Sydney Civil Society Raised Its Voice to Condemn Israel, and It Shifted Government Position

The great mass of humanity that crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge did itself, and the broader Australian civil society opposed to genocide, proud on the global stage on Sunday 3 August 2025, as officially over 100,000, and likely up to 300,000, civilians crossed the bridge and rose their voices in unison to condemn Israel’s commission of the gravest atrocity of our times, the genocide in Gaza.

The people of NSW demonstrated that despite major party political leadership attempts to constrain and silence them, which has included the ongoing condemnation of pro-Palestinian sentiment in the community as antisemitic, a vast mass of middle Australia displayed its opposition to Israel’s acts of mass slaughter and starvation in the Gaza Strip, along with the local political circus that facilitates it.

Top federal and NSW Labor ministers appeared different in interviews on Monday, as they all had to admit what an impressive demonstration their constituents had conducted in opposition to their wishes, which finally make the same statement they’ve been making for 22 months but in a much broader and more impactful way that’s drowned out government disinformation.

The massive rally also marked a further chink in the campaign to silence civil society’s criticisms of Israel’s actions for fear of being labelled antisemitic, as the scenes of hell conjured in the Gaza Strip, via the dehumanisation and brutalisation of the Palestinian population right now, are increasingly negating any moral panic around being condemned an antisemite for opposing genocide.

So, Palestine Action Group’s decision to take its two-year-long weekly protest campaign on Gadigal land in Sydney to the iconic landmark has been one of historical significance, as it marked a point where not only was opposition to Israel’s action made known, but the Australian political class stood chastised for its unbridled support of the Netanyahu government over the course of its mass murder.

A stunning show of people power

A key driving force behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge action, Palestine Action Group spokesperson Josh Lees explained to the Guardian prior to the march that NSW police had just informed the group that so many everyday civilians had turned out on Gadigal land in Sydney city’s Lang Park to march across the bridge, that the crowd’s size required it to walk to the other side and then back again.

NSW police told Palestine Action Group that it considered 90,000 people had turned up. On Monday, NSW premier Chris Minns declared it was over 100,000, but organisers consider that it’s likely about 300,000 pro-Palestinians had fronted up to show opposition to the mass starvation and slaughter in Gaza, and an independent expert confirmed that it appeared more like 225,000 to 300,000 people.

This was a huge outpouring of support for an event that had been announced just seven days prior, had since been the subject of loud political opposition, while the NSW police then took organisers to the NSW Supreme Court to prevent it going ahead last Friday, and Justice Belinda Rigg only conceded to allow it to go ahead on Saturday, due to “the horror and urgency” involved in the massacre. 

So, a seismic number of NSW constituents turned out to vent their opposition to the Israeli-perpetuated genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza on one day’s notice and despite the cold and torrential rain.

“I cannot believe that Chris Minns tried to stop this,” said NSW Greens MLC Sue Higginson to a reporter on the bridge. The solicitor added, “That at the end of the day, we know the law, we fought with the law, and we won.”

“Today, our humanity will be on the global stage,” a triumphant NSW Greens justice spokesperson continued. “We have to end the starvation. We have to stop Israel’s brutal, despicable genocide in Gaza.”

“A huge groundswell”

“Firstly, it was a massive crowd: over 100,000 people and if the weather wasn’t appalling, I think there would have been bigger than that, maybe even double the size,” NSW premier Chris Minns told reporters on Monday, in a tone that conceded his stance had been shifted by the mass of the NSW constiuency. “There is no doubt there was a massive community demonstration – huge.”

“From the perspective of Sydney, a lot of people were concerned about the situation in Gaza and had incredible empathy and concern about Palestinian children, in particular – but the entire situation,” the Labor leader continued. “So, I accept that there is a huge groundswell in relation to that. People came and were concerned about it, many people who hadn’t been to a demonstration before.”

Minns has repeatedly demonised the pro-Palestinian movement since it commenced its mass mobilisations against the Gaza genocide in October 2023. Over the last 22 months, the NSW premier has suggested that there is something inherently wrong with the movement and that it should end.

But when hundreds of thousands more turned up to join the usual suspects demonstrating on the weekends, suddenly the NSW Labor leader is no longer going hard in his condemnation of the pro-Palestinian movement. And in response to a question about whether he would have joined the demonstration if he was not premier, Minns said, “I don’t know. I am not sure.”

“It’s time for fundamental change – opposition – in the Labor Party on the right to protest and our approach to this question of Palestinian protest,” NSW Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence told the Guardian on the day. “The last few days have shown you cannot take away the right of people to protest. When people gather in a volume it is our democratic right to protest.”

Lawrence, a Sydney barrister, was not the only NSW Labor MP, who, despite their leader opposing the March for Humanity, chose to join it. NSW Labor ministers Penny Sharpe and Jihad Dib took part in the procession, while federal Labor MP Ed Husic said after he’d taken part, that the event had marked a wakeup call for the politician class on public sentiment regarding Gaza.

Indeed, former Australian Labor foreign minister and NSW premier Bob Carr led the march, along with other prominent figures, such as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and journalists Mary Kostakidis and Antoinette Lattouf.

A light of hope in a time of genocide

The March for Humanity across the Sydney Harbour Bridge has been a historical moment. The change in political rhetoric that was noted in the stance of the NSW premier on the day following the demonstration was also recognisable amongst the ranks of federal Labor, with prime minister Anthony Albanese and foreign minister Penny Wong both publicly changing their tunes.

Wong told the ABC’s 7.30 report on Monday night that the “extraordinary march” reflected “that Australians are feeling distressed, angry, upset, really horrified by what they’re seeing in Gaza”. She further advised that federal Labor ministers were feeling the same way, and she added that her government had yesterday committed $20 million more in aid for the Palestinians of Gaza.

“In a democracy, it’s a good thing that people peacefully express their views. Yesterday’s march was peaceful and was an opportunity for people to express their concern about what is happening in Gaza,” said the PM, who also shifted gear on Monday. “The images that we’ve seen, it’s not surprising that so many Australians have been affected.”

Assistant foreign affairs minister Matt Thistlethwaite told Sky News on Monday that Albanese is now seeking a call with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss that Australia is considering joining France, Canada and the UK in recognising Palestinian statehood at the United Nations next month, and he wants to clarify the Australia government’s and its people’s position on this.

“Prime minister Netanyahu has made some comments that are certainly not consistent with a two-state solution,” Albanese too told reporters on 4 August. “We’ve been critical of some of the actions of Israel, in particular the decision that they made in March to breach what would be expected of a democratic nation and withholding the supply of aid into people who desperately need it.”

But the demonstrators on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday were clear on the sort of action that they want to see applied to Israel, which is the broad use of Magnitsky-style sanctions to personally and harshly punish Israeli individuals progressing the genocide and to bring an end to the two-way arms trade with Israel that federal Labor has been at pains to conceal for the last two years.

The image is a screenshot of a short clip that Palestine Action Group posted online