NSW Premier Chris Minns is facing criticism over his new “hate-hunting” police unit, with critics warning it’s creating a “climate of fear” and will inevitably end up carrying out UK-style mass arrests for online comments.
Mr Minns last last month established the Armed Response Command (ARC), a “permanent, round-the-clock rapid response unit” of 250 NSW Police officers armed with long rifles assisted by 60 civilian Multicultural Liaison Officers, to combat “hate-related offences”.
The government said at the time the unit was created a month after a NSW Police delegation visited the UK and Germany to “study best practice”, which has sparked concerns from free speech advocates due to the large number of arrests in those countries for social media posts.
Libertarian MP John Ruddick told NSW Parliament on Wednesday that he feared it was only a matter of time before the new unit started “doorknocking”, and advised Australians to be polite and cooperative but exercise their right to silence if possible.
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Premier Minns now has the laws in place for police to start door knocking citizens over social media posts.
40 people a day are getting door knocked in the UK.
My hunch is it’s about to start in NSW.
Here are some guidelines of what to do if the cops come for you.… pic.twitter.com/Y80M163E5R
— John Ruddick MLC – Libertarian (@JohnRuddick2) March 18, 2026
“The culmination of all Premier Minns’ laws restricting speech in New South Wales is that we now have laws to unleash the police to doorknock over social media posts. The United Kingdom passed similar laws a few years ago, and now around 40 people a day are being arrested in the UK over a social media post,” he said.
“Will [the ARC] be sitting around, twiddling their thumbs? I do not think so. Premier Minns has described it as a 24/7 intelligence-led unit, which is code for ‘They’ll be looking at social media all day’, and when someone has met some vague threshold under the new laws, then the rapid response team will go doorknocking.
“Adding to my fear is the Premier’s recent statement that a delegation of New South Wales police were sent to Britain and Germany to learn ‘best practice in anti-hate policing’. The UK and Germany are examples of worst-practice policing.
“There have been over 10,000 arrests a year in the UK since these laws were passed. Few turn into convictions, so it is a huge waste of resources, and worst of all it is creating a climate of fear – fear of the Government.”
Margaret Chambers, Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, raised similar concerns in an article for The Spectator where she said she feared Australia would end up with its own “thought police”.
“Rather than a targeted and professional approach to policing that serves the community, the British and German models exemplify an authoritarian commitment to enforcing the preferences and opinions of the political elite,” she wrote.
“What is equally concerning is that there is every likelihood the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion will deliver the recommendation that Australia tighten its speech laws to prevent an atrocity like Bondi from ever happening again.
“But the problem New South Wales faces is not speech. It is the sad reality that for decades governments have allowed increasingly large numbers of people to enter our country who do not share our own values, and who are not encouraged to integrate into our way of life.
“Our leaders should be more concerned with answering the question of who we are and who we allow to come here, rather than punishing people for speaking their minds.”
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NSW has had 47 premiers but none have been so anti-free speech as Chris Minns.
Today in parliament Premier Minns, flat out denied he has repeatedly claimed free speech is incompatible with multiculturalism.
Here’s the video replay 👇@ausvstheagenda pic.twitter.com/V4dB023oh2
— John Ruddick MLC – Libertarian (@JohnRuddick2) March 5, 2026
The number of daily arrests in the UK for alleged social media post “hate crimes” is estimated at more than 30 per day, in addition to police visits to private homes for “non-crime hate incidents”, which consume an estimated 60,000 hours of police time every year, according to think tank Policy Exchange.
In Germany, social media posts deemed “insulting” or “offensive” frequently lead to early-morning raids by heavily-armed specialist police units, aggravated penalties apply for insulting politicians online, and “hate-posting” criminal offences increased 34% to 10,732 in 2024.
Mr Minns has repeatedly justified bringing in new “hate speech” laws by stating that he does not believe free speech is compatible with multiculturalism, and this week introduced new legislation to ban “Nazi ideology”.
Header image: Chris Minns at Police Operations Command on December 31 (Facebook).
