Register for the 2020 NSWCCL Annual Fundraiser - Panel Discussion

First Nations Justice and civil liberties challenges for Indigenous Australians

We would like to invite you to join us for a very special online panel discussion to be held on Friday11th September at 6:30pm. Scroll down to register.

This year we are unable to hold our annual dinner due to COVID-19 and public health concerns. Our fundraising event this year will be an online panel discussion. You will need a mobile phone or a computer with audio to join the panel. The panel will focus on First Nations Justice and civil liberties challenges for Indigenous Australians. The discussion will be moderated by the 2019 winner of the NSWCCL Award for Excellence in Civil Liberties Journalism, Richard Ackland AM. 

As NSWCCL is a volunteer organisation and we do not receive any government funding, our annual fundraiser is the most important event we run each year.  Challenges for civil liberties and human rights have been acute this year and our organisation has been at the forefront in highlighting injustices particularly towards the most vulnerable in our community. We hope you will join us for this important discussion focussing on First Nations Justice.

2020 President's address and NSWCCL panelist
Nicholas Cowdery AO QC, President NSWCCL
Nicholas Cowdery AO, QC, became the President in October 2019. A barrister, Nick was the Director of Public Prosecutions for New South Wales from 1994 to 2011. Nick also served as President of the International Association of Prosecutors from 1999 to 2005.

Mr Cowdery was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2003, and an Officer of the Order in June 2019 in recognition of his distinguished service to the law, to the protection of human rights, to professional legal bodies, and to the community.

 We welcome our 2020 guest speakers/panelists:

Judge Matthew Myers AM
His Honour Judge Matthew Myers AM, is the first Aboriginal Australian to be appointed to a federal court. He is a Judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales. In February 2017 he was appointed as an Australian Law Reform Commission Commissioner to lead the Inquiry into Incarceration rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Judge Myers is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

Sarah Hopkins
Sarah Hopkins is Co-Chair of Just Reinvest NSW and the Managing Solicitor of Justice Projects at the Aboriginal Legal Service ACT/NSW. She is an accredited specialist in criminal law and has lectured in criminal law at the University of NSW.

Sarah is a member of the NSW Bar Association’s Joint Working Party on the Over-representation of Indigenous People in the NSW Criminal Justice System. Throughout her career Sarah has served on numerous committees including the Criminal Law Committee of the Law Society of NSW, the Steering Committee for the Red Cross Vulnerability Report 2015, and as Vice President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties. In 2017 Sarah was named the Community Lawyer of the Year by the Women Lawyers’ Association of NSW.


Teela Reid
Teela Reid is a Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman, lawyer and human rights activist. She has experience practicing in criminal, civil and administrative law. Teela was involved as a working group leader on s 51(xxvi) in the Constitutional dialogue process that culminated in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Teela was Australia’s Female Indigenous Youth Delegate to the United Nations Permanent Forum in New York. 

Teela completed her postgraduate Juris Doctor from UNSW Law Sydney and was named on the UNSW Law Deans Women of Excellence List. Teela was the first Aboriginal person to be elected on the UNSW Law Society as Vice-President (Social Justice), where she was the founding director of the UNSW Law First Peoples Moot. She was also the Inaugural recipient of the NSW Indigenous Barristers Trust award. In 2017, Teela was selected to attend Harvard University as a global Emerging Leader.


Moderator: Richard Ackland AM, 2019 winner of the NSWCCL Award for Excellence in Civil Liberties Journalism
Richard Ackland AM, is an award-winning Australian journalist, publisher and lawyerRichard graduated with degrees in economics and law in the early 1970s and was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, before going on to pursue a career in journalism.

A Gold Walkley winner, Richard worked as a reporter on The Australian Financial Review, wrote the "Clancy" column for the old National Times, was the founding presenter of the hosted discussion show Late Night Live on ABC Radio National, presented the Radio National Breakfast show, wrote and presented ABC TV’s Media Watch, was a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and also now contributes to Guardian Australia and The Saturday Paper. 

He is the editor of Justinian, an Australian Law Magazine and also publishes the leading on-line media law journal Gazette of Law & Journalism.


REGISTER NOW -

Cannot participate? Please consider making a donation to our work.

WHEN
September 11, 2020 at 6:30pm - 8pm
WHERE
Online panel discussion - Registrants will be sent an invitation to the panel before the event.

Will you come?

$50.00 Registration: Individual
$35.00 Registration: Young Professional
$30.00 Registration: Student/Pensioner
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