The NSW Premier, Chris Minns, said staff in his office may not have been informed of Saturday’s Neo-Nazi Rally by Parliamentary Security “because it was on the weekend”.
The Premier said the secretary of the department’s department of changes in security procedures after the exit of other parliamentary figures and police at the Macquarie Street rally.
Minns said his permanent secretary, Simon Draper, had not been told in advance of Saturday’s rally.
The movement saw more than 60 members of a known Neo-Nazi group gather outside parliament carrying a banner calling for the abolition of the “Hely lobby”. People are also said to have shouted Nazi Slogans.
“The information [about the rally] provided from the police to parliament security [and] In the security responsible for the 52 areas of Martin and the department of the Premier,” the minr told reporters on Wednesday.
“They know it, but they don’t share it with the staff, members of Parliament, Public Officials or Bureaucrats. They know, we should know.”
The Premier, the NSW Police Minister, Yasmin Catley, and the Police Commissioner, Mal Lyanon, insisted they did not know about the rally until after it was over.
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The NSW Speaker, Greg Piper, revealed his staff was told about the Parliamentary Security rally on Friday. He said he tried unsuccessfully to get it moved.
Police Deputy Peter Thurtell apologized after admitting he knew in advance of Saturday’s rally, which had been approved by local police. The Sydney Morning Herald also knows police intelligence officers.
On Wednesday, the Office of the President of the NSW Legislative Council, Ben Franklin, was said to have been warned in advance.
“The President’s office received a group email from the DPS Security Manager on Thursday afternoon announcing the planned protest,” a spokesperson said. “We will not comment further on security matters.”
On Wednesday, Minns said the timing of the rally may have been the reason his staff was not notified.
“If I want to count, I would suggest that it is because of the weekend,” the Premier said.
“The truth of the matter is, people work on the weekend, and people go to the office on the weekend. So that’s a management factor. It’s not a factor, and one that we need to fix as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson for NSW Parliamentary Security said “responses and procedures should be put in place to ensure the safety of those within the precincts of those within the precincts within the precincts within the precincts within the precincts of those within the precincts within the precincts within the precincts within the precincts of those within the precincts”.
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“Parliament’s security branch was notified by NSW police on Saturday that the rally was planned, as are all police-approved protests in the vicinity of the parliamentary precinct.”
The Australian asked Parliamentary security on Monday about whether anyone in the Premier’s office had been advised of Saturday’s Rally. It did not respond, saying it does not comment on security matters.
On Monday, Mines told reporters of Saturday’s event, as well as another of the same group outside parliament in June, “the view of the police departments and the Premier’s Department”.
“I don’t know if an email, an errant email in the points of communications, was mentioned to anyone in the rallies of the last months.
Mines reiterated to reporters on Tuesday that he and his staff found out about the rally “after the event and reporters contacted us”.
“I suggest to you that the communications are breaking down.
“We have to change. But if we go to: ‘Well, we secretly know each other’ – it just doesn’t happen.”