WARNING: This blog contains the name of an Aboriginal person who has died.

Lowitja O’Donoghue, a Yankunytjatjara woman, Australian activist and leader died on Sunday on Kaurna Country in Adelaide. Today the NSWCCL pays tribute to her life and work which led  groundbreaking reforms for Indigenous peoples across the nation.

Since 2007 Indigenous deaths in police custody have doubled with 2023 as the deadliest year on record for First Nations people in prison. The recently published report released by The Australian Institute of Criminology, shed light on this, with over 556 Indigenous deaths in custody in the 32 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. 

Between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, a total of 21 Indigenous prisoners lost their lives while incarcerated. This marks the highest death-in-custody toll since 1980. Further, this report highlighted the deaths of 11 individuals who were unsentenced at the time of their passing. 

The report has additionally highlighted that New South Wales is the most likely place for someone to die while being arrested, held or pursued.

Ashleigh Buckett - an associate legal director at the National Justice Project said that the government was slow to respond to a royal commission on Aboriginal deaths in custody and emphasised the necessity for change. 

"There have been over 500 Aboriginal deaths in custody since 1991, but only a handful of prosecutions," she said.

"The government already has the recommendations to guide its response, the question now is whether it has the will."

NSW police have conducted a review of a serious allegation of hate speech at the Opera House protest in October and found that the allegations were incorrect. Expert examination of the video evidence proves that protestors were chanting “where’s the Jews” and did not chant “gas the Jews” as was widely reported by many media outlets on the basis of a wrongly captioned video shared on social media.

In our submission about the Australian Government Digital Identity System (AGDIS) we have underscored our commitment to safeguarding civil liberties in the face of evolving digital identity systems.

While NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) endorses the codification of AGDIS, which includes the Document Verification Service and facial verification technology, concerns persist regarding the lack of an effective legal framework. Recent high-profile data breaches underscore the urgency of regulation and enforcement in identity protection. The impetus for the swift introduction of this legislation is the imperative to address cybercrime, but recent amendments fall short in addressing crucial issues.

NSW Council for Civil Liberties notes the review of s93Z of the Crimes Act to be conducted by the Honourable Tom Bathurst KC AC.  NSWCCL hopes that the review will involve extensive community consultation and looks forward to being involved in that consultation.  

New South Wales has strong “hate speech” laws that already criminalises speech that either intentionally or recklessly, threatens or incites violence against someone based on their race, religion, sexual orientation or other characteristics.  These laws should be seen in the context of both Commonwealth and State anti-discrimination laws which provide civil remedies in many circumstances.  Resort to criminal law should always be a last resort.  The law should not criminalize legitimate free speech.

From Cat Woods: Global advocacy organisation Article 19 released their annual Global Expression Report late last year. The report tracks freedom of expression across 161 countries via 25 indicators, giving each nation a score between 0 and 100.

That score places it in an expression category between “Open” and “In Crisis”. The facts illustrated in the report reveal that more than six billion people globally live with less freedoms than they had 20 years ago.

LSJ spoke to Lydia Shelly, the president of NSW Council for Civil Liberties and director of Shelly Legal about the reasons for, and implications of, the global and national decline in freedom of expression.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) acknowledges the Australian Government's recent announcement in response to the consultation on responsible AI regulation in Australia. While we appreciate the government's efforts to address the challenges posed by artificial intelligence, we have some concerns about the proposed voluntary guidelines for users, which risks putting Australia behind the pace set by the European Union in AI regulation.

The recent fatal shooting of a 34-year-old man, identified as Alexander Stuart Pinnock, outside a medical centre in Nowra, has sparked calls for improved training in mental health interventions for police officers. 

Pinnock reportedly threatened medical staff with a semi-automatic pistol, and after emerging from the clinic after a two-hour standoff, was shot at by multiple police officers. He was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.

Pinnock, had a history of mental health interventions and a minor non-violent criminal record, previously pleading guilty to impersonation of a lawyer. He has featured previously on a news program explaining his schizophrenia was responsible for his impersonation.

This incident has raised questions surrounding the police's handling of individuals with mental health challenges. 

In a statement, the Pinnock family said “What happened yesterday demonstrates a failure within the various systems in our community designed to help and support those who struggle with mental illness, This does not excuse his actions and it does not lessen the impact felt by those close to the incident.".

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties is opposed to Senator Malcolm Roberts' proposal for a Royal Commission into COVID-19. We believe that such an inquiry is both unnecessary and potentially harmful, and we urge the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to carefully consider the implications of this call.

The admission of eight individuals to the hospital due to MDMA overdoses at an electronic music festival in Melbourne has sparked renewed and pressing demands for nationwide pill-testing initiatives.

Of those affected at the festival, seven had to be placed in induced comas and required breathing tubes.

Victorian Health authorities have announced that the overdoses were not caused by a single bad batch, but instead the hot, humid conditions at the festival, paired with physical exertion. 

The hospitalisations have intensified the calls for increased pill testing, and for governments to address the complicated issue of festival drug use.