‘March against Israel': Sydney protestors used Harbour Bridge as a ‘symbol of hate'
'This so-called march for humanity, which was promoted as a peaceful demonstration, was anything but,' Mr Cassuto told Sky News host Steve Price.
'These images are not about peace.
'If these people wanted peace, then they'd stand side by side with Jews and Palestinians.
'This was a march against Israel… this was not a march for peace.'
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7NEWS
16 minutes ago
- 7NEWS
Protests planned across Australia after Sydney Harbour Bridge march
Protest laws could be repealed or expanded following a march across an iconic national landmark, as activists plan for more demonstrations. The pro-Palestine movement, boosted by a march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge which made news across the nation and around the world, hopes to build on its momentum. The march across the bridge and back in pouring rain came after opposition from police, and a court's overruling approval that has politicians worrying about the rare occurrence becoming common. Further protests are planned on August 24 in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth with hopes more can be organised in other cities. Ahead of the state's parliament resuming on Tuesday, NSW Premier Chris Minns says his government is examining whether a legal precedent has been set by the Supreme Court judgment that allowed the protest to proceed. 'No one should believe it's open season on the bridge,' he told reporters on Monday. But new laws might be needed to stop future bridge protests. Minns was 'not ruling anything out' but said any legislation could not be rushed. Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley encouraged the premier to look at 'what might happen next'. 'Because we can't continue to have these protests that shut down such an important area of a major city,' she told reporters. In her determination declining to prohibit the march, Justice Belinda Rigg said the bridge would have been closed to traffic regardless of whether the protest was authorised or not. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said demonstrations were an important part of democracy and highlighted the peaceful nature of the Sydney march. 'Australians want people to stop killing each other, they want peace and security ... they don't want conflict brought here,' he said. Minns has faced some internal dissent from other Labor MPs over protest legislation. NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson has also flagged plans to seek the repeal of laws limiting protest, first introduced by the previous coalition government but expanded under Labor. Palestine Action Group organiser Josh Lees, defendant of the court action NSW Police took in an unsuccessful attempt to have the demonstration ruled unlawful, says nationwide protests are being planned for August 24. 'We want to build on this massive momentum we have now,' he told reporters. Despite concerns of regular marches across the bridge, Lees said the group has no plans for a repeat crossing any time soon and accused the premier of having an anti-protest agenda. 'His stance is pretty clear and he's passed a raft of anti-protest legislation already,' Lees said. 'We're going to have to keep fighting for our rights to demonstrate.'


Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Door open on changes to major tax
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino has left the door open to potential changes to the GST, saying the upcoming economic reform roundtable should consider a broad range of tax options to boost productivity. Speaking ahead of the forum, which will focus on ways to lift Australia's long-term economic performance, Dr Mulino said ruling any ideas in or out ahead of time would 'undermine' the purpose of the discussion. 'In the long run, productivity growth is what underpins our standard of living, and any productivity discussion has to include tax,' he told Sky News. GST, or Goods and Services tax, is a levy of 10 per cent on most items sold in Australia. Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino has left the door open to potential changes to the GST ahead of the economic reform roundtable. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia His comments follow a new report suggesting the most effective way to fund reductions in corporate tax would be through expanding the GST, increasing council land rates, and raising taxes on offshore oil and gas projects. Dr Mulino said it was important to look at the full tax system, including how different taxes affect the economy, fairness, and how easy they are to administer. 'And what the Treasurer has said from the outset is that he doesn't want to get into the rule in rule out game, because that would undermine the whole purpose of this process. 'And so he's open to a range of ideas being brought to the round table. 'So what we saw in the analysis that you're referring to is that it's possible to rank taxes by how distortionary they are, and that's an important piece of the analysis. 'But I'd also say that when we're looking at tax reform, that's only one of the criteria. 'It's also important to consider, when you look at a range of taxes, the equity of different taxes and also the administrative simplicity of different taxes and their physical implications. 'That's what makes tax reform complex, but you can't just look at that one characteristic of taxes in isolation.' Opposition industrial relations spokesman Tim Wilson labelled the roundtable a 'tax hike summit'. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia Opposition industrial relations spokesman Tim Wilson labelled the roundtable a 'tax hike summit' saying Australians 'didn't vote' for GST reforms. 'So far, all we've had is proposals for tax hikes. It's a tax hike summit from Treasurer Jim Chalmers. You know, initially it was a productivity one,' Mr Wilson said on Sky News. 'I've heard lots of proposals to raise taxes. I haven't heard many proposals about how they plan to cut taxes and drive productivity growth and improvements in the economy.' The discussions are set to be held over three days from August 19.

Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
'Anti-ambitious': Sky News host Laura Jayes rips into Jacinta Allan's WFH decree as Coalition says policy would be a 'tragic outcome'
Sky News host Laura Jayes has savaged Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan's plan to enshrine work from home rights in law while shadow industrial relations minister Tim Wilson said the policy would bring the state to its knees. On Saturday Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan announced that she would draft legislation ahead of next November's state election to force employers to allow workers in both the public and private sector to work from home for two days a week where possible. The policy has sparked the ire of countless industry and small business bodies who labelled the move an overreach and insisted the plan would severely impact their business models amidst a cost-of-living crisis. Sky News host Laura Jayes ripped into the policy and said Ms Allan was drafting policies which were political breadwinners as opposed to meaningful reform. 'It's so low rent, so anti-ambitious there's been a lot of criticism for it,' Jayes said. 'This is government getting in people's lives when they don't need to be, I find that extraordinary after Covid particularly in Melbourne that people would want government in their lives and wouldn't want to just broker that with their employers." Meanwhile the Coalition's industry relations spokesperson and Goldstein MP Tim Wilson labelled the policy as a 'political stunt' and reiterated that frontline workers would be left by the wayside. 'The Premier is gaslighting Victorian employees but in the process putting serious risks to jobs in Victoria as employers consider do, we really want to continue to operate here anymore,' Mr Wilson told Sky News. 'What is obvious to everybody is that teachers, nurses, tradies and retail workers are not going to get the benefit from this. 'The Victorian Premier is gaslighting tradies teachers retail workers and not actually taking workplace arrangements seriously because she thinks she can get some political benefits from a stunt rather than doings things that will actually drive-up wages and standards of living.' Neighbouring states including New South Wales and South Australia are reportedly attempting to take advantage of the situation and lure businesses across the border. Business NSW CEO Daniel Hunter told The Australian the blanket rules would make it 'harder and less appealing' for companies to operate in Victoria and said that NSW 'may well be the beneficiary of that.' Mr Wilson said the business community in Victoria viewed the move as counter-intuitive and concerning and said the policy would make the state far less attractive for entrepreneurs. 'Victorian employers are saying explicitly that if we enshrine this into law it's another nail in the coffin for the Victorian business community and when people are making choices about where they invest, where they make decisions to set up businesses they will look to other states,' Mr Wilson said. 'As a proud Victorian I see this as a tragic outcome – we already know from public data that all of the growth in employment in the Australian economy right now is on the back of public expenditure." He also said there were serious legal gaps in the policy and reiterated that the private sector was subject to federal government regulation. 'They made an announcement they were going to guarantee an outcome – since the lawyers have said you can't do that for private sector workers, that's covered by federal law,' he said. Federal Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said on Monday the government would not intervene to roll back Ms Allan's policy and insisted the government was not 'marking their homework.' Mr Wilson claimed it was the Prime Minister's view that work from home arrangements should be negotiated between employers and employees. 'They won't say whether they back Jacinta Allan's plan because they know she is gaslighting the Victorian public, they know what she is doing is unconstitutional,' Mr Wilson said.