Submission to the NSW Government Inquiry into Anti-Protest Laws
The Minns Government must protect the right to peaceful protest in NSW and scrap draconian anti-protest laws, said the Human Rights Law Centre. The current anti-protest laws in NSW are anti-democratic, disproportionate and violate international human rights law, in particular the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
The current laws, which were rushed through in April 2022 in 30 hours, deliberately target protesters, threatening everyone from school children marching for climate action to anti-war protestors with up to two years in jail and a $22,000 fine.
The Human Rights Law Centre, in its submissions to a review of the laws, recommended:
- Repealing the April 2022 anti-protest amendments to current laws
- Reviewing the ‘protest permit’ system
- A legislated Human Rights Act in New South Wales
Read our submission to the Review into the Roads Act 1993 here
Read our submission to the Review into the Crimes Act 1900 here

Joint submission against expansion of the Making Queensland Safer Act 2024
The Human Rights Law Centre and Change the Record have are strongly opposed to the Crisafulli Government's laws that will sentence even more children to adult-length terms of imprisonment. The laws will lock up children for even longer, and harm kids, families, and communities.
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Submission to 2025-26 Federal Budget consultation
The Human Rights Law Centre has put forward recommendations to the 2025-26 federal budget submissions across a range of issues, including campaigning for an Australian Human Rights Act, migration justice, prisoners’ rights, whistleblower protection and modern slavery.
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Submission to Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021 review
The Human Rights Law Centre is calling for stronger safeguards for the right to privacy and warned that these powers enable the AFP and ACIC to undertake significant invasions of privacy, encroach on the right to privacy, and threaten to have a chilling effect on the work of journalists and their sources.
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