On Thursday June 1, former NSWCCL President, Cameron Murphy, gave his inaugural speech in NSW Parliament as a member of the NSW Legislative Council. 

NSWCCL congratulates Mr Murphy on both his appointment to the Legislative Council and a successful and moving inaugral speech in parliament. 

Cameron Murphy was NSWCCL's longest serving President from 2000 to 2013 and to commemorate that laudable achievement, received a NSWCCL life membership in 2013. 

The new Labor government in NSW is taking power at a crucial time, with the fate of the world’s climate hanging in the balance.

When: 12pm, Monday June 5
Where: Archibald Fountain, Hyde Park North
What: March to NSW Parliament House

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that urgent action to drastically reduce emissions is required to avoid catastrophic climate change. This means an immediate end to the expansion of the fossil fuel industry and a rapid transition to sustainable industries for workers and communities currently reliant on fossil fuels.

NSWCCL made a submission to the Modern Slavery Review Team in November 2022 outlining four key recommendations to the legislative framework. 

On 25 May 2023, the government tabled the Review of the Modern Slavery Act in Parliament which considers the current legislation and the operation of the Act in the first three years of implementation. The Act and its administrative implementation were considered as part of this review.

Michelle Pini writes: The idea that endless privatisation and unfettered corporate greed will somehow leave us all better off no longer appears to be swallowed by the vast majority of Australians. Certainly, public confidence in our political leaders as well as in our institutions has been severely eroded in recent years.

This week, the Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PwC) scandal – in which nine (as yet unidentified) partners of the consultancy firm enlisted to help the Coalition Government design tax laws, leaked confidential Treasury information to benefit PwC's private clients – has left Australians outraged.

Twitter has become a "cesspit of hate” since Peter Dutton's announcement that the Coalition will vote no at the upcoming Voice referendum. First Nations leaders Thomas Mayo and Tracey Westerman report that “It’s like Dutton let a whole lot of racists off the leash to sew doubt, confusion and fear amongst voters.”

Read more here.

NSWCCL has long been troubled about the privacy concerns associated with the largely unregulated use of AI, biometrics and facial recognition technology in frontline policing. There are a many high-risk applications of this technology which are being implemented without sufficient public discussion or consent.  Its use in CCTV ‘mood tracking’ cameras in 2023 Mardi Gras Parade[1], monitoring that people are at home during the COVID-19 quarantine[2] and as a tool in controversial predictive policing[3] – goes to show the virtually unstoppable, ever-expanding scope creep of surveillance capacity. The law has notoriously been unable to keep up with AI and NSWCCL observes that this leaves the window open for law enforcement to race ahead of regulation to use people’s data in an increased surveillance capacity.

The LECC has revealed significant issues with New South Wales Police Force (NSWPF)’s current approach to conducting critical incident investigations. The 2023 review, which assessed ‘Five Years of Independent Monitoring of NSW Police Force Critical Incident Investigations, found that current processes are overly lengthy and provide little opportunity to quickly improve identified issues.

Josh Pallas: "Given what happened with Clare Nowland, we think that it’s really made it quite clear that critical incidents shouldn’t be conducted by police – those investigations – they should just go to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) directly, and we’re fortified in that conclusion by what the recent LECC report is saying."

"When the LECC does supervise investigations, they have currently limited access to interviews and the investigations as a whole – so we don’t have confidence in current internal police investigations."

Read more here.

Calls are growing for a parliamentary inquiry into use of force by New South Wales police, with justice experts saying too much focus is being placed on the actions of individual police officers rather than the “festering” systemic problem.

“It’s about time we had some accountability from high up rather than those who are part of what’s happening on the ground," Samantha Lee of the Redfern Legal Centre said. 

Josh Pallas, president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, said what connects these cases is a poor culture around the use of force, and a parliamentary inquiry is necessary to root out the problems.

A 95-year-old great-grandmother whom police allegedly tasered earlier in May died Wednesday in an Australian hospital, officials have stated. Clare Nowland passed away May 24, around a week after the incident with police that resulting in her being tasered in the back and chest, causing her to collapse and suffer a brain bleed. 

The incident has sparked outrage throughout New South Wales, leading politicians to demand reforms in law enforcement procedures. "The refusal to release the bodycam footage protects NSW Police from public scrutiny for all the wrong reasons — the NSW community has a right to know exactly what happened when Clare Nowland was tasered so we can start to take the steps needed for change,” Sue Higginson, MLC stated.

Clare Nowland, the 95 year old dementia patient who was left fighting for her life after being tasered by police, has passed away. 

A statement from the police reads: 

“It is with great sadness we confirm the passing of 95-year-old Clare Nowland in Cooma tonight.”

“Mrs Nowland passed away peacefully in hospital just after 7pm this evening, surrounded by family and loved ones who have requested privacy during this sad and difficult time.

“Our thoughts and condolences remain with those who were lucky enough to know, love, and be loved by Mrs Nowland during a life she led hallmarked by family, kindness and community.”

Better and more extensive training to enable the NSW Police Force (NSWPF) to better deal with incidents involving people with mental health issues will help protect some of the community’s most vulnerable citizens.

President of the Law Society of NSW Cassandra Banks said the report released by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) late yesterday contains common sense recommendations that, if implemented, will improve community safety and could potentially save lives.

In 2008, great-grandmother Clare Nowland was filmed for a feel-good segment by the ABC when she decided to go skydiving for her 80th birthday. 

This week, the now 95 year old has made headlines for a different and incredibly disturbing reason, after she was allegedly Tasered by police in an incident at her nursing home. This occured after police were called to Cooma's Yallambee Lodge after Ms Nowland, who has dementia, was found holding a steak knife

It was reported that when police tried to negotiate with Nowland, she refused to drop the knife all while approaching police "slowly" with her walking frame. 

Clare Nowland, a dementia patient at Cooma's Yallambee Lodge is fighting for her life after staff at her NSW nursing home called the police on Wednesday morning after she was found holding a serrated steak knife.

After the police arrived, its reported that officers were unable to get Ms Nowland to drop the knife, resulting in one officer to fire their taser at the 95 year old as she stood next to her walking frame.

NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Josh Pallas said police shouldn't be using tasers on vulnerable people experiencing dementia or a mental health crisis.

An experienced police officer’s decision to deploy a Taser on a frail 95-year-old woman during an incident at an aged care home in southern NSW is likely in breach of police procedures on the use of the potentially-lethal weapon.

Clare Nowland, a dementia patient, was in a critical condition in hospital after she was hit by the Taser and fell, knocking her head, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. This occurred after she was found holding a serrated steak knife from the Yallambee Lodge kitchen. 

The Taser was discharged once by a male senior constable with 12 years experience. This incident was captured on body-cam footage that Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter described as “confronting”. He said the video would not be released to the public.

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. 

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.”

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.

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.

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. 

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.