NSWCCL President Stephen Blanks has warned against the automatic placement of offenders on a proposed domestic violence register, strongly urging that a court should decide whether to place somebody on the register based on an assessment of their risk to the community.

"If it's automatic, we will see an enormous change in the way people treat their defence," he said. "It will be a huge incentive on everyone charged with domestic violence offences to plead not guilty, which is quite counter-productive. We want a system where people are encouraged to recognise their guilt."

Following on from the release of the PJCIS Report into the Data Retention Bill on Friday 27/02/15 CCL Vice President Oscar Coleman spoke to FBi's Backchat program about the report, labelling the proposed metadata laws 'the worst in the developed world'. Oscar stated the report made only minor recommendations to the Bill and still supports 'largely what [Attorney-General] Brandis wanted to do in the first place'. He encouraged listeners to contact their Labor MP or Senator. 

Audio: Data Retention Bill

Source: FBi Backchat, 28/02/15

NSWCCL President Stephen Blanks spoke to The Wire in response to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s comments that mandatory data retention is necessary to combat terrorism and child sexual abuse, arguing that this is not a counter-terrorism measure.

Stephen told The Wire: "The Government should allow parliament proper time to consider all of its ramifications… In countries where there are human rights standards, Governments and Parliaments are rejecting this kind of legislation because it involves a disproportionate invasion of people's privacy for no proven benefit."

He warned that police will have easy access to the metadata as "there is no independent supervision of the law enforcement agencies when they access data…There are [also] a very large number of [other] agencies in Australia that have access to metadata and this proposal will give those agencies enormous powers." Stephen further stated that access to our collected metadata should be subject to a court warrant first.

Story/Audio: Metadata laws; fighting crime or invading privacy? The content we linked to is no longer available

Source: The Wire 18/02/2015

In a YouTube video released on Sunday the Prime Minister has hinted at a national security crackdown involving the tightening of migration and welfare rules. On SBS News NSWCCL President Stephen Blanks argued that a further national security crackdown could be counter productive:

"You don't defeat every terrorist incident by increasing the powers of the national security agencies. You don't destroy freedom in order to protect it. What you do is you should promote community coherence. You should make sure everybody in our society is committed to our common ideals and not drive wedges between them because driving wedges between them is going to perpetuate these kinds of attacks."

Stephen also warned that possible welfare changes could result in a backlash from innocent Australians:

"The community is going to find that very intrusive and unacceptable. People should not have to say they reject terrorism in order to get a Centrelink benefit. That is something that something that is just going too far. That is going to make people suspicious of the entire security apparatus that has been erected around them."

Stephen also spoke to "the Wire", noting that following the extraordinary case of Man Haron Monis, reactionary bail reforms appear to be on the agenda and threaten to undermine the fundamental presumption of innocence: "Bail is not an excuse to start locking people up as if they are presumed guilty." He also warned that welfare reforms could potentially lead to 'McCarthy' style systems where welfare recipients may need to prove that they are not terrorist sympathisers in order to receive benefits.

Transcript/Audio: Criticism of Abbott's new security proposals
Video: Criticism of Abbott's new security proposals. The content we linked to is no longer available
Source: SBS News, 16/2/2015

Article/Audio: National Security - have we been too lenient too long?Source: The Wire, 16/2/2015

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties condemns the Prime Minister’s attack on the credibility of the Human Rights Commission (HRC), and Commissioner Gillian Triggs following the release of the Commission’s damning report into the detention of asylum seeker children.

Civil liberties councils across Australia organised the screening [of Citizenfour] with the help of Greens Senator Scott Ludlam. The award-winning film documents the circumstances in which Snowden blew the lid off the NSA's mass surveillance activities in the US and the Britain.

Queensland Labor MP Graham Perrett says he has serious concerns about the Abbott government's proposed data retention bill but remains confident it can be passed with judicious amendments.

"I'm not a big fan of anyone revealing information that puts any of our professional staff at risk but I do know that the enthusiasm of intelligence agencies needs to be moderated and I think that Parliament has an important role in that,"Mr Perrett.

Article: Concerned about data retention bill: Labor MPs react to Edward Snowden doco CitizenFour

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 11/2/2015

See also

Article: Civil liberties councils bring #Citizenfour to Canberra, No Fibs, 11/2/2015, The content we linked to is no longer available

Article: Data retention hinges on Labor's support, ZDNet, 13/02/2015

Article: Citizenfour: meet NSA whistleblower Snowden, Honi Soit, 18/02/2015

Details of the illegal surveillance of over 100 people - including senior NSW police - under scrutiny in a NSW parliamentary inquiry should ring alarm bells on another front in the digital privacy wars.

As Deputy Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas described the "decade of angst" caused by the invasion of his privacy, and the bugging of his ex-wife and children's home, NSW Police were down in Canberra arguing to federal politicians that they should have open slather to invade the privacy of the public at large.

...Judges are rubber stamps when it comes to police seeking warrants for telephone intercepts in NSW. The NSW Civil Liberties Council has previously called for the introduction of the Queensland system to cut out rubber-stamping. A Queensland public interest monitor scrutinises each surveillance warrant and questions whether the police evidence justifies the privacy invasion of a "bug", and can argue this case before the judge.

Article: Police privacy worries should be shared by all

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 8/2/2015

NSWCCL calls on the Australian government to make all diplomatic efforts to stop the executions of the two Australian citizens on death row in Indonesia facing imminent execution.  The NSWCCL has signed a joint letter with a range of other organisations to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, urging such efforts be made, and to the Indonesian Ambassador in Australia seeking mercy for the two Australian citizens facing imminent execution.

"The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties is taking an unusual route in the fight to stop data retention, swapping out Twitter for the silver screen... [The council] aims to screen the film for politicians and media in Canberra, raising money to rent a viewing space in Parliament House for a February 9 screening, presented in conjunction with Madman Entertainment and Electronic Frontiers Australia." 

Article: CITIZENFOUR to Screen at Parliament House
Source: 4:3 Film, 23/01/2015

"In an effort to persuade MPs of the bill’s danger, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties is currently hosting screenings of Laura Poitras’ documentary film CitizenFour, an insider look at the Edward Snowden affair which exposed the global scale of the National Security Agency’s data gathering operations... All federal MPs have been invited to the film’s Canberra screening, to be held Monday night, which the organisation is currently fundraising for."

Article: Abbott 'Bullying' Labor On Data Retention Laws, Says Ludlam. Article no longer available
Source: New Matilda, 05/02/15

Human Rights Watch, in its World Report 2015, comments on the Australian government’s human rights record in 2014, stating that the government's failure to respect international standards protecting asylum seekers and refugees continues to take a heavy human toll and undermines Australia’s ability to call for stronger human rights protections abroad. HRW reports on the introduction of new counterterrorism measures, describing them as 'overboard,' stating that the measures would infringe on freedoms of expression and movement. The report also highlights the government's failure to take action to address indigenous rights and disability rights.

NSWCCL President Stephen Blanks has responded to the suggestion made by a former judge that terrorists should be kept in prison after their sentences expire if they still hold extreme religious views. Speaking to ABC Radio Current Affairs AM, Stephen characterised these comments as "a scorched earth policy":

"What a dangerous suggestion it is that people should be kept locked up just because of their opinions, and what a terrible indictment on our system that we can't, through a process of programs in prison, deradicalise these individuals."

Listen: Stephen Blanks stunned by suggestion of not releasing terrorist from jail. The content we linked to is no longer available

Source: ABC Radio Current Affairs, AM, 29/01/15

See also: Prison radicalisation expert Clarke Jones says segregation only strengthening terrorists' beliefs, Sydney Morning Herald, 29/01/15

Judge's call to keep terrorists in prison indefinitely stuns civil liberties campaigners, ABC Radio, The World Today, 29/01/15

Death row inmates Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan stand in a grim line of nearly 90 Australians who have faced a possible death sentence overseas in the past 30 years.

NSWCCL President Stephen Blanks stated "Every criminal is entitled – even the worst murderers, the worst drug dealers – to the opportunity to reform themselves."

Article: Aussies on death row part of a grim line to have faced possible death sentence

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 25/1/2015

Last year civil liberties and human rights groups resisted, with limited success, the worst elements of the veritable tsunami of new counter-terrorism laws the Abbot Government brought in swift succession to the Parliament.  Now we are fast approaching a decision point in the highly significant and contentious debate as to whether the Australian Parliament will legislate the mandatory collection and retention of mass telecommunications data for the bulk of the population to enable retrospective access by authorities.

It would be a major negative step for a democratic system. It will be a major intrusion on every citizen’s right to privacy - including those not suspected of any unlawful activity. This will have major flow-on implications for other freedoms and democratic values. In particular, it will undermine a robust and free press and constrain legitimate whistle-blowers by removing any confidentiality from all phone and internet communications.  

The combined CCLS consider it to be a step too far. We strongly oppose the policy concept and urge the Parliament to reject it. 

Paid interviews with Sydney siege hostages should be prevented from going to air because they risk tainting future evidence and weakening the coronial process, former state coroner John Abernethy says.

Former Director of Public Prosecutions and NSWCCL committee member Nicholas Cowdery AM QC also fears hostages involved in exclusive cash-for-comment deals may give colourful, definitive accounts to satisfy a television audience, then feel compelled to repeat the same accounts in court, even if their views have shifted.

Article: Sydney siege aftermath: stop paid interviews going to air, says former coroner

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 22/1/2015

A number of Sydney siege survivors have reportedly signed six-figure deals to tell their stories to television networks, however legal experts have raised concerns about impacting the inquests into the deaths which are currently underway.

Former Director of Public Prosecutions and NSWCCL committee member Nicholas Cowdery AM QC raised concerns saying it could lead to the victims exaggerating their accounts to make good TV.

"There are a lot of areas of concern - moral, ethical, freedom of the press, and so on," he told AAP on Thursday.

"The part of it I'm particularly interested in is the integrity of the formal legal processes to run their course without being hampered by the sale of stories beforehand."

Article: Sydney siege interviews 'could prejudice'

Source: SBS, 22/01/2015

Bali Nine death row inmates Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan are on a list of 26 prisoners Indonesia says will be executed this year, including six who will be killed this Sunday.

NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Stephen Blanks said the Australian government should be making it clear to Indonesia that the Australian public "regards these executions as unacceptable and unjustifiable".

Mr Blanks said it was "reprehensible" that Indonesia was resuming executions.

"The death penalty is wrong in all countries and in all circumstances," Mr Blanks said.

Article: 'Outrage' if Bali Nine executions proceed. The content we linked to is no longer available

Source: Yahoo 7, 16/11/2014

In response to the rekindled debate around section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, NSW Council for Civil Liberties Committee Member Lydia Shelley writes about Islamophobia and freedom of speech. She argues that the greater threat to Australians’ civil liberties comes from the lack of legal protections in the form of a Bill of Rights:

"Not all those who pose a threat to civil liberties and freedoms stand behind a foreign flag and hold Kalashnikovs. Some stand behind the Australian flag and promote the myth that civil liberties and freedoms need to be sacrificed in order to obtain security.

They can be persons in positions of power who seek to use freedoms and civil liberties as tools to maintain their power. They draft, and then pass, draconian legislation that strikes at the heart of democracy and the very same freedoms they are purporting to protect."

Article: Giving Bigots More Rights Is The Wrong Response To Charlie Hebdo Massacre. Article no longer available. 

Source: New Matilda, 14/01/2015

Proposed laws could ban Queenslanders from smoking on their balconies in apartment buildings, following on from similar tightened laws in NSW. President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Stephen Blanks, spoke to The Project:

"An owners corporation for a block of flats can regulate smoking on balconies, and perhaps should where it’s detrimentally affecting other residents who don’t want it."

Watch video: The Project, Tuesday 13 January (story from minute 3:40)

Source: The Project, Channel 10, 13/01/15

A man died in police custody in Bowral after a taser was used to subdue him. An investigation into his death will be overseen by the Police Professional Standards Command. President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Stephen Blanks, discussed the incident on Sunrise.

Blanks emphasised the need for police investigations to be overseen by an independent authority, and highlighted problems with the use of tasers by police.

He said: "The community cannot be satisfied with the police investigating themselves. We’ve seen too many cases where the police twist the facts to exonerate themselves in situations like this."

"The problem with tasers is that there is misunderstanding about their potential lethality. Police can tend to use them in circumstances not realising what the consequences could be."

Watch video: 37yr old dies after tasing

Source: Sunrise, Yahoo!7, 13/01/2014

NSW Council for Civil Liberties co-founder Kep Enderby QC died on 8 January 2015. Media reports credited the “lifelong civil libertarian” with his contributions to politics, the law and civil liberties in Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald remembered his political and legal achievements through the words of his peers: “Gifted, ebullient, imaginative, well dressed, with a razor sharp mind, gaunt face and beautiful speaking voice, Enderby cut a confident figure.”

“Enderby was one of Australia's most significant and interesting left liberal intellectuals, who was widely respected, despite disagreements, for the passion and honesty he brought to his convictions.”

Article: Former federal Attorney General Kep Enderby remembered among his peers (Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 14/1/2015)

As well as his political and legal career, The Australian highlighted Enderby’s work as the head of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of NSW, as President of the World Esperanto Association, and his support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

“Mr Enderby was a lifelong champion of human rights, civil liberties and the underdog; a romantic idealist who learnt Esperanto out of a belief that if the world spoke a single language it would lessen conflict.”

Article: Enderby a man of achievement, from the cockpit to the bench (Source: The Australian, 9/1/2015)

“Age did not weary this crusader. Right up until his later years, Kep Enderby remained a vocal proponent of civil liberties, unafraid to write and speak on controversial issues such as the rights of prisoners. Thanks to the changes Enderby brought about, Australians now suffer less discrimination than they did before his time in politics.”

Article: Vale Kep Enderby (Source: City News Canberra, 12/1/15)

See also:

Article: Former Whitlam minister Kep Enderby dies aged 88 (Source: ABC News, 9/1/15)