Letter to the Prime Minister: Please meet with your constituents
Dear Prime Minister,
I write in my capacity as the President of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, one of Australia’s leading human rights and civil liberties organisations. The Council is non-political, non-religious and non-sectarian. We are a Non-Government Organisation in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, by resolution 2006/221 (21 July 2006).
I have written to you on two earlier occasions on the issue of Australia’s position with respect to Palestine; including a joint letter issued with Liberty Victoria. To date, I have not received a response to the issues raised in those letters.
On this occasion I write in relation to the peaceful vigil that is being held outside your electorate office regarding the ongoing violence destroying the lives and futures of tens of thousands innocent civilians in Palestine.
We recognise this vigil as a legitimate exercise of democratic freedoms available in Australia. The vigil is noteworthy in that the organisers, their families and attendees are diverse in their religious beliefs and cultural heritage. Importantly, the organisers and many of the protestors live in your electorate – they are your constituents.
We understand that the primary purpose of the participants in the vigil is to achieve an occasion on which they can communicate directly to you, as their electoral representative and as Prime Minister of Australia, their views in relation to the events in Gaza and how they affect people in Australia.
Public confidence in our governmental and political institutions requires elected officials to engage with their constituents, particularly in relation to matters of international significance such as the current events in Palestine which directly affect so many people in Australia. We strongly believe that an important part of a healthy democracy is constituent access to elected representatives.
We are concerned that you are yet to meet with participants in the vigil and to give them the opportunity to share their concerns with you personally.
This could understandably be perceived as a breach of your obligations towards them and damaging to public confidence in Australia’s democracy.
We urge you to meet with your constituents and allow them to ventilate their concerns.
The Council remains available to you and your office if you require any further information with respect to the issues raised herein.
Yours faithfully,
Lydia Shelly
President
Read our letter here.
Media Statement: Kneejerk law and order responses will continue to make women at risk of being harmed and murdered
The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties joins our community in mourning the intolerable rates of women being murdered in Australia. Eleven women have been murdered in the month of April alone. In 2024, the rate of murdered women has doubled compared to this time last year.
The Council supports the rallies occurring across the country over the weekend demanding an end to gendered violence.
We are also aware of the most recent alleged murder of a young mother in Forbes and support the recently announced inquiry into the alleged murder.
The rising rate of domestic violence has not abated in NSW, even after new laws and tougher penalties were introduced over the past six years. This scourge will not be solved by kneejerk legislative responses (including expanding police powers and restricting bail) under the guise of making women safer.
We have written to the NSW Attorney General with respect to the structural and cultural changes that need to be made as a matter of urgency. Importantly, we echo the sentiments expressed by the former NSW Magistrate, David Heilpern.
Read moreNSWCCL Media Statement: Freedom Flotilla must have safe passage
The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties is aware that there is a freedom flotilla that will shortly be departing Turkiye with 5,500 tonnes of humanitarian aid including food and medical supplies for the citizens of Palestine.
We are aware that international human rights observers will be accompanying the volunteers aboard the Freedom Flotilla, including Australian citizens.
The Council recognises the Freedom Flotilla as both a form of protest and as a humanitarian relief campaign with the focus on abating the extreme conditions being experienced by the innocent civilians in Palestine. We note that this includes starvation, mass displacement, lack of access to medical assistance, psychological trauma and death.
We are calling on the Australian Government to ensure that they do everything within their power to safeguard the Freedom Flotilla. This includes ensuring, to the fullest extent possible, that it is not intercepted by any foreign States and that their safe passage as a humanitarian convey is respected.
We have witnessed aid workers and those delivering humanitarian assistance in Palestine dying in the most tragic of circumstances, including Australian citizens. It is concerning that the death of aid workers, including Australian citizens, has not resulted in any meaningful action being undertaken on behalf of the Australian Government.
We call upon the Australian Government to do all that they can, both publicly and through diplomatic means, to ensure that the Freedom Flotilla is provided safe passage to Palestine and that the humanitarian assistance is permitted to be supplied to Palestinian civilians.
Read moreAAP: Knife attacks spark interstate search for law solutions
Police could be able to stop and search people for a weapon without reasonable suspicion or a warrant under laws being considered by the NSW government.
NSWCCL does not support giving police more powers. We believe this would amount to nothing more than a "knee-jerk response to a series of violent and distressing but isolated incidents".
Read moreMedia Statement: NSW Police should not dictate NSW Government Policy
The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties is concerned about media reporting alleging that NSW Police are lobbying the State Government to introduce new laws that would create criminal offences for the parents of minors found with weapons, including knives.
BOSCAR data indicates that knife crime has declined in New South Wales over recent consecutive years. The position of NSW police does not reflect the current research on the prevention of crime. We strongly urge the State Government to resist populist calls for legislative change that will not make our communities safer.
The Council urges all levels of Government to invest in our public mental health care system, public mental health supports and resources (including in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities). This includes committing to a date for the proposed ‘whole of government’ Drug Summit, which remains one of the unfulfilled election promises to the people in New South Wales that could meaningfully impact weapons related crime.
Read moreSubmission: Administrative Review Tribunal Bill 2023 [Provisions] and Related Bills
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in regard to the Administrative Review Tribunal Bill 2023 [Provisions] and related bills.
The NSWCCL endorses the sentiment and recommendations made by many of the other civil society and advocacy organisations who submitted to the Inquiry into the Administrative Review Tribunal Bill 2023 (ART Bill) and the Administrative Review Tribunal (Consequential and Transitional Provisions No.1) Bill 2023 (Consequential and Transitional Bill), including the Centre for Public Integrity, the Refugee Council of Australia, Liberty Victoria and The Australia Institute.
Read moreSydney Criminal Lawyers: NSW Should Extend Voting Rights to All Inmates to Better Serve the Community
Currently, individuals incarcerated in NSW serving sentences of 12 months or more are ineligible to vote in state elections. However, federally, these restrictions only apply to those sentenced to at least three years of imprisonment. This discrepancy has prompted questions from civil rights groups in NSW, who are now urging the government to address this disparity and advocate for equal voting rights for all incarcerated individuals, regardless of the length of their sentence.
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties is among these groups. NSWCCL holds the position that inmates should not be denied the right to participate in this fundamental democratic process. Not only is this denial contrary to any potential rehabilitative outcomes that detention might serve for an inmate, but it also harms society as a whole.
Read moreThe Project: Do search laws in NSW need to change?
Our president talks to The Project about search laws in NSW in the wake of the recent tragic attacks in Sydney involving knives.
Read moreSubmission: Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill 2024
We recommend that the Government bins this repugnant bill and we urge all of our members to take a vocal, immediate stand against it. It attempts to legitimate the exclusion, detention, and criminalisation of people based on where they are born. The NSWCCL recommends that the Government reconsider its approach to legislating on this issue and engage in a more transparent and consultative process reflective of the importance of the fundamental principles of democracy including the separation of powers and rule of law.
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