Ban on protests outside synagogues and Jewish schools should be considered, Dreyfus tells royal commission

Former attorney general Mark Dreyfus has urged governments to consider whether protests should be banned outside synagogues and Jewish schools, arguing that existing legal precedent could support such restrictions.

According to a monitored public feed from The Guardian World, Dreyfus told the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion that lawmakers should examine the idea in light of a 2019 High Court ruling that upheld safe access zone laws in Victoria and Tasmania. Those laws prohibit protests within 150 metres of abortion clinics.

The former federal Labor attorney general’s intervention places the issue of protest limits and religious safety before the commission as part of a broader discussion about antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia.

The feed also reports that Dreyfus spoke about personal abuse directed at him, saying he had been called a “genocidal Zionist.” The summary does not provide further detail about the circumstances of the comments or the setting in which they were made.

Dreyfus’s comments appear to connect the legal debate over protest zones with concerns about harassment around Jewish institutions. The proposal, as described in the feed, is not presented as a government policy but as an option that governments should consider.

This report is based on a monitored public feed and uses attribution from The Guardian World.

Source: The Guardian World - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jul/20/mark-dreyfus-protest-ban-synagogues-jewish-schools-antisemitism-royal-commission-ntwnfb