'Get the facts': premier warned over anti-protest laws

Perth Now

3 days ago

Jacinta Allan has been warned against following the lead of a fellow state premier in rushing through law changes to curb anti-Semitism without all the facts on high-profile attacks.
The Victorian government has been drafting laws to ban protests outside places of worship and demonstrators wearing face coverings.
The proposed changes were announced in December after rallies from masked neo-Nazis and a synagogue at Ripponlea in Melbourne being firebombed.
Another arson attack on an East Melbourne synagogue, one of four alleged anti-Semitic incidents at the weekend, has prompted the premier to set up a task force and promise further action if required.
Human Rights Law Centre legal director Sarah Schwartz stressed everyone has the right to worship in safety and without fear.
But she accused Ms Allan of conflating acts of violence with peaceful protest.
"Neither the attack on Adass Israel Synagogue or the arson attack on East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation were in any way protests," she told AAP.
"These laws around places of worship would not have done anything to prevent those attacks."
The motivation for both incidents remains unknown, though counter-terrorism police continue to investigate the Ripponlea firebombing and a 34-year-old man from Sydney has been charged over the other alleged arson.
Ms Schwartz cited sexual abuse survivors outside churches as a legitimate form of protest that may be impinged under the plan and said mask ban exemptions for health, disability and religious reasons would be "impossible" to enforce without discriminatory policing.
"These new laws taken altogether will have a chilling effect on peaceful protest," she said.
NSW rushed protest and speech laws through parliament in February after explosives, anti-Semitic messaging and a list of addresses of Jewish people and institutions were found inside a caravan at Dural in Sydney's northwest in January.
Investigators later revealed the discovery was part of a "criminal con job".
Ms Schwartz, who doubles as Jewish Council of Australia executive officer, said the Victorian government was similarly resorting to "knee-jerk measures" instead of addressing the root causes of racist attacks.
"Jacinta Allan really risks going down the same path that NSW Premier Chris Minns did when he enacted regressive, anti-protest measures in response to what we know now was an opportunistic criminal conspiracy," she said.
Other Jewish groups have suggested the task force should consider Victoria adopting a NSW-style protest permit system, an idea Ms Allan has long dismissed.
In a separate incident on Friday night, Israeli restaurant Miznon in the Melbourne CBD was targeted by about 20 pro-Palestine protesters who chanted "death to the IDF" - a reference to the Israel Defence Forces.
The chant, which has gained notoriety after English punk rap duo Bob Vylan led it at Glastonbury music festival, was repeated at another Melbourne rally on Sunday.
Victoria passed beefed-up anti-vilification laws in March but Ms Allan was unsure if the chant or signs with words to that effect would constitute an offence when the changes take effect in September.
"I'll take their (Victoria Police's) advice on that matter," she said.