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

Source: New Matilda, 14/01/2015

It is with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of one of NSWCCL’s founding members, Kep Enderby QC, on 8 January 2015. Kep was lifelong advocate for civil liberties and an active progressive force in Australian politics for decades. 

NSWCCL Committee Member Lydia Shelley speaks to ABC radio:

"Coming down here today was a very important personal choice to me, but it's also indicative of the overwhelming feelings coming from the Muslim community as well," Ms Shelly said.

"We wanted to pay our respects for the lives that have been lost and to pay our respects to those who were injured in the experience that they went through.

"I'm just incredibly sad ... every single other Australian today is feeling the exact same thing."

Ms Shelly said the focus today should be on the victims rather than a potential backlash against the Muslim community.

"Our overwhelming focus has been on those who have lost their lives and our thoughts and prayers and condolences go out to the family members," she said.

"I don't even feel like it's right to speak about any potential blowback on a day like this because obviously that's not our focus at all.

"I would hope that the overwhelming messages of support that we've received is indicative of Australians rising up, reaching out to each other, strengthening our bonds.

"We're not going to give into fear and mistrust of each other."

Ms Shelly has denied claims the man responsible for the attack, Man Haron Monis, was an Islamic cleric. She said he was a sick man who was not representative of Muslim Australia.

"This man was not an Islamic cleric at all," she said.

"He was a self styled sheik, that's the name that he gave himself. He was not known to preach in our mosques or anything like that.

"These are the actions of somebody who is incredibly sick and very disturbed. It is not a reflection on our sheiks, on our faith at all, on our community and I think the majority of Australians and the support that we've received understand that message."

Read the full story and listen: Muslim community leaders join mourners to pay respects to Sydney siege victims

Source: The World Today, ABC Radio 16/12/14

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties welcomes the Attorney-General’s announcement tonight, on International Human Rights Day, that all children in immigration detention, including those held on Christmas Island, will be released into the community within the next 2 or 3 months.

This announcement shows the government is listening to the Australian community.  The community rejects punitive treatment of asylum seeker children. 

The number of children in immigration detention should be zero.

The 2014 winner of the Human Rights Medal, Dorothy Hoddinott AO, shows what can be achieved when we treat children with dignity.    

Let’s hope that there will be more positive announcements from the government in relation to asylum seekers that shows that Australia is truly are a country of compassion, fairness and human rights.

Update: Sadly it has become clear that the Attorney-General was referring to the release of ONLY the children on Christmas Island. All others will remain in detention.  Also doubts have also been raised as to whether the Christmas Island children will be released into the community when they arrive in Australia. The Attorney should clarify this immediately. Seems we still have a way to go before the number of children in immigration detention is zero.

NSWCCL's submission into the Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014, condemns the proposed amendments to the Legislation, as it is clear the changes intend to punish those who seek asylum from persecution, and who arrive in Australia by boat. In doing so, this bill perpetuates the myth that asylum seekers who arrive by boat are ‘illegal’ and have no legal right to seek asylum.

Moreover, the CCL condemns the amendments which suspend the rules of natural justice as they apply in the Maritime Powers Act. Such suspension removes the possibility of oversight by the judiciary, limiting the challenges to keep the actions of government in check, particularly with respect to the implementation of punitive policies on asylum seekers and refugees.

View submission

The Abbott government's latest proposed anti-terror law represents a "back door" to allow targeted killings of Australians on foreign battle fields, and make the Australian Muslim community feel "targeted" by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, the Muslim Legal Network and the NSW Council of Civil Liberties argue in their joint submission to a parliamentary committee reviewing the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill 2014, introduced to Parliament on October 30 by Attorney-General George Brandis.

Article: Terror laws open door to targeted killings, warn Muslim and civil liberty groups

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 12/11/2014

Submission: New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties & Muslim Legal Network Joint Submission

The 51st NSWCCL Annual General Meeting was held on the 15th October 2014 in the Council Chambers at Sydney Town Hall. Around thirty CCL members -including a strong cohort of firstimers -gathered to hear annual reports from the President, Secretary and Treasurer,to elect the Executive and Committee members for 2014/5 and to endorse formal CCL policies around major civil liberties issues.

They heard that the year had been a particularly challenging and depressing one with multiple legislative assaults on civil liberties and rights from both the NSW and the Federal Governments-but that, nonetheless, CCL as an organisation was traveling well.

CCL very actively opposed unwarranted and unwise changes to the recently reformed Bail Act and two rounds of bills proposing mandatory minimum sentences for drug and alcohol fueled violence.   For most of the year CCL has been campaigning against a veritable avalanche of new and proposed counter-terrorism laws from the Federal Government which will continue to the end of the current Parliamentary session. CCL had also engaged with electoral processes at both the national (2013 election Senate voting  processes) and state level (The City of Sydney Amendment (Elections) Act 2014.)

There is growing alarm that the Australian Government is intent on rushing through Parliament very significant new counter-terrorism legislation - The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014- without allowing the community or the Parliament adequate time to understand or debate this legislation.

This is a reckless approach to legislating in any context- but particularly so when the proposed laws will have very significant implications for Australian's rights and liberties.  Today, 43 civil liberties, human rights, ethnic, academic and other civil society groups and significant academics and lawyers have published a joint statement calling on the Government to slow down:  

'Given the extraordinary nature of this Bill, the undersigned call on the Australian Parliament to not pass the Bill without a more comprehensive public consultation on the necessity of the laws and their compliance with domestic and international human rights obligations.'

NSWCCL, along with Liberty Victoria, Queensland CCL, South Australia CCL and the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, signed this public statement. Two week ago we desperately scrambled to put together a submission on this bill in the ridiculously short time of the 8 days allowed by the Government. This is the largest of the counter-terrorism bills. It amends 20 existing statutes, the explanatory memo runs to 227 pages and the actual bill alone constitutes 158 pages of amendments. 

Plainly, the Government was not intent on a serious or genuine consultation process for this review. There is no urgency in relation to the vast majority of proposed laws in this bill. It is a manifest lack of respect for civil society organisations and their legitimate and important voice in the democratic process of lawmaking- and for the role of Parliament as there is no chance that members will have the opportunity to gain an informed understanding of this large bill and its complex and multitudinous provisions. 

On Monday the Attorney-General held a press conference in which he provided more information on the two ‘tranches’ of counter terrorism legislation he is bringing into the Parliament this week. NSWCCL like other concerned organisations is struggling to stay on top of the fast moving agenda and is increasingly disturbed at what appears to be hasty decision making. 

On the basis of yesterday's press conference we have put out a statement updating our reactions to AG's latest information. This covers the Government's response to the PJCIS report on its review of the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 (Tranche 1) and the so called bundle of new laws to deal with the threat of Australian jihardist fighters here and overseas - the 'Foreign Fighters Bill (Tranche 2). 

While we, of course, support ASIO and the AFP having adequate powers and resources  to protect Australians against the real threat of terrorist activity - as long as it is consistent with the maintenance of a healthy democracy - there is much to be concerned about in the proposals coming forward.  

Tranche No 1  The National Security Legislation Amendment Act

• Torture and ASIO immunity in Special Intelligence Operations context

NSWCCL joined others in protesting the potential for the proposed immunity provisions to permit ASIO officers to carry out acts of torture. We therefore welcomes the AG’s decision to explicitly prohibit torture from the immunity provisions associated with the proposed ‘Special Intelligence Operation’.

The explicit prohibition in the legislation is necessary as the existing draft legislation clearly encompassed the possibility of ASIO officers having immunity for acts of torture. The issue was not a ‘red herring’ as the AG claimed, but a significant and relevant concern to remove serious ambiguity from the legislation. 

Next week the Abbott Government will be seeking Parliamentary approval of the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill 2014.  

NSWCCL and the other civil liberties organisations across Australia- along with human rights, legal, media and community bodies- are deeply concerned about and opposed to major elements of the new counter-terrorism proposals in this bill. But at least we have had some time to consider them and present our views–even though the time (20 days) to react to a large and complex bill with such significant new powers and offences was seriously inadequate.

Now it appears the Government will also seek to rush through the, as yet unseen, new bundle of counter-terrorism proposals it has been flagging piecemeal over recent weeks.

This has become clearer in the aftermath of the major counter-terrorism raids in Sydney last Thursday and the resulting very high level of media hype and commentary by the Prime Minister and other members of the Government. This is precisely the wrong moment and the wrong kind of context to be rushing through as yet unseen significant new counter-terrorism legislation.