The New South Wales supreme court’s ruling is not merely the invalidation of a law. It draws a clear constitutional line: the state cannot suppress protest under broad justifications such as “social cohesion”.
In a decisive judgment, the court struck down protest laws introduced by the government of Chris Minns after the Bondi attack, placing a firm limit on state power. This is not a technical ruling. It is a direct rejection of a political logic that sought to redefine protest from a democratic right into a risk to be managed.
