NSW Fines or Up to 2 Years Jail for Blocking Railways, and No More Crimes for Disrupting Major Facilities or Places of Worship

Crimes and Roads Legislation Amendment (Obstruction Offences Repeals) Bill 2025

Private Member's Bill

7 Aug 2025: This bill has lapsed and is no longer under discussion.

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Council

Assent

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Topics

bridges and tunnels criminal justice criminal penalties places of worship police powers protest public infrastructure public order public safety railway obstruction road transport trespassing +7 more

Introduced by: Kobi Shetty MP (GRN)

Links to official parliament websites

Official page: progress through parliament

Official page: bill text and explanatory notes

Effects of this bill

If this bill passes, it means that:

People trespassing on major bridges or tunnels in the Sydney metropolitan area can only be charged if their actions cause substantial damage.
The law no longer covers trespassing on general roads
Criminal offences for entering or blocking major facilities are abolished
Offences for blocking, harassing, or threatening people at places of worship are abolished.
Police officers can no longer give directions to people at protests or assemblies occurring in or near places of worship.
The penalty for obstructing a railway is set at 200 penalty units (2026: $22,000) or 2 years in prison
Major bridges and tunnels are defined as those in the Sydney metropolitan area connected to highways, main roads, freeways or tollways
Offences for damaging or disrupting major facilities are abolished.

News articles and press releases

Crimes and Roads Legislation Amendment (Obstruction Offences Repeals) Bill 2025

Ms KOBI SHETTY, Member for Balmain — 2025-08-07

The bill seeks to repeal those recent changes by amending both the Roads Act and the Crimes Act. In short, schedule 1 to the bill amends the Roads Act 1993 to abolish the offence for a person to enter, remain on, climb, jump from or otherwise trespass on a major road. Schedules 3 [1] and [2] amend the Crimes Act 1900 to abolish the offence for a person to enter, remain on or near, climb, jump from or otherwise trespass on or block entry to any part of a major facility. Schedule 3 [3] proposes to repeal part 4AF, abolishing the offence inserted by the Crimes Amendment (Places of Worship) Act 2025, which created new offences for protests in or near places of worship. Schedule 5 amends the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 to remove a police officer’s power to issue move on directions in relation to a protest occurring in or near a place of worship.