The Victorian government has unveiled plans to crackdown on protests in the state. The proposed laws would see new restrictions introduced on face masks and terrorist flags. It comes in the wake of a firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue and concerns about rising rates of anti-Semitism.
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00:00After months of rallies in the streets of Melbourne, new laws targeting protesters are
00:07in the works.
00:09Victorians have witnessed extreme, dangerous and radical conduct in numerous public demonstrations
00:14over the past year.
00:15The government is moving to ban face masks and balaclavas, locks, glue and chains and
00:21symbols of terrorist groups, building on laws already banning Nazi swastikas and salutes.
00:27If you stand for something, you don't get to hide behind a mask here in Victoria.
00:31Ski masks are for Marlborough in the ski season, they're not for the streets of Melbourne.
00:35But it's not a protest that sparked the proposed laws.
00:38It was the suspected terrorist attack on the Adas Israel Synagogue.
00:42These measures that were announced today directly respond to some calls that the JCCV did make
00:48to the Premier in the wake of this attack on the Adas Israel Synagogue.
00:53The government is also looking at exclusion zones to stop protests outside places of worship.
00:59That's not peaceful protest, it's menacing behaviour.
01:02A lot of marches will take people past places of worship.
01:05There's a real concern that this may lead to effectively a permit system by stealth.
01:11The Premier argues the laws are needed to protect social cohesion, something she's faced
01:16backlash over in recent months.
01:19When you look at Jacinda Ardern and you look at Anthony Albanese sitting on their hands
01:23for the last 14 months, of course it's escalated and it was always going to.
01:28It's a knee-jerk response to appease a section of our community.
01:31What needs to be happening, we need to be talking to everyone.
01:35We are the Australian-Palestinian community just as Australian-Victorian-Melbournian as
01:40anybody else.
01:41The government says peaceful protest will be protected and it will consult on the proposed
01:45laws over the summer before introducing legislation when the parliament returns in February.