The Minns Labor government has reintroduced the Places of Worship police move-on power. This power was previously struck down by the NSW Supreme Court because it impermissibly burdened the implied constitutional freedom of political communication. 

In May this year, the NSW Government initiated a review into the legal principle of doli incapax. The principle requires that when prosecuting children, between the age of 10 and 14, the prosecution has to establish, beyond reasonable doubt, that the child knows and is capable of knowing what they did was wrong.

This review was inadvisable and unnecessary in the first place. There is nothing objectionable about making sure that if children as young as 10 are facing criminal charges, that they know what they have done is wrong,  beyond reasonable doubt.

The review was undertaken by independent reviewers appointed by the Minns government. It was not carried out by The NSW Law Reform Commission, the independent statutory agency established to provide expert law reform advice. 

Today, the Minns Labor Government has introduced a bill that will put the common law test into legislation. The proposed legislation will make it easier for prosecutors to rebut this essential presumption. 

NSWCCL condemns the antisemitic demonstration of neo-Nazis at NSW Parliament house as repugnant racial hatred. The racist beliefs of neo-Nazis are antithetical to a society that respects individuals freedoms and rights. 

Earlier this year, without consultation from civil society, the NSW Government introduced a raft of new laws that unduly restrict freedom of speech and the right to protest. At the time they were introduced, NSWCCL warned these laws would bring more hatred. 

This week the federal Labor Government introduced a bill which would give the minister the power to cancel the welfare payments to individuals where an arrest warrant has been issued. 

Last night, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) Annual General Meeting passed a resolution calling on the NSW Police to withdraw the anti-protest charges against the remaining 130 people arrested in Newcastle who were protesting the world’s largest coal port.  

Today the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Queensland Council for Civil Liberties and Liberty Victoria (the CCLs) have jointly submitted to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security review into the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025. The CCLs are alarmed that the federal Labor Government is making the post 9/11 questioning and detention powers permanent. The questioning warrant powers remove or restrict accepted legal rights of due process, rights of an accused person to have legal representation and to a fair trial. These powers can be used to arrest, detain and question someone as young as 14, without any suspicion or criminal charge against them. 

The CCLs submit that these immense powers are contrary to the basic democratic principles and would characterise ASIO as a secret police force, rather than an intelligence gathering agency. 

The CCLs remind the government that Parliament’s duty is not merely to protect the safety of the public at all costs. It must also preserve the democratic liberty which the public cherishes and is entitled to expect. The appropriate balance must be struck. If, in combatting extremism, this society descends into authoritarianism, then the Parliament has destroyed what it is seeking to save

Quotes attributable to Timothy Roberts, President NSWCCL 

“Political speech must be protected. This is an absurd situation where someone, in their private capacity, asked a question about an intelligence agency and has subsequently been targeted, censored and publicly condemned by their employer. 

“It is in the public’s interest for questions to be asked regarding the trustworthiness of information from the government, including from intelligence agencies. This year alone it has been exposed that the Dural Caravan incident was known to be a criminal hoax from early on, while the NSW Premier used this to inflame fear in the public and push through anti-protest laws. 

“In a democratic country, we are entitled to question and scrutinize the decisions of all states. Even more so, we are entitled to question and scrutinize the decisions of intelligence agencies. 

“Across Australia we are witnessing institutions, including hospitals, cave to pressure and use codes of conduct and policies to repress legitimate political speech. This is shameful, antidemocratic behaviour.

“As a matter of public policy, definitions which conflate criticism of Israel and its government’s policies with antisemitism are of serious concern to freedom of speech, in the circumstance of Peter Macdonald this is taken even further to equate criticism of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, with antisemitism.”

The NSWCCL 2025 Annual Dinner will have a keynote address from global best-selling author, journalist and film-maker Antony Loewenstein. He will be speaking to members and friends of the NSWCCL on the topic of ‘Free Speech and Discomfort in a Time of War.’ The Annual Dinner will also be addressed by human rights lawyer and Executive Officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, Sarah Schwartz.

Antony’s latest book, The Palestine Laboratory, is an award-winning and best-selling book that exposes Israel’s military industrial complex and shows how it “battle-tests” its weapons and surveillance on Palestinians before selling them to the world.

The NSWCCL is deeply concerned about the censorship some of our community faces when looking to address some issues publically. The NSWCCL is committed to ensuring we are able to have these conversations and welcome the address as one such occasion. This is particularly important given the actions of the NSW Government.

In February this year, the NSW Minns Labor Government passed laws to criminalise the incitement of racial hatred. The offence carries a maximum penalty for an individual of two years’ imprisonment, fines of up to $11,000, or both, while corporations can face fines of $55,000. Hatred was not defined in the laws. In passing these poorly drafted laws, the NSW Government has improperly suppressed speech. They have also acted against the recommendations of the former Chief Justice Tom Bathurst NSW Law Reform Commission, which warned that hatred is too imprecise and subjective a term for the criminal law. Further, the review made clear they go against the advice of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which warned that restrictions on freedom of speech should not be “broad or vague”.

The incitement of violence on the basis of race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status and HIV status was already illegal, as are civil protections against hate speech in the Anti-Discrimination Act, and rightly so. These laws protect our community while not unreasonably burdening free speech.

Hannah Thomas, a candidate who stood against the Prime Minister in the recent federal election, was seriously injured on Friday, reportedly at the hands of NSW Police. The NSWCCL understands that NSW Police used the Premier’s new move along powers in disrupting what was otherwise a peaceful protest.

Public assemblies have been protected under the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (‘LEPRA’), whether they are “authorised” through the Form 1 process or not. The Minns Labor Government passed draconian laws that lowered the threshold for NSW Police to issue move on orders, by amending Section 200 of LEPRA which speaks to the operation of these powers in s 197.

It has been reported that the fact sheet of an arrestee at the protest includes reference to a ‘place of worship’. NSWCCL has warned of the potential misuse of these laws since they were first announced.