Overview
- The NSW Court of Appeal, which ruled Thursday, struck down the post‑Bondi protest regime for placing an impermissible burden on the implied freedom of political communication.
- Passed on December 24, the law let the police commissioner issue Public Assembly Restriction Declarations that blocked the normal process to authorise rallies and stripped protesters of limited legal protections.
- A blanket declaration covered Greater Sydney within hours of passage, was later narrowed to the CBD and eastern suburbs with a Hyde Park carve‑out, and expired on February 17 after multiple extensions.
- Judges found the powers were over‑broad because they could suppress protests unrelated to any terror act and used low thresholds tied to a reasonable person’s fear rather than concrete risks.
- Cases from the Town Hall rally during Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit are not automatically void, but 27 arrests and 10 charges now face calls to be dropped as the state pays the plaintiffs’ legal costs and the government withholds its next steps.