A lot of fuss was made of this on eHam or something, big screaming
headline about Ham Radio now being illegal.

It isn't illegal, Hams just need to be smarter. A law preventing the
use of any hand microphone was passed many years ago in the state of
Victoria. VK3's simply use boom mics or headset mics.

A similar law exists in VK1, where I was told to make sure I was not
being obvious with the use of my hand mic, if there was a police car in
the vicinity.

Brad VK2QQ

It's not rocket science.