This ban is such a garbage idea.
The cops have recently tried to shut down protests in Sydney by arguing that their route supposedly takes them too close to particular places of worship - despite the route being originally proposed by the cops! This will only bolster that obstructionism.
But he said there were already laws designed to do precisely that, which target violent protest, offensive behaviour, racial abuse and discrimination.
Amen!
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) has come out against these laws: https://www.nswccl.org.au/media_release_religious_institutions
How sad too bad. The clergy did not care where they abused their victims, abusing victims in churches, in schools, in homes. The victims had no choice.
If protests make the church look bad then good.
This ban is garbage because hate speech is already illegal.
If you’re a Nazi “protesting” outside a synagogue, yeah off to jail you go, no new laws required.
This is anti-protest, pure and simple.
What are the chances councils will approve the building of Churches, Synagogues and Mosques within strategic radius of city centres to make all protests within a city automatically illegal?
Surely it is zero.
I think in Sydney’s CBD there are already lots of little places of worship, they just look like offices or conference halls.
Where is this coming from? Is it related to the arson attack on that synagogue, recently? Has there been a swathe of protests against places of worship I missed?
I’m not sure if banning protests are going to have any effect on people doing arson attacks which are already clearly illegal.
One protest outside a synagogue which inspired this latest “ban protests” idea was one organised in response to a Technion University 100 year event[1][2] which was using The Great Synagogue Sydney as the venue:
Highlights:
- Speakers:
- Prof. Wayne Kaplan – Technion’s Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development
- Mr. David Weinberg – The Jerusalem Post- Israel’s resilience and determination to win.
- A special guest – a Technion graduate, sharing experiences from their recent reserve duty
- In attendance of:
- Nova Peris OAM.
- Distinguished Prof. Moti Segev – A world leading physicist and Israel Prize winner from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
- Art Show: Featuring works by Avraham Vofsi, an Israeli artist, whose unique pieces reflect post October 7 feelings. Avi was born in Melbourne and was an Archibald Prize finalist in 2022.
The Great Synagogue itself published on their own news page their comments on the protest, mentioning that it was not a Great Synagogue event nor was it religious:
Protest Outside The Great Synagogue
On Wednesday night 4 December we hosted an event on behalf of Technion University in Israel to enable them to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the operation of that University. This was not a religious service nor was it a Great Synagogue event. […](Their weekly news page has since been replaced with new content but search engine result snippets still had traces.)
For what it’s worth, the Technion protest was organised weeks before the location was announced, so it was definitely nothing to do with it being a place of worship.
- Speakers:
I think the arson attack and a earlier protest that was cancelled are cited as reasons.
