Victoria Police ‘likely’ to reimpose stop and search powers ahead of Invasion Day rally on Australia Day

Victoria Police are “likely” to renew a designation giving officers sweeping search powers in the lead up to a planned rally on Australia Day, a court has been told. The disclosure was publicly aired in the Federal Court of Australia on Monday, amid a legal challenge to a now-revoked authority allowing police to stop and search anyone in Melbourne’s CBD. Victoria Police declared a broad section of the city a designated area for a period of six months in November last year. The designation was set to expire on May 29. Under the declaration, officers were given powers to stop and search people with a wand or pat-down without a warrant or reasonable suspicion. It also allowed police to stop and search cars and direct people within the area to remove face coverings or be moved on from the CBD. The lengthy designation was criticised by some legal and human rights advocacy groups as an overreach, while Victoria Police justified it as a response to knife crime. But on Friday last week, the powers were revoked some four months early without an explanation given. In a notice published in the Victorian Government Gazette, Assistant Commissioner for the North West Metro Region Brett Curran said “the previously published declaration will instead end on 9 January 2026 at 11.59pm”. In December, Invasion Day rally organiser Tarneen Onus Browne and prominent activist Benny Zable launched a Federal Court challenge to the designation. In documents filed with the court, the pair sought for the declaration to be quashed and a declaration the powers used by police were unlawful and incompatible with human rights. They also sought a court declaration that the law did not authorise police to compel a person to remove a face covering or, if it did, it was invalid because it contravened the implied freedom of political communication. Victoria Police, on the other hand, argued in court documents the challenge should be rejected, submitting the declaration was lawful, reasonable and necessary. The force also argued the laws used to designate Melbourne’s CBD a declared area “does not prevent a person engaging in political communication”. The matter is listed for a two-day trial, set to begin on January 14, and was called on Monday for a case management hearing. The court was told that despite the designation being revoked, correspondence between the two parties foreshadowed it was “likely” a new declaration would be made “in the very new future”. This, the court was told, may impact the area where an Invasion Day rally is planned to be held on January 26. Barrister Thomas Wood, representing the group challenging the designation, said they would apply for a third applicant to be added to the case – a man who was captured on video being searched by police at Melbourne Central Station. He argued that despite the declared zone being revoked, the question of the ongoing validity of the law used remains in issue because Victoria Police may make the declaration again. “The urgency is the same for all three applicants … there is the proposed Invasion Day rally they all plan to attend,” Mr Wood said. “There is nothing from the respondents to suggest it won’t be (designated).” Crown Counsel Sarah Keating SC, representing Victoria Police, said she was unable to say if the declaration would be made or what the scope of it may be. “It seems to us the court could consider there would or could be a new declaration before or at the 26th,” she said. Ms Keating argued a range of “complex legal issues” had risen in the case and suggested there was insufficient time for everyone to be prepared to run the trial later this week. But Justice Elizabeth Bennett found it was in the interest of justice for the trial to proceed as planned this week and gave Victoria Police until Wednesday at 4pm to file their evidence and submissions.