United Nations special rapporteur seeks to join challenge to NSW government’s protest restrictions

>The lawyer for the state government, Brendan Lim SC, told the Supreme Court his client will likely seek to block Professor Saul’s inclusion.

>”The position I’m in at the moment is that a large amount of that evidence is of questionable relevance, and I’m not 100 per cent sure what use is proposed to be made of it,” Mr Lim said.
“If there are to be submissions on the content of international human rights law, that is a wholly additional topic to deal with and, we would submit, irrelevant to the constitutional validity of the statute.”

>Mr Samin said the government’s response was disappointing.

>”From our perspective, as an international law expert, and more specifically, someone who is appointed by the United Nations as an expert in this very context, it’s difficult to understand why the state would not welcome his assistance as a friend to the court,” he said.