The Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 passed the NSW Upper House in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday 24 December).
Only one amendment was supported, a Greens amendment precluding the Commissioner from permitting any firearm permit to a person who has ever been investigated:
- for terrorism offences.
- for association with a member of a prescribed terrorist organisation.
- is not an associate or does not reside at the same residential dwelling as someone subject to terrorist investigation.
Greens MP, Solicitor and spokesperson for Justice Sue Higginson said, ‘The Greens have made our gun laws stronger by explicitly removing the ability for a gun permit to be granted to a person who has been ever investigated for terrorism offences or associated with a terrorist.
‘It is just beyond belief that one of the evil gunmen who shot and killed innocent Jewish people on Bondi Beach was examined by ASIO for his affiliation to a terror organisation and yet his father obtained six guns and a gun license. That is why the Greens worked across the Parliament and managed to get support for the only amendment to the Bill.
‘We needed to establish a clear link between this evil violence and meaningful gun reform and the Greens in parliament achieved that,’ she said.
Draconian anti-protest laws to be challenged in court
Ms Higginson went on to say, ‘Despite the claims of some, including Premier Chris Minns, there is absolutely no link between peaceful protest and antisemitic violence, which is why the Greens strongly opposed the draconian anti-protest laws contained within this bill.
‘In debate on this bill we heard a litany of reasons why these anti-protest powers are authoritarian and dangerous to our democracy, because they give one minister the power to approve or reject any protest they chose, with zero independent oversight.
‘I moved amendments that would safeguard against the worst abuses of these anti-protest powers but they were voted down. The government’s refusal to insert safeguards into the bill means that it is likely to contain unconstitutional provisions,’ she said.
‘I think it is dreadful of the Minns Cabinet to foist such controversial and unnecessary laws on the people of NSW. This leaves the defence of our democracy up to civil society, that is a burden the community should not have to carry.’
Conflicted
‘The conflicting nature of this bill meant the Greens both supported gun reform and opposed anti-protest laws. We could not sit on two sides of the parliament at once and therefore we abstained from the final vote on the bill.
‘We could abstain from supporting the bill because when Labor votes with the Liberals they can pass laws without the crossbench. I am glad that our amendment got support across the parliament and goes some way towards ensuring that the horrific antisemitic violence that we saw in Bondi never happens again,’ said Ms Higginson.
‘Now we all need to work to advance evidence-based solutions that will prevent antisemitism and gun violence in our communities. Attacking the right to protest is not one of those evidence-based solutions,’ she said.
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