The NSW Parliament is this week considering two disturbing proposals for new laws creating ‘Serious Crime Prevention Orders’ and ‘Public Safety Orders’ to combat organized serious crime.
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) has major concerns about both of these proposals.
The Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPO) regime is an extraordinary, unwarranted and dangerous proposal.
It imposes major controls on persons – including not only those who have not been charged or convicted of any criminal offence- but also persons who have been found NOT guilty or have had their convictions quashed.
The target group potentially caught up in this regime is huge and includes law-abiding citizens.
The SCPO will constitute a rival criminal justice regime to the courts. It allows police to sidestep the courts for the less rigorous option of imposing open-ended control orders on specified persons. A person found not guilty can notwithstanding have strict controls on their lives imposed for 5 years.
The Organised Crime and Public Safety Bill will give police unprecedented discretionary powers to stop a person (or ‘class of persons’) from attending public events, premises or areas.
The police officer has only to be ‘satisfied’ that the person’s presence poses ‘a serious risk to public safety or security’ and that the imposition of a public safety order is ‘reasonably necessary'. The grounds for making these judgements are very broad.
This Bill comes fast on the heels of the passage of the contentious and outrageous Inclosed Lands, Crimes and Law Enforcement Legislation Amendment (Interference) Bill 2016 in March.
A person who contravenes these orders will be committing an offence with a penalty of up to 5 years imprisonment.
These Bills are part of an accelerating trend of disproportionate and extraordinary laws which undermine individual liberties and rights and the Rule of Law in NSW. This trend must be resisted.
NSWCCL urges the NSW Parliament to reject both these unjustified and unnecessary Bills.
For more information on this bill:
Detailed NSWCCL statement of opposition
Criminal Legislation Amendment (Organised Crime and Public Safety) Bill 2016
