The Supreme Court struck down Chris Minns. It comes at NSW’s expense.
Chris Minns has made NSW pay for his overreach.
Chris Minns has now suffered two constitutional defeats over protest laws, and NSW taxpayers are the ones left to bear the cost. In October 2025, the Supreme Court struck down his government’s laws restricting protests near places of worship. On 16 April 2026, the Court of Appeal struck down the post-Bondi protest restriction regime as unconstitutional. In both cases, the courts found the laws impermissibly burdened the implied freedom of political communication. This is serial legal and political failure, paid for by the public of NSW.
The latest defeat is especially damning. Minns urged parliament to ram through the post-Bondi laws in an emergency Christmas Eve sitting. Those laws granted the police commissioner (Mal Lanyon) sweeping powers to restrict public assemblies in parts of Greater Sydney, powers that were repeatedly extended and used during the February protests and Isaac Herzog’s visit. On 9 February, protesters were met with aggressive and physical policing that turned a peaceful demonstration into a crackdown by NSW Police. That night is now under formal investigation by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), exposing not just the conduct on the ground by the Police, but potentially the decisions at the top that authorised it.
NSW’s top court has now ruled the laws invalid and unconstitutional. A government that claimed it was defending cohesion ended up trampling a basic democratic freedom and walking straight into a legal wall.
Taxpayers will keep paying millions
And the monetary bill is still growing. ABC reports legal experts are now exploring whether the state may face damages claims, while SBS reports taxpayers could be forced to foot millions in potential civil liability cases if courts find in favour of affected protesters. The same reporting also points to the prospect of charges from that period being thrown out. That means this is no longer just a political embarrassment. It is a financial and legal mess, created by a Premier who chose overreach first and consequences later.
Australians are already struggling
That matters because Australians are already under pressure. ABS data shows living costs rose for all household types in the year to the December 2025 quarter, while annual CPI was 3.7 per cent in the year to February 2026, with housing and food among the biggest contributors. Families are already stretched by rent, groceries and basic bills. In that climate, watching public money being burned on unconstitutional laws is infuriating.
Minns did not spend that money on relief, services or stability. He spent it trying to suppress dissent.
An election issue
The actions of Chris Minns that have resulted in two constitutional defeats, millions in taxpayer exposure, and an ongoing LECC investigation into police conduct are significant. Elections are meant to hold power to account, and this is exactly the kind of failure that demands it. Australians across the country are already bearing the burden of rising costs, and NSW residents are now being asked to absorb the financial consequences of unlawful governance. These failures must remain attached to Chris Minns at election time, because they speak directly to his judgment, priorities, and fitness to lead.
