Dear Prime Minister,

I write in my capacity as the President of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, one of Australia’s leading human rights and civil liberties organisations. The Council is non-political, non-religious and non-sectarian. We are a Non-Government Organisation in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, by resolution 2006/221 (21 July 2006).

I have written to you on two earlier occasions on the issue of Australia’s position with respect to Palestine; including a joint letter issued with Liberty Victoria. To date, I have not received a response to the issues raised in those letters.

On this occasion I write in relation to the peaceful vigil that is being held outside your electorate office regarding the ongoing violence destroying the lives and futures of tens of thousands innocent civilians in Palestine.

We recognise this vigil as a legitimate exercise of democratic freedoms available in Australia. The vigil is noteworthy in that the organisers, their families and attendees are diverse in their religious beliefs and cultural heritage. Importantly, the organisers and many of the protestors live in your electorate – they are your constituents.

We understand that the primary purpose of the participants in the vigil is to achieve an occasion on which they can communicate directly to you, as their electoral representative and as Prime Minister of Australia, their views in relation to the events in Gaza and how they affect people in Australia.

Public confidence in our governmental and political institutions requires elected officials to engage with their constituents, particularly in relation to matters of international significance such as the current events in Palestine which directly affect so many people in Australia.  We strongly believe that an important part of a healthy democracy is constituent access to elected representatives. 

We are concerned that you are yet to meet with participants in the vigil and to give them the opportunity to share their concerns with you personally.

This could understandably be perceived as a breach of your obligations towards them and damaging to public confidence in Australia’s democracy.

We urge you to meet with your constituents and allow them to ventilate their concerns.

The Council remains available to you and your office if you require any further information with respect to the issues raised herein.

Yours faithfully,

Lydia Shelly

President

Read our letter here.

A 28-year-old man has been arrested and charged with threatening violence and causing fear after a riot at Horningsea Park.

This resulted in injuries to over 50 police officers and forced paramedics to take shelter in a church for more than three hours while managing the crowd. In response to the violence, Premier Chris Minns underscored his confidence in religious leaders' denouncement of violence and warned that any further unrest would undermine their authority.

The first count appearance was 19-year-old Dani Mansour who was granted bail and admitted that his participation in the riot was a mistake. Additionally, an assault on a 53-year-old religious leader during the incident has been officially classified as a terrorist act by the police. The 16-year-old suspected of this attack is currently hospitalized under police supervision and is set to be evaluated by a forensic psychologist. His attorney has indicated that the teenager has longstanding mental health issues that could have influenced his behavior.

The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties joins our community in mourning the intolerable rates of women being murdered in Australia. Eleven women have been murdered in the month of April alone. In 2024, the rate of murdered women has doubled compared to this time last year. 

The Council supports the rallies occurring across the country over the weekend demanding an end to gendered violence.

We are also aware of the most recent alleged murder of a young mother in Forbes and support the recently announced inquiry into the alleged murder. 

The rising rate of domestic violence has not abated in NSW, even after new laws and tougher penalties were introduced over the past six years. This scourge will not be solved by kneejerk legislative responses (including expanding police powers and restricting bail) under the guise of making women safer. 

We have written to the NSW Attorney General with respect to the structural and cultural changes that need to be made as a matter of urgency. Importantly, we echo the sentiments expressed by the former NSW Magistrate, David Heilpern. 

Dear Attorney General

The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties joins our community in mourning the intolerable rates of women being murdered in Australia. Eleven women have been murdered in the month of April alone. In 2024, the rate of murdered women has doubled compared to this time last year.

The rising rate of domestic violence has not abated in NSW, even after new laws and tougher penalties were introduced over the past six years. We strongly believe that this scourge cannot be solved by expanding of police powers.  If we are to reduce the occurrence of these types of horrendous crimes, we must ensure that structural failures within our criminal justice system and our communities are appropriately understood, addressed and funded. Without appropriate resourcing and funding, laws are rendered impotent.

The NSWCCL recognises the importance of increasing the efficiency of jury empanelment, the provision of enhanced support for jurors to perform their role and reducing the expenditure of resources on trials that are ultimately aborted or result in hung juries. The NSWCCL also recognizes the validity of majority verdict legislation in criminal and coronial trials.

However, the NSWCCL is concerned that the proposed amendment to section 55F of the Jury Act 1977 (the Act) may compromise a jury’s ability to properly consider the guilt or innocence of an accused person, and that such a compromise is made in exchange for a speculative and nominal reduction in the expenditure of resources on trials and reduction in hung juries.

The NSWCCL is further concerned that the proposed amendment to section 73A(1) of the Act unnecessarily broadens the investigative power of the NSW Sheriff’s Office (Sheriff). The broadening of the investigative power is significant and not safeguarded or constrained by current legislation.

The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties is aware that there is a freedom flotilla that will shortly be departing Turkiye with 5,500 tonnes of humanitarian aid including food and medical supplies for the citizens of Palestine.

We are aware that international human rights observers will be accompanying the volunteers aboard the Freedom Flotilla, including Australian citizens.

The Council recognises the Freedom Flotilla as both a form of protest and as a humanitarian relief campaign with the focus on abating the extreme conditions being experienced by the innocent civilians in Palestine. We note that this includes starvation, mass displacement, lack of access to medical assistance, psychological trauma and death.

We are calling on the Australian Government to ensure that they do everything within their power to safeguard the Freedom Flotilla. This includes ensuring, to the fullest extent possible, that it is not intercepted by any foreign States and that their safe passage as a humanitarian convey is respected.

We have witnessed aid workers and those delivering humanitarian assistance in Palestine dying in the most tragic of circumstances, including Australian citizens. It is concerning that the death of aid workers, including Australian citizens, has not resulted in any meaningful action being undertaken on behalf of the Australian Government.

We call upon the Australian Government to do all that they can, both publicly and through diplomatic means, to ensure that the Freedom Flotilla is provided safe passage to Palestine and that the humanitarian assistance is permitted to be supplied to Palestinian civilians.

Police could be able to stop and search people for a weapon without reasonable suspicion or a warrant under laws being considered by the NSW government.

NSWCCL does not support giving police more powers. We believe this would amount to nothing more than a "knee-jerk response to a series of violent and distressing but isolated incidents".

“We should all be accustomed by now to government promises – before and after elections – being broken or modified and this seems to be just another example,” former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicolas Cowdery said, regarding the go-slow on promised state drug law reform.

“Last year, I was assured by a very senior member of the government that a drug summit would be held in February 2024,” this state’s longest serving DPP continued. “Now there are rumours of October 2024. I have also heard it said that this may be a second term commitment.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns won the March 2023 state election with a platform that included drug law reform, to be initiated through a NSW drug summit.

This approach follows a successful precedent set by the Carr Labor government's 1999 NSW Drug Summit, which was considered groundbreaking for its outcomes.

Since 2018, the push for drug law reform has been prominent, driven by several drug-related deaths at festivals, a methamphetamine crisis, significant inquiries such as the Special Commission into Ice, and a global consensus on the failure of the drug war.

Minns' pre-election commitments came as a logical response to public concerns. He not only vowed to convene the summit but also enthusiastically promised his fellow Labor MPs advocating for drug law reform that he would legalise cannabis.

Warning: this page contains reference to people who have died.
Last updated: 22 April 2024

There have now been at least 558 Indigenous deaths in custody since the findings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody were handed down in 1991. 

It's time for the Australian Government to listen to repeated criticism from the UN and fully implement the Commission's recommendations. 

It's time for NSW to follow Victoria's lead in establishing a truth and justice process and a treaty process.

It's time to address issues with systemic police racism. 

It's time for the Uluru Statement, for constitutional recognition and a voice to parliament.

It's time to raise the age and it's time to change the record.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Reference Committee about the Inquiry into access to Australian Parliament House by lobbyists.

Our full submission is below.

The Labor for Refugees group has criticized the emergency migration laws introduced by the Albanese government, asserting that certain provisions violate the ALP national platform and deepen divisions within the party.

The group's NSW/ACT branch, expressed concern over the legislation, which grants the immigration minister authority to compel non-citizens to depart Australia and restricts arrivals from entire nations. Describing the bill as "flawed," the group urged MPs to oppose it. Specifically, they objected to mandatory prison terms ranging from one to five years for non-compliance, arguing that this contradicts the ALP's stance against mandatory sentencing.

Additionally, they cautioned against expanding the immigration minister's powers, which they believe undermines the national platform's commitment to robust and transparent processes for protection visa claims.

Yesterday, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) presented before the NSW Electoral Matters committee, calling for the elimination of existing constraints on prisoners' voting rights.

Despite First Nations people constituting 3.2% of Australia's population as of June 2022, they comprise 30.4% of NSW's adult prison population.

Under the NSW Electoral Act 2017, individuals convicted of an offense and serving a sentence of 12 months or more are barred from voting.

"The Council strongly believes that any exclusion of a person’s right to vote is a grave curtailing of the right to participate in a healthy democracy,” said NSWCCL in a statement released yesterday.

President Lydia Shelly said, “The right to vote is just one of a range of human rights such as freedom of speech and rights to associate, assemble and protest that are fundamental to democracy.

The parents of a teenager who tragically lost his life in a knife attack in 2019, prompting the implementation of "wanding" regulations in Queensland, are advocating for similar measures to be adopted in New South Wales.

Referred to colloquially as "Jack's Law" in honor of the victim, 17-year-old Jack Beasley, these regulations allow police to utilise metal-detecting wands for warrantless searches in specified zones, including certain shopping centers.

Brett Beasley, Jack's father, disclosed to ABC Radio Sydney recently that he spoke with NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley last year regarding the adoption of Jack's Law in NSW.

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley has confirmed that senior members within the government are currently discussing implementation of knife laws.

The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties is concerned about media reporting alleging that NSW Police are lobbying the State Government to introduce new laws that would create criminal offences for the parents of minors found with weapons, including knives.

BOSCAR data indicates that knife crime has declined in New South Wales over recent consecutive years. The position of NSW police does not reflect the current research on the prevention of crime. We strongly urge the State Government to resist populist calls for legislative change that will not make our communities safer.

The Council urges all levels of Government to invest in our public mental health care system, public mental health supports and resources (including in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities). This includes committing to a date for the proposed ‘whole of government’ Drug Summit, which remains one of the unfulfilled election promises to the people in New South Wales that could meaningfully impact weapons related crime.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in regard to the Administrative Review Tribunal Bill 2023 [Provisions] and related bills.

The NSWCCL endorses the sentiment and recommendations made by many of the other civil society and advocacy organisations who submitted to the Inquiry into the Administrative Review Tribunal Bill 2023 (ART Bill) and the Administrative Review Tribunal (Consequential and Transitional Provisions No.1) Bill 2023 (Consequential and Transitional Bill), including the Centre for Public Integrity, the Refugee Council of Australia, Liberty Victoria and The Australia Institute.

The NSWCCL opposes outdoor alcohol restrictions in public places, including alcohol-free zones and alcohol prohibited areas in parks and public spaces. We argue that these restrictions impede on freedom of movement and disproportionately affect marginalised individuals. Instead, we advocate for evidence-based harm minimisation programs and support services.

Our full submission is below. 

Currently, individuals incarcerated in NSW serving sentences of 12 months or more are ineligible to vote in state elections. However, federally, these restrictions only apply to those sentenced to at least three years of imprisonment. This discrepancy has prompted questions from civil rights groups in NSW, who are now urging the government to address this disparity and advocate for equal voting rights for all incarcerated individuals, regardless of the length of their sentence.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties is among these groups. NSWCCL holds the position that inmates should not be denied the right to participate in this fundamental democratic process. Not only is this denial contrary to any potential rehabilitative outcomes that detention might serve for an inmate, but it also harms society as a whole.

Our president talks to The Project about search laws in NSW in the wake of the recent tragic attacks in Sydney involving knives.

We recommend that the Government bins this repugnant bill and we urge all of our members to take a vocal, immediate stand against it. It attempts to legitimate the exclusion, detention, and criminalisation of people based on where they are born. The NSWCCL recommends that the Government reconsider its approach to legislating on this issue and engage in a more transparent and consultative process reflective of the importance of the fundamental principles of democracy including the separation of powers and rule of law.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) has submitted a statement to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee regarding the proposed COVID-19 Royal Commission. We highlighted existing efforts by a three-member panel appointed in 2023 to inquire into the government's response to COVID-19 and emphasized the need to prevent duplicative work. We recommended considering alternative methods to address misinformation without the need for a Royal Commission.