Ludovico Fabiano, a deputy mayor representing Waverley Council, home to one of Australia's largest Jewish populations, has been sacked after backing a move to condemn Israel's bombing of Gaza.

Recently, Waverley Council voted on a motion to condemn the attack on Israeli civilians by Hamas and give $10,000 to Jewish community organisations in their area. Ludovico Fabiano attempted to amend a motion about the Israel-Gaza conflict to call out "war crimes" by Israel but was voted out of his position during a public meeting on Thursday evening.

In the build up to Labor’s overhaul of the current state Drug Law system NSW recently introduced a two-strike system. Under this scheme, people caught with drugs of any form might be fined approximately $400 up to two times depending on the severity of their conduct and then made to undergo a compulsory training after which their fines will be wiped out. The failure to reform behaviour after the training means that the person will have to pay the required fees. 

While this system reduces the number of people charged under criminal law, it still does not remove all of the criminal connotations and surveillance power over the communities. 

Today, the High Court of Australia (“HCA”) has ruled that the Government cannot strip Australians who have been convicted of terrorism offences of their citizenship pursuant to section 36D of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007.

The HCA decision is in response to an appeal that was lodged by convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika, who was incarcerated in 2005.

The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties has long argued that section 36D of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 was invalid and that it did not empower Ministers to strip a person’s citizenship.

We have long held the position that depriving someone of their citizenship should not be a legislative response to any criminal offence – even the most shocking and inhumane offences such as terrorism as it is fundamentally undemocratic.

Today marks the first day of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit.

We have signed an open letter that will be delivered at the Summit on the urgent need for the risks that AI poses to our civil liberties and human rights to be considered when developing policies and regulations on the use and proliferation of AI. 

You can view the open letter here.

The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties (“CCL”) gave evidence today at NSW Parliament before the Modern Slavery Committee regarding its review of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (“the NSW Modern Slavery Act”).

The review is concerned with whether the policy objectives of the NSW Modern Slavery Act remain valid.

The CCL strongly supports the policy objectives of the NSW Modern Slavery Act.

A coalition of legal, First Nations and Human Rights organisations have come together to call on the NSW government to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14.

The group, which includes the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) NSW/ACT, AbSec, Amnesty International Australia, ANTAR, Australian Services Union NSW & ACT Services Branch, Community Legal Centres NSW, Just Reinvest NSW, Justice Reform Initiative, New South Wales Council of Social Service (NCOSS), NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL), NSW Teachers Federation, Public Interest Advocacy Centre and Youth Action, brings a deep understanding of the negative impacts criminalising children has as well as knowledge and expertise on how to do better as a community.

In a statement, the group said better outcomes and a safer community wouldn't be achieved by doing things that don't work.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) is aware of an extraordinary general meeting occurring tonight, where members of both the Labor and Liberal party will put forward a motion to remove the Greens Waverley Deputy Mayor Ludovico Fabiano and Greens Councillor, Dominic Wy Kanak from various committees as a result of their public positions on what is occurring in Israel and Palestine.

These positions include the acknowledgement that there is a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Palestine (and in particular Gaza) and that States must comply with their obligations pursuant to International Law.

GRACE JOHNSON: The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) has condemned the police’s “scare tactics” in the days leading up to the pro-Palestine rally. 

Palestine Action Group had organised a peaceful rally which saw six thousand protestors assemble in Hyde Park this past Sunday. Roughly 1,000 officers were deployed around the city, including members of the riot, mounted and canine units. 

President of NSWCCL Josh Pallas said, “It was outrageous that the primary threat to crowd safety was from the NSW police, who threatened to use extraordinary powers under s 87D of LEPRA, which are available when there is a threat of wide-spread public disorder.  So-called police intelligence turned out to be completely unfounded. NSW Police and the Police Minister must explain how they got it so wrong.” 

“The police claims that there was such a threat can only be seen as a scare and intimidation tactic in the lead up to the protest. The emergency powers should not be available to prevent a political protest,” he continued. 

“The intense and large police mobilisation on the ground was another scare tactic aimed at intimidating overpoliced people who were demonised over the past week as posing a risk of violence by police and politicians.” 

Catie McLeod & Tamsin Rose: Human rights and legal experts have condemned the New South Wales government’s “escalating”, “unnuanced” and “disproportionate” rhetoric and response to pro-Palestinian protesters following a rally at the Opera House.

NSW authorities have vowed to stop marches from proceeding while protesters have promised to “march next week and every week” after a “static demonstration” in Hyde Park this Sunday.

Event co-organiser Amal Naser said they would be “out, loud and proud and we’re not going to bow down to the pressures that we’ve been experiencing from police and the premier”.

Sunday’s gathering was initially billed as a march through the city before police rejected the group’s application on the grounds it was submitted with less than a week’s notice.