The Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law and AIAL (NSW Chapter) recently hosted a webinar on the topic of 'Public Law and Protest in Australia'. Watch a full recording of the event above.
Hosted via Zoom and attended by more than 400 people, the webinar focused on recently enacted laws by the NSW and Victorian parliaments which further restrict the right of Australians to protest. These laws have been challenged in the courts on constitutional, administrative and human rights grounds, and have also been subject to political and popular debate.
The panel of expert speakers considered the scope of Australia’s protest laws and their public law, democratic and practical implications on the right to protest in Australia, from academic, practitioner and activist perspectives.
The panel included Padraic Gibson (Associate Professor of History at the Jumbunna Institute, UTS Sydney); Felicity Graham (barrister at Black Chambers); Samantha Lee (supervising solicitor at Redfern Legal Centre); and Maria O'Sullivan (Associate Professor at Deakin Law School). The event was chaired by Daniel Joyce, Associate Professor at UNSW Law & Justice and Director of the Free Speech, Social Media and Online Speech Project in the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law.