Law Society of Tasmania president Evan Hughes said the new draft bill was “quite clearly” in response to the court decision, which found the act burdened the implied freedom of political speech.

Announcing the draft bill on Monday, Building and Construction Minister Sarah Courtney said the government acknowledged the court’s decision but “made no apologies” for standing up for the right of businesses to work without disruption.

Bob Brown – a former state and federal politician and Australian Greens leader – lodged the court challenge after he was arrested under the laws at a Lapoinya logging site in 2016.

“It’s a fundamental right that we all carry, the right to express views and the right to raise awareness of issues that are important and significant to the community generally,” Mr Hughes said.

The right of people to raise contentious issues – such as those surrounding forestry – is protected by the constitution, he added.

“Where this act fell into conflict with that right, was that it unnecessarily burdened that right that we all carry.”

Under the draft Workplaces (Protection from Protesters) Amendment Bill, the protest-heavy language would be largely scrubbed, with exemptions included for those carrying out lawful industrial action.

Some restriction on the police power to search, anticipate action and issue infringement notices is also included, along with a reduction of the jail-time faced by individuals from a maximum of four years to 18 months.

Offences under the bill would be indictable, with prosecutors able to direct matters to the Magistrates Court – something Mr Hughes noted, citing Supreme Court caseloads, should also be the ability of a defendant.

Mr Hughes also noted there was already much existing legislation in place to deal with serious acts of damage.

However, overall, the society welcomed the decision to put the amendment bill out for consultation.

“Clearly consultation helps,” Mr Hughes said. “When we engage with government we do so constructively, with the hope of avoiding these kinds of circumstances – such as where acts are found invalid constitutionally.”

“We can assist in avoiding that. We try to do that at every possibility.

“We look forward to working with the government through its proposed amendments – which are sweeping.”

Mr Brown roundly criticised both the intention of the amendments and the circumstances of their release on Monday’s holiday, saying it should have instead been repealed entirely.

“[Premier Will Hodgman] knows this is an expensive exercise to taxpayers proving nothing, except that his original legislation was unconstitutional,” he told the Examiner. “It’s redundant.”

Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Michael Bailey, present at the announcement with Ms Courtney, said they were happy to see people protesting but thought this was “unfair” to workers and the state’s economy when it affected a business’ economic viability.

“We welcome and are looking forward to community consultation rolling out, to hear the different views of people around Tasmania,” he said.

Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said the state already had anti-trespass laws that had been used at workplaces in the past, and vowed to vote against it when it came to a parliament.

“This is a piece of flawed legislation looking to ‘solve’ a problem that doesn’t exist,” Ms O’Connor said.

Public consultation on the draft laws, found on the Justice Department website, will run until March 3.

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