The Australian Parliament is currently debating a Bill to reform the Senate electoral processes. It is very dismal listening: much abuse, much nonsense, and very little intelligent analysis.  And all happening in a last-minute dash.  

Not Parliament at its best.

NSWCCL supports immediate reform of the distorted and undemocratic Senate electoral processes. We have urged this since the 2013 elections so dramatically illustrated the undemocratic processes and outcomes of this broken system.  We have made a submission to the Joint Committee on Electoral Matters supporting a Bill which, if amended on one key matter, will deliver that reform.

Culture guru Tyler Brûlé has doubled-down on his previous criticism of Australia's "nanny state" laws, arguing they sacrifice the sort of freedoms that terrorist groups like Islamic State want us to forgo.

Speaking to Fairfax Media for the launch of a special Australia edition of his lifestyle magazine Monocle, the influential editor and critic said regulations such as Sydney's 1.30am lockout and tough liquor laws were "curbing fun" in a similar way to ISIS.

But the president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Stephen Blanks, did not share Brûlé's degree of concern about nightlife. He said the style icon was focused on "entirely the wrong losses of freedoms" compared to the more serious issues of free speech and police overreach.

"It's not the thin edge of the wedge," Mr Blanks said. "The wedge is splitting up families and detaining people without charge, without reason, on national security grounds. That's scary.

"Having police come in to Paddington wine bars is bad and shouldn't happen, but it's not on the same scale."

Article:  'Nanny state' laws are what ISIS wants, says Tyler Brûlé

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

 COPS Database Forum: October 21st 2015

On October 21st 2015, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties in conjunction with the Law Society of New South Wales held a forum on the Computerised Operational Policing System (COPS) database.

The panel comprised  Jackson Rogers, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties’ Convenor – Justice, Police & Mental Health Action Group (Chair);  Camilla Pandolfini, Senior Solicitor at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre;  David Porter, Senior Solicitor at the Redfern Legal Centre;  and Chris Watson, barrister from Forbes Chambers.

The event was a great success, and discussion both within the panel and with the attending audience brought many issues to light about the functions and impacts of the COPS database including:

• Can a person access information held about them on the COPS Database?
• How do police make entries on the COPS database?
• Are COPS Database entries used in criminal trials?
• What about false entries in the Database? 
• Is the COPS Database just proactive policing, and is that not a good thing
• What would be an appropriate oversight mechanism? 

To read the full report and minutes of the event, please follow the links below. If you are interested in this forum, or others like it, subscribe to our newsletter for more information on upcoming events, become a supporter and tell us what you think, or join NSWCCL and help support the fight for civil liberties!

COPS Database Forum: Full Report

A Chinese-born, Australian passport holder, Zhao Nuo, has been prosecuted in China for the murder of his wife in Perth.

Zhao successfully managed to flee the country before police could prosecute and was then convicted in China. Zhao's conviction was hailed in Australian and Chinese media reports as a major breakthrough in cross-border law enforcement co-operation. But at what cost?

Article: China sentence for Perth murder sets dangerous cross-border precedent

Source: Australian Financial Review

The report by the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor –Roger Gyles QC - on the controversial section 35P provisions of the ASIO Act was tabled in the Senate on 2^nd February.   These provisions created draconian offences with penalties of 5 and 10 years imprisonment for disclosure by any person of any  information relating to ASIO ‘Special Intelligence Operations’ (SIO) at any time.  

NSWCCL, along with the other councils for civil liberties, strongly opposed both the SIO regime and these provisions for their chilling effect on the media and on reasonable scrutiny of ASIO.  The controversy around these offences forced the Prime Minister to ask the INSLM to review their impact on journalists.  

The report is thorough and suggests the INSLM gave proper and serious consideration to the informed criticisms of the SIO regime and the obnoxious disclosure offences.   His findings on the offences are consistent with our views. His recommendations remedy some of the worst aspects of the offences – but sadly fall short of repealing them.

The Government has said it will implement the INSLM’s recommendations in full. 

Daryush "Roosh" Valizadeh, founder of the self-styled men's advocacy group Return of Kings, a "neomasculinist" group, announced on Twitter on Monday evening that he had booked a ticket on a flight to Australia. The move appears to be in response to online outcry over news that Mr Valizadeh's supporters would host face-to-face "tribal meetings" in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane on Saturday. A representative of City of Sydney Council said the council "are making sure the police know about the meeting".

Solicitor Stephen Blanks, the President of the NSW Council of Civil Liberties, said there may be grounds for police to disrupt the meeting.

"If the organisers of the assembly don't give one week's notice to the police then the police may enforce the law about unlawful assembly and obstruction against the people who participate," Mr Blanks said.

"Defending the right of free speech involves providing opportunities to people to express opinions which society appals and rejects. The right to free speech does not include the right to advocate violence in any way that may encourage actual violence against women or anyone else.

"If this group is stepping over that boundary, they have no right to assembly."

Article:'Legal rape' group Return of Kings leader Daryush 'Roosh' Valizadeh announces he will come to Australia

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

The Advertiser revealed a staggering half of an entire Wagga work crew was walked offsite this week after testing positive to drugs. 

Despite the incident acting as a damning reminder of how entrenched the drug scourge is in Wagga, civil libertarians have dubbed the growing reality of compulsory work site drug testing as “ludicrous” and “farcical”. 

NSW Council for Civil Liberties president, Stephen Blanks, said a worker could return a positive reading days, weeks and even months after using, but that their ability to work may not be impaired.

“Employers have a responsibility to make sure the workplace is safe and machinery is operated safely, but drug testing is not a satisfactory way of ensuring that and can operate to the extreme prejudice of workers,” Mr Blanks said. “Detection of drugs in blood or saliva is not a real indication of impairment.”

Article: Drug testing 'undermines work ethic'

Source: The Daily Advertiser

National issues | 800 year anniversary of signing of Magna Carta |Counter-terrorism

NSW Issues | Police Oversight reform in NSW

CCL Issues | Submissions | Action Group Profile: Free Speech, Privacy and Open Government | Join an Action Group

Download December 2015 Newsletter

This Benchmark Television broadcast is with Dr Harry Melkonian who practises in New York, California and Australia with NSW Council for Civil Liberties President Stephen Blanks on USA and Australian gun laws.

Video: Dr Harry Melkonian and Stephen Blanks on Gun Control in USA and Australia (link no longer available)

Source: Benchmark TV

Thousands of protesters are expected to picket the streets of Newtown on December 12, blocking traffic as a “demonstration of the gridlock the WestConnex will cause” and to demand a “liveable city for all”.

The protest will double as a street party, with a ‘multi-stage mobile protest festival’ starring local bands and DJs filling the streets of Newtown.

“The common issue is that the State Government is more interested in looking after lobby groups that have given them money than the interests of the average citizen,” Mr Loch said. “Take the lockout laws, for example. We saw a bunch of property developers smashing up our old venues and putting in plans to build massive apartment blocks on them.”

Stephen Blanks, the president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, told City Hub that the lockout laws limited individual freedom.

“While the lockout laws represent a restriction of civil liberties, one can’t say there haven’t been corresponding benefits,” Mr Blank told City Hub.

“There are competing civil liberties involved in licensing laws: one is the ability to obtain services at licensed premises at whatever time of day suits you, versus the ability to walk the streets safely,” he said. “There are choices to be made about where to draw the line, and balance competing interests, and those should be regularly looked at.”

Article: Protestors fed up with ‘the wealthy always winning

Source: Alt Media 

Australia's parliament has passed legislation to strip dual nationals of their citizenship if they are convicted of terrorism offences or found to have fought with banned groups overseas, despite concerns about deporting jihadists.

Attorney-General George Brandis said the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill, passed late Thursday, updated existing law to reflect "the new age of terrorism".

Stephen Blanks, president of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, said Australia would be breaching its international obligations if it sent people back to countries where they faced torture.

"It's not going to have any real impact on solving the problem," he told AFP on Friday.

Article: Australia passes anti-terrorism law to strip citizenship

Source: AFP

Much-loved Australian music festival Strawberry Fields, which took place at Koonamoo in Victoria’s north over the weekend, made headlines earlier this week after police detected dozens of drug drivers heading to the festival. A Victoria Police media release claimed a total of 56 drivers were detected driving to the festival under the influence and a further 60 were caught in possession of drugs as part of a four-day joint operation.

Earlier this year, the NSWCCL came out against the rollout of random roadside drug tests in the state several months back, saying the strict liability offence was unfair to drivers as it depicts anyone with trace amounts of drugs in their system as ‘impaired’.

“Cannabis can hang around in your system for days, maybe even a few weeks, but not have any impact on your ability to drive,” said Blanks. “It is illegal to possess those drugs, but it’s never been illegal to take them. It’s a small point, but it’s worth taking in mind.”

Blanks said the absence of any threshold for drug use, such as the 0.05 BAC for alcohol, was one of the issues with roadside drug tests. “With alcohol, there is a threshold below which it is recognised that usage doesn’t impair ability to drive,” he said.

“With drug tests, there is absolute zero tolerance. The problem of drug driving are issues probably not best dealt with through random testing. Perhaps it should be other ways, like driver education or better laws around drug usage or possession.”

Article:WERE 56 PEOPLE REALLY DRIVING HIGH TO STRAWBERRY FIELDS?

Source: Tonedeaf Online Magazine

NSW police will have the power to shoot armed offenders in terrorist situations on sight under a new policy, but civil libertarians say independent review and high-level training are imperative.

The force is replacing its contain and negotiate policy, and critics are concerned about the lack of detail surrounding the policy, which hasn't been released for operational reasons.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties says extensive training will be necessary if frontline police are to be given discretion.

"There are very high risks involved in a shoot at first sight approach and obviously a one size reaction won't fit all situations," vice-president Lesley Lynch told AAP.

"It would be important that any incident which led to the death or serious injury of a person was subject of an independent review."

Article: NSW police adopt 'shoot now' approach for terrorist attacks Or NSW police get 'shoot now' discretion (The content we linked to is no longer available);

Source(s): SBS/Sky News

The NSW Police Force illegally hacked the private Facebook account of a Sydney man in a move branded a reprehensible and  "criminal offence" by a magistrate.

After four months of illegal police surveillance on a closed Facebook page, Rhys Liam Halvey was arrested and charged with three counts of using a carriage service to offend police and a further three counts of publishing an indecent article. But all six charges have now been withdrawn and dismissed. In ordering costs against police, Magistrate Brown described the conduct as "reprehensible" and the charges as "trivial."

NSW Council of Civil Liberties president Stephen Blanks said public confidence in the police was being "undermined" by an inability to acknowledge the occasions when "it does the wrong thing."

"How deep in police culture is this willingness to break the law?" he asked. "Even after they have been caught out, it would appear no adverse consequences are going to be suffered by those responsible because the illegal actions are supported by police at the most senior level."

Article:Private Facebook posts illegally hacked by NSW police

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

The Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015 has not yet been approved by parliament. The debate on the Bill is scheduled to resume next week. As Labor has indicated it will support the  revised version of the Bill,  it is almost certainly going to be approved quickly and probably without amendment.

As this is such a significant issue,  the NSW, Victorian, Queensland and South Australian Councils for Civil Liberties and the Australian Council for Civil Liberties have issued a joint public statement making one last call on the Australian Parliament to abandon this misguided Bill. 

The NSW government last week announced a $47 million package to dispatch specialist teams and trained counsellors to schools across the state to help identify students at risk of "radicalisation" and help to counter violent extremism in youngsters.

But there are rumblings of discontent among parents who say they were not consulted before the new measures were announced. Parents are concerned they have been left out in the cold as the state government and schools plough ahead with plans to combat "violent extremism" among children.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties warned that the whole suite of measures to target violent extremism could be derailed without parent involvement.

"It's pretty obvious that programs like this cannot work unless there's wide consultation over the way in which they are framed and the way in which they work," the council's president, Stephen Blanks, said.

"Once you have people who feel outside the program ... that they have not been consulted, that is what is going to undermine the program. I think families and parents are critical players in the fight against violent extremism."

Article:Parents left out in the cold over plans to combat 'violent extremism' in schools

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

 NSWCCL has issued a media release opposing the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015. 

We recognise that the amended Bill is significantly improved and less dangerous than the initial extremely flawed version.

We welcome these changes, but remain disturbed by, and opposed to, expanding citizenship-stripping laws.  Australian citizens who are alleged to have engaged in terrorist related activities should be charged, taken to trial and, if found guilty, punished and imprisoned in Australia. CCL argues the Bill should not be passed by Parliament. 

Should the Bill proceed, CCL opposes the inclusion of the retrospectivity provision- even though it is limited to a very small number of people. It is a breach of a fundamental rule of law and natural justice principle. Retrospective application of punitive legislation is never acceptable.

NSWCCL welcomes the inclusion of a minimum age for persons caught by the Bill’s provisions. However, that minimum age should be 18 not 14 as is proposed for conduct related provisions.  We welcome the removal of the provision allowing children to have their citizenship revoked if a parent had their citizenship revoked. 

We urge the membership of the influential PJCIS which is to be given an expanded oversight role in relation to the operation of this legislation, be amended to be more fully representative of the Parliament.

  NSWCCL Media Release 

The highly controversial Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015 was introduced into Parliament in June 2015. It will come back to the Australian Parliament later today in a significantly amended form following the Government’s acceptance of recommendations from the Parliamentary Joint Intelligence and Security committee (PJCIS).  It is likely to be dealt with quickly and passed this week.

NSWCCL recognises that the amended Bill will be a significantly improved and far less dangerous version.  We welcome these changes, but remain disturbed by, and opposed to, expanding citizenship-stripping laws.  Australian citizens who are alleged to have engaged in terrorist related activities should be charged, taken to trial and, if found guilty, punished and imprisoned in Australia. To expel them from the polis is to place the person outside the reach of the State’s legal system. It will not make us safer. 

CCL members gathered on Wednesday evening in the City of Sydney Council Chambers for the 52^nd Annual General meeting of the NSW Council. It was a well-attended, lively and productive meeting.

A fresh counter-terrorism crackdown has been launched across NSW prisons which could force lower-security inmates to use English when writing letters, speaking on the phone or talking with visitors.

The state government on Friday created a new prisoner designation – a "national security interest inmate" (NSI) – to crack down on prisoners deemed at risk of inciting or organising terrorism via their contact with the outside world.  

The new powers allow NSW Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin to impose severe restrictions on the ability of prisoners who have not been convicted of terrorism offences to communicate with visitors, friends and family.

NSW Council for Civil Liberties Stephen Blanks referred to the measures as "counter-productive", saying,

"This kind of regulation is going to make reintegration more difficult because it will build up opposition and resentment from the prisoners concerned and their families, whose communications with them will be inhibited."

Article:'National security interest inmate': fresh terrorism crackdown in prisons

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald