The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) wholeheartedly supports the establishment of a Truth and Justice Commission to address injustices suffered by First Nations Peoples in Australia. The proposed Bill, currently before a Parliamentary Inquiry, represents a crucial step towards implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart—a document NSWCCL endorses in full.

The Truth and Justice Commission, as outlined in the Bill, will have investigative powers to examine historic and ongoing injustices experienced by First Nations Peoples. Its primary aim is to provide recommendations to Parliament based on truth-telling about Australia's colonial history, paving the way for national reconciliation.  

Refugee children who have successfully completed their Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and those who are currently preparing to sit their exams are facing insurmountable barriers in accessing higher education. These students, many of whom have no memory of living anywhere other than Australia, are being denied the opportunity to attend university on equal terms with their peers. Instead, those allowed to enrol are often categorised as foreign students, subject to exorbitant fees and additional restrictions.

This heartbreaking situation stems from the fact that these young people, despite calling Australia home for much of their lives, continue to live without permanent visas. For over 12 years—some even longer—they have been trapped in a bureaucratic limbo that strips them of basic liberties and opportunities.

Families impacted by the injustices of the devastating ‘fast track’ process or as part of the so-called ‘legacy caseload’ have children who simply want to attend university just like their peers. This temporary status affects every part of their lives, including their ability to get work or study, their access to services, and their ability to recover from their trauma.

“The younger a child is when they come into contact with the criminal justice system, the more likely it is they will have further contact with the system across their lifetimes.”

Evidence has proven time and time again that policing, arresting and imprisoning young children not only harms the child but also fails to keep communities safe in the long term. Encountering the criminal justice system at such a young, vulnerable age can increase the likelihood of reoffending. This is especially concerning as children who exhibit criminal behaviour often have a variety of needs that are failing to be met.

A recent NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) report found that the children sent to court were overwhelmingly from disadvantaged backgrounds with more than half being a victim of a violent offence and about a third having accessed a specialist homelessness service. Moreover, a quarter of the children were found not guilty and just over half had all charges withdrawn. Cycling these vulnerable children through courts and police cells undoubtedly causes further trauma and mistrust of the justice system, rendering it counterproductive in preventing future criminal behaviour.

The CFMEU is set to be placed into administration for at least three years after the federal parliament passed laws allowing the appointment of an administrator and the imposition of life bans on corrupt officials. 

This move follows allegations of criminal conduct and ties to organised crime within the union. 

The union criticised the law, arguing it strips members of fair process and may challenge it in court. 

Some might argue that calling for corporations to face the same scrutiny as the CFMEU is mere “whataboutism,” defending alleged union corruption. This topic arises follows claims of corruption and intimidation, as reported by Nine journalists. The union has been placed under administration for three years, and many officials have been dismissed due to legislation passed with Coalition support, though legal challenges may follow.

Some argue that this situation highlights a double standard. For example, why didn't the government threaten similar action against PwC when it was revealed that they leaked confidential tax information for profit?

RMIT Professor Anthony Forsyth acknowledges this double standard in the treatment of corporations versus unions but insists that the legislation was necessary due to the CFMEU's likely resistance to a court-appointed administrator. Meanwhile, Lydia Shelly from the NSW Council for Civil Liberties criticises the inconsistency in addressing corporate wrongdoing. 

The Australian Greens have criticised the Labor and Liberal parties for collaborating to quickly pass legislation targeting the CFMEU (Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining, and Energy Union).

They argue that this move undermines the rule of law and threatens civil liberties. The Greens claim that the rushed legislation could allow Michaelia Cash to appoint a new administrator of the CFMEU, that person potentially being Tony Abbott, if there is a change of government.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties has serious concerns with the Federal Government’s Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Administration) Bill 2024 and the Government’s accompanying amendments. While any allegation of criminality is serious and must be addressed, the powers set out in this bill are far-reaching and establish a dangerous precedent for the trade union movement, membership-based organisations, and the rights of individuals to natural justice and procedural fairness.

Back in March, the Premier and Finance Committee launched a NSW parliamentary inquiry to examine the state’s cannabis laws, focusing mainly on whether to decriminalise the popular but still illegal plant. On the first day of the hearings, August 1st 2024, Premier Chris Minns made it clear in a press conference that he went into the election promising not to change the law on decriminalisation, and he’s not planning to break that promise now.

On that same day, top legal experts, including the state’s longest-serving Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery KC, and Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesperson Greg Barns SC, spoke up in support of the inquiry.

Public opinion in NSW has shifted so much that in the 2023 election, for the first time ever, a Legalise Cannabis NSW representative, Jeremy Buckingham, was elected to the state upper house, and now he’s chairing the inquiry.

Alex Greenwich MP’s equality bills that would reduce faith-based discrimination in schools, remove the current requirement for a person to have a surgical procedure to update the sex on their birth certificate, and give courts the power to issue a parentage order for children born out of commercial surrogacy outside of NSW has been delayed yet again.

This morning the Legislative Assembly passed a Bill extension motion moved by Sydney MP Alex Greenwich to prevent this important legislation from lapsing. We understand that the Bills will now not be considered until October. We call on the Premier to explain this unreasonable delay which in practice means that these important reforms are still not in place to recognise and protect the LGBTIQA+ community.

Nicholas Cowdery, a former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, told an NSW parliamentary inquiry on August 1 that action was needed now to decriminalise cannabis use.

Cowdery, a former president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) said it had long believed that criminal law is “ill-suited to deal with drug use in the community”.

Every year in NSW more than 700,000 people “from all walks of life” use cannabis, Cowdery said.

“There is consistent evidence that decriminalisation doesn’t encourage cannabis use or increase cannabis taking in the community,” he said, adding that decriminalisation “may have the opposite effect” as more people access advice, support and treatment if they need it.

People with problematic drug use needed a health and social support response rather than a criminal justice one, he added.