to strengthen the hand of NSW Police to halt street marches.
The legal change was mooted based on policing costs, and followed a heavy law-enforcement presence at Sunday's 52nd consecutive weekly pro-Palestine protest in Sydney.
A senior adviser to Australia's Muslim faith leaders labelled the premier's language around the pro-Palestine rallies as divisive, but Mr Minns rejected that claim on Wednesday.
"In the circumstances, I've been completely consultative - my door has always been open," the premier said.
He would not always agree with faith and community leaders, Mr Minns added, again citing an anti-Israel march on the Opera House steps in 2023 as reason to remain vigilant on community safety.
His suggestion that police should be allowed to deny demonstration permits due to stretched resources has drawn ire from several quarters.
Any move to add a financial hurdle would undermine the very freedom to protest, Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey warned.
"Democracy should not be monetised," he said.
"We might not like every protest but we should uphold the right to conduct them in a safe and co-ordinated fashion."
The overwhelming majority of protests over the past year had been peaceful expressions of solidarity and justice, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network said.
"By dog-whistling about policing these protests, Premier Minns obscures this reality and tries to criminalise those who are advocating for human rights," president Nasser Mashni said, dubbing the conduct "anti-Palestinian racism".
There was broad support across the community for such valid expressions of dissent, Australian National Imams Council spokesman Bilal Rauf said.
"There is a deep connection (to) what is happening abroad - relatives of Australian citizens are being killed or injured," he told AAP.
But the Labor premier hosed down suggestions of a user-pays policing scheme for protests, an idea pushed by the NSW opposition.
His primary concern was the opportunity cost of having police monitoring serial protests, rather than monitoring road safety.
Further protests are planned for Sunday, when the Palestinian Action Group will use the previous week's large-scale rally to drive a repeat, high turnout.
"After a massive turnout in defiance to Premier Chris Minns' attempt to shut down protests against Israel's genocide last week, let's keep up the momentum," the group said in a Facebook post.
Mr Minns firmly rejected Greens MP Sue Higginson's suggestion of assigning fewer police to peaceful protests.
There was a heavy police presence at a weekend protest when about 10,000 people congregated in Sydney's Hyde Park after authorities ditched a court bid to shut the rally down.
It came a day out from the first anniversary of Hamas killing 1200 people in Israel and taking about 250 hostages.
The counter-attack by Israel's military has killed at least 41,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.
