BBC News: Outcry as Australian police Taser 95-year-old care home resident
An elderly Australian woman with dementia is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after being Tasered by police at a care home, BBC News reports. Police was called to Cooma's Yallambee Lodge after reports that 95-year-old Clare Nowland was carrying a knife.
It was reported that Ms Nowland was struck twice - in the chest and the back - before she fell, suffering a fractured skull and a serious brain bleed. Her family are already grieving as they do not expect her to survive.
Community groups, including the NSW Council for Civil Liberties and People with Disability Australia (PwD), have criticised the police response.
For more information, read the full article.
City Hub: 95 year-old woman left in critical condition after NSW Police tasered her
A 95 year-old woman has been left in a critical condition after she was allegedly tasered by police at a regional aged care facility, City Hub's Tileah Dobson reports.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Clare Nowland was wandering Yallambee Lodge in Cooma prompting a call to the police. After an altercation, it was reported that police resulted to tasering Nowland after struggling to disarm her. An investigation into the matter has now been launched by the police, and that a “critical incident team will now investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Josh Pallas has begun calling on the police to cease the use of tasers on vulnerable people “who are experiencing dementia or a mental health crisis.”
Read moreThe Guardian: Woman, 95, Tasered by officer at Cooma aged care home, approached on walking frame with a knife, police say
Grandmother Clare Nowland was approaching officers at a “slow pace” using a walking frame when they deemed it necessary to deploy a Taser, leaving her fighting for her life in hospital.
The NSW police have confirmed that that the homicide squad was investigating the incident and that the senior constable involved, who had 12 years experience, is under review and no longer working. The internal investigation will be reviewed by NSW police professional standards and monitored by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
Civil liberties groups, including NSW Council for Civil Liberties demanded an external watchdog, such as the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, manage the investigation, rather than the NSW police critical incident team.
Read moreAl Mayadeen: NSW police taser 95 y/o woman with dementia in care facility
A 95-year-old woman with dementia was tasered by police in New South Wales at a senior care facility and remains in the Cooma district hospital with a suspected fractured skull and "brain bleed", according to local news outlets.
This launched a critical investigation on the matter at Cooma’s Yallambee Lodge "after an elderly woman sustained injuries during an interaction with police at an aged care facility."
The President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Josh Pallas, urged police to stop using tasers on vulnerable individuals in light of the incident.
Read moreAAP: Grandmother tasered in nursing home police altercation
A 95-year-old great-grandmother is reportedly fighting for her life after being tasered by police when she was found with a knife in a NSW nursing home, AAP's Samantha Lock reports.
According to media reports, Clare Nowland was standing next to her walking frame and holding a kitchen knife when aged care workers at the Yallambee Lodge called the police in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
During the altercation with the police, Ms Nowland had a taser fired at her back and chest, leading to her collapsing and sustaining critical injuries, reports say.
Read moreThe Guardian: NSW police allegedly Taser 95-year-old woman with dementia, leaving her with fractured skull
A 95-year-old woman with dementia is in hospital with a suspected fractured skull and “brain bleed” after she was allegedly Tasered by police at Cooma’s Yallambee Lodge.
The woman was claimed to have been tasered in the early hours on Wednesday morning after she was found wandering the aged care facility with a knife in her hand.
“The family are grieving because they don’t expect their nan to make it through the the day, or tomorrow at the latest,” Andrew Thaler, independent candidate for Eden-Monaro said.
Josh Pallas, president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, called on police to cease deploying Tasers on vulnerable people following the incident.
Read moreThe staggering omission that led to Deaths Inside
For years now, NSWCCL have been tracking the Indigenous deaths in Australian custody since the royal commision. Much of this data was sourced from Guardian's Deaths Inside project.
This project originated when deputy editor of Guardian Australia, Will Woodward, requested a piece that included the number of people that had died since the royal commission after a 22 year old Indigenous woman named Ms Dhu died in police custody in Western Australia while serving time for unpaid fines.
Calla Wahlquist, who was reporting on Ms Dhu's death, was unable to figure out the number as, ''[the AIC] didn’t have any data available.”
Read moreABC News: Aboriginal people to face court without lawyers amid funding crisis
After the release of the federal budget, some groups who missed out on crucial funding are grappling with what it means for their future work including Australia's frontline Aboriginal Legal Services.
They had made a plea for $250 million dollars in emergency funds to keep up with record demand and try to tackle staffing shortages but it was denied, meaning the ALS has had to suspend its work in more than a dozen courts in regional New South Wales.
Long time NSW Council for Civil Liberties committee member, Nicholas Cowdery spoke to ABC News regarding the ALS funding crisis.
Read moreSydney Criminal Lawyers: The Proposed “Voluntary” National Digital ID System May Involve Facial Recognition
In late January of this year, news bulletins included details about the just released user audit report into myGov: “the government’s front door for digital services and support”, or put more plainly, a digital platform that currently links users to fifteen government services, including Medicare and Centrelink.
“myGov is critical national infrastructure” was the key takeaway, which was reiterated throughout the media, along with the ever-increasing use of myGov warranting greater investment to improve it in terms of expanding available services and making them less fragmented online.
But what wasn’t so front and centre was a report recommendation calling for the acceleration of the “development of Australia’s national digital identity ecosystem”, and that this online scheme, which will involve biometric facial recognition technology, should perhaps be integrated into myGov.
Read moreGreen Left: Knitting Nannas challenge anti-protest laws in NSW Supreme Court
Knitting Nannas and supporters gathered outside the NSW Supreme Court on May 10 to support climate activists and Nannas Dominique Jacobs and Helen Kvelde challenge New South Wales undemocratic anti-protest laws, Green Left's Rachel Evans reports.
This challenged has been filed by the Environmental Defenders Office, who believe that the protest laws are “so broad that a group of people could face serious criminal charges simply by protesting near a railway station and causing people to be redirected around them”.
Read moreNSWCCL calls on the Australian Government to exercise compassion for Rohingya refugees
Australia’s decision in November 2022 to prioritise Myanmar nationals for humanitarian visas sends a clear signal that Australia recognises the humanitarian disaster in post-coup Myanmar and we welcome this decision. However, we believe the Australian Government should seize this moment to also include the Rohingya in this arrangement.
Read moreStand up, Fight Back: Protecting the right to protest in NSW
Our event at Sydney University Law School brought together a stellar group of activists, students, academics, lawyers and civil society. We know that activism changes history and the right to stand together and peacefully protest must be protected and defended for every citizen not pared back. Peaceful protestors should never face incarceration. Our panel spoke from the perspectives of their lived experiences and generously shared their passion for maintaining our democratic rights to speak freely in society and to hold government and corporations to account through protest action. We thank Jeff, Amal, Kavita Luc and Simon for their time and extraordinary expertise (bio's below)! If you missed this event you can catch up here. |
PALM SUNDAY - Standing together for Refugee's and Peace
NSWCCL lauded the government's decision in February to grant permanent residency visas to 19,000 asylum seekers on temporary protection visas, but there are still thousands of people stuck in limbo both in Australia and at off-shore processing centres. This is just not good enough from a Labor government promising compassion.
The Australian: Pauline Hanson fires up over vaccine mandates
Pauline Hanson clashed with NSW Council for Civil Liberties President, Josh Pallas during a senate inquiry into the Covid-19 vaccination status. Mr Pallas stated the NSWCCL argued that governments should not mandate vaccines outside of settings where the risk of transmission was high, such as in healthcare settings.
He also stated that the decision should be on individual businesses to decide whether employees should need to be vaccinated based on “their own circumstances” and whether unvaccinated staff would present a safety risk.
Read moreALS (NSW/ACT): Emergency funding needed to prevent imminent service freezes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services
MEDIA STATEMENT - Issued in partnership with National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement South Australia, Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (QLD) Ltd, North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, Tasmanian Aboriginal Legal Service, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS) around Australia are calling on the federal government to deliver a $250 million emergency support package to prevent imminent service freezes and unjust incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
At the frontline, certain service locations in regional Australia face freezes within four weeks. A dramatic increase in service freezes can only be prevented or reversed with additional core funding from the Commonwealth.
Read moreThe Guardian: Ken Henry on why jobseeker should be increased
The interim economic inclusion committee has recently released a report that sets out the catastrophic impact that the current rate of the jobseeker payment has had on many Australians. Currently, only $50 a day is payable to a single individual, which is two-thirds of the single rate of age pension. This is completely unsustainable for anyone living in modern Australia.
Read moreNews.com.au: New federal laws to ban the display of Nazi symbols on the table in Canberra
NSW Council for Civil Liberties committee member Stephen Blanks yesterday told a hearing of the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in regard to The Criminal Code Amendment (Prohibition of Nazi Symbols) Bill 2023 (the Bill) that the legislation didn’t “go to the heart of the problem”.
Mr Blanks argued criminal law was only one of the required tools to prevent Nazi ideology and wouldn’t be enough on its own. Freedom of expression does not give licence to individuals to engage in expression which engenders hate and incites violence. He said the proposed legislation must iron out any doubts over people who might be displaying Nazy symbols for educational purposes or other reasons who weren’t about promoting hateful ideology.
Read moreNews.com.au: Pauline Hanson fires up over vaccine mandates
NSW Council for Civil Liberties President, Josh Pallas, appeared before the Senate Committee on Education and Employment Legislation yesterday. The Bills being considered are sponsored by Senators Pauline Hanson and Matt Canavan. They suggest that States should not be able to restrict freedom of movement from State to State of any Australian citizen and they suggest that employers should not be able to ask an employee to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
In our view, the Bills in question, unreasonably and disproportionately protect the unvaccinated at the expense of the rights of other members of the community. Based on the generally accepted medical science, the Bills are incompatible with human rights.
Read moreThe Guardian: National ban on Nazi salute and insignia would help prevent far-right radicalisation, Asio says
Australia’s domestic intelligence agency Asio has welcomed a Coalition bill to ban Nazi symbols including the Sieg Heil salute, telling a parliamentary inquiry it would help prevent recruitment and radicalisation by far-right extremists.
The Victorian Government announced thay would implement a ban of the salute after a group of men from the National Socialist Network repeatedly performed the salute on the steps of Victoria’s parliament last month. This prompted shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash to introduce a federal bill.
Read moreNew Straits Times: Australia agrees to release full report on Double Six air tragedy
The Australian government has agreed to release the full findings of the Double Six tragedy where a Nomad N-22B aircraft crashed and killed 11 people in 1976.
Australia's Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Sydney yesterday decided to allow the release in its entirety of Australia's reports on the tragedy. This followed a request made to National Archives of Australia (NAA) by the former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Harris Mohd Salleh.
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