What to do about the neo-Nazis, not only their blatantly racist and menacing protests but – perhaps more frightening – their apparent plan to form a political party with an explicitly anti-democratic and hate-based platform.

Our current protest laws are broadly fit for purpose: they allow the police to protect public safety while allowing legitimate political protests.

The National Socialist Network rally outside the NSW parliament on November 8. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

Police could have – and should have – done more to challenge the protest outside NSW’s Parliament House this month. This could have involved seeking an order that the protests were prohibited, and hence not protected from charges being brought under the Summary Offences Act. Or it could have involved more robust use of their powers to move on protesters once the threat of intimidation became clear.

But the current law gave them the power to balance rights to protest with legitimate public safety and public interest concerns.

Our party registration laws, in contrast, do little to........

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