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NSW Council for Civil Liberties

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25.01.2022 New podcast from The Wigs. First up, a look at the phenomenon of de-platforming, where social media companies restrict people's access to their platforms on account of things said in the expression of views and beliefs. Secondly, the Wigs analyse a new NSW proposal to criminalise so called "coercive control", extending the criminal law to domestic violence abuse which does not involve physical violence or threats. Lastly, the Wigs examine a controversial new decision of the international criminal court in which the court's pre-trial chamber has ruled it has jurisdiction over alleged offences in the occupied Palestinian territories.

25.01.2022 67.15pm, Wednesday 31 March 2021 - This webinar will bring together some of Australia's leading experts on civil liberties, whistleblowing and national security law to explore these issues. Panellists include Nicholas Cowdery AO QC FAAL (Former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions; Director, Justice Reform Initiative) and Pauline Wright (President, NSW Council for Civil Liberties; Immediate Past President, Law Council of Australia; Partner, PJ Donnellan & Co Solicitors).

25.01.2022 The extradition hearing for Julian Assange continues in London. Assange is currently being held in Belmarsh Prison, a category A jail on the outskirts of London, where men convicted of terrorism offences are held. He has limited access to his legal counsel, relegated to sit behind a glass window in the dock. For Assange and his family, the situation is dire. Read more - https://www.nswccl.org.au/assange_extradition_hearings_free

23.01.2022 Could climate change result in the biggest refugee crisis the world has ever seen? What will result in the biggest refugee crisis the world has ever seen? Join this discussion around how we prepare for a future where people around the world are displaced due to climate change. Presented by RACS' Centre Director and Principal Solicitor, Sarah Dale and introduced by Ilona Millar, Baker McKenzie.

23.01.2022 NSWCCL spokesperson Stephen Blanks said 'any moves to make vaccines compulsory for travel should be government-led. "The Federal Government would need to regulate this to ensure that appropriate allowances are made for people who have legitimate reasons for not getting vaccinated," he said. Those reasons could be health, religious or conscientious based, he said.'... The comments come after Qantas boss Alan Joyce told A Current Affair on Monday he foresaw a future where Australians must be vaccinated if they wish to board his airline's international jets.

23.01.2022 'The COVID-19 pandemic is a global challenge that has required extraordinary measures to protect public health. Difficult decisions have had to be made about restricting some of our human rights such as freedom of movement and association. Protecting public health and protecting human rights are not mutually exclusive choices but how do we keep the balance between the two? What safeguards do we need to protect rights and freedoms in Australia and prevent the ‘creeping authoritarianism’ we have witnessed elsewhere in the world?' Hear from a panel of distinguished speakers who will consider issues and solutions from a human rights perspective in a live online event. Panel discussion facilitated by Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow with a welcome address by Commission President, Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM.

22.01.2022 Support for whistleblower David McBride is gaining momentum. 'As an Afghan-Australian and a lawyer, I am deeply upset by the persecution of David McBride, the brave whistleblower who exposed Australian Defence Force’s war crimes in Afghanistan. Without courageous whistleblowers like David McBride, our democracy is at stake. I’m calling on the Attorney-General to drop all charges against McBride.' https://www.change.org/p/save-our-aussie-whistleblower-davi

21.01.2022 Why you might be feeling a bit tired. - Via @cathywilcox1 for Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

21.01.2022 Singapore has admitted data collected via the programme called "TraceTogether" for Covid-19 contact-tracing can be accessed by police despite earlier assurances it would only be used to fight the coronavirus, sparking privacy concerns about the scheme. Take-up was initially slow due to privacy worries but rose to almost 80 percent of residents after government assurances and a decision to make its use mandatory for accessing some public places like malls.

21.01.2022 Congratulations to the 2020 winners of NSWCCL's Awards for Excellence in Civil Liberties Journalism. Young Journalist category: Luke Henriques-Gomes, The Guardian Australia for a series on Robodebt. Open category: Kate McClymont + Jacqueline Maley for their SMH/The Age piece on Dyson Heydon. Read more: https://www.nswccl.org.au/2020_winners_nswccl_awards_for_ex

21.01.2022 In August 2019, NSWCCL wrote to the NSW Attorney General. We called on the NSW Government to fund the Walama Court. We remain deeply concerned about overrepresentation of First Nations people in custody, the statistics remain shamefully high. Last week (17th September) Dr Marjorie O'Neill MP, the Member for Coogee delivered this speech to NSW Parliament in support of the Walama Court Proposal. Read Dr O'Neill's speech and visit this page to see the recording of our First Nat...ions Justice panel discussion, including the Walama Court, recorded 11th September 2020. https://www.nswccl.org.au/nswccl_2020_fundraiser_first_nati See more

19.01.2022 'A Sydney magistrate has hit NSW Police with a $100,000 legal bill over the "terrifying" arrest of NRL player Curtis Scott in January. Scott, who plays for Canberra Raiders, was charged with multiple offences including assaulting police and resisting arrest after he was found sleeping at Moore Park early on January 27. But all charges were withdrawn or dismissed earlier this month after the court was shown footage from the officers' body-worn cameras.'

19.01.2022 New data provided by Redfern Legal Centre (RLC) has revealed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in NSW are disproportionately targeted for police strip searches. RLC is investigating a potential class-action of people who have been unlawfully strip searched over the past 6 years.

19.01.2022 Julian Assange has been refused bail by a judge who this week rejected a US request to have him extradited to face espionage and hacking charges. The Judge said the WikiLeaks co-founder ‘still has an incentive to abscond from these as yet unresolved proceedings’. The co-founder of WikiLeaks has been held at Belmarsh prison in south-east London for the past 18 months after he was evicted from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he sought asylum for seven years.

19.01.2022 Hear from Natalie, a teacher, about her concerns around the proposed One Nation Bill. Tell the NSW Parliament you oppose the One Nation NSW 'Ignorance in Education' Bill by filling out the survey below. You can have your say on this Bill in less than two minutes: Go to this survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VSPC2FX

18.01.2022 This will spark some interesting conversations...

17.01.2022 Government-funded Cybersecurity Research Centre (CRC) is supporting the proposed extraordinary new hacking powers for the Australian Federal Police, a position at odds with human rights, civil liberties, digital rights groups and a number of Senators who have raised significant concerns. Article at InnovationAus(dot)com

16.01.2022 'As If We Weren’t Humans: The Abandonment of Temporary Migrants in Australia During COVID-19', published today, 17 September 2020, presents findings from a July online survey of 6,105 international students and visa holders, on their experiences in Australia during COVID-19. Close to three quarters of survey respondents lost all or most of their work during the pandemic. Thousands were left unable to pay for food and rent, having been categorically excluded from government wage subsidy schemes. More than half (57%) believe their financial stress will deepen by year’s end, with one in three international students forecasting their funds will run out by October.

14.01.2022 'Australia’s freedom of information system is heading for a train smash within two years because the office that reviews government decisions to withhold or redact information will soon be swamped by a massive workload, the independent senator Rex Patrick has warned. The FOI system, a crucial limb of government accountability, relies heavily on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, an independent umpire that reviews government decisions and hears complaints. The OAIC has repeatedly warned it will struggle to meet its workload without better resourcing. Dozens of reviews are languishing with the OAIC for more than two years, a delay that can render FOI documents out-of-date and useless by the time they are released.'

14.01.2022 Susan Ryan, a trailblazing figure for women in politics who later served as Australia's first age discrimination commissioner, has died aged 77. Farewell Susan, and thank you.

11.01.2022 ‘A Federal Court judge has blasted acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge for leaving a man in immigration detention after he was granted a protection visa, in the latest in a series of excoriating decisions about the federal government's immigration policy. In a decision on Wednesday, Justice Geoffrey Flick said Mr Tudge had "unlawfully deprived a person of his liberty" and his "conduct exposes him to both civil and potentially criminal sanctions, not limited to a proceeding for contempt".’

11.01.2022 Every child deserves a quality education in a school where they have a place and feel valued. Instead, here's the education system One Nation NSW wants to build... for our kids. Tell the NSW Parliament you oppose the One Nation NSW Ignorance in Education Bill by filling out their survey here: tiny.cc/EducationQ

11.01.2022 Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Thu 24 September 7:00pm 'Edward Snowden has been condemned as a traitor and celebrated as a patriot... Governments are now armed with technology that enables them to pry into every aspect of our livesall in the name of security. Snowden asks us to consider the possibility that we may have more to fear from our own governments than from any external threat and that our liberties have already been lost.' Register - https://festivalofdangerousideas.com//surveillance-states/

09.01.2022 Edited by Dr Augusto Zimmermann and Joshua Forrester, Fundamental Rights in the Age of Covid-19 is a special edition of the Western Australian Jurist, a yearly peer-reviewed academic publication of the Western Australian Legal Theory Association (‘WALTA’). 'In a nutshell, this timely book, published by the nimble Brisbane-based Connor Court, addresses the dramatic impact of recent governmental measures on our fundamental rights, particularly freedom of movement and association, freedom of speech and expression, as well as the putative right to privacy. Importantly, it also focuses on how, in the future, we might best protect our fundamental freedoms.'

04.01.2022 In 2013, the NSWCCL AGM formally recognised Assange (along with Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden) as "courageous, global champions of democracy who have made, at great personal cost, extraordinary contributions to civil society by challenging the excessive secrecy of the state". #FreeAssange

03.01.2022 The Morrison government’s plan to ramp up use of facial recognition technology across services including Centrelink and Medicare could make life even harder for Australia’s most vulnerable citizens and pose a threat to human rights, experts have warned.

02.01.2022 #BREAKING: Judge DENIES the extradition of Julian Assange. #JulianAssange #FreeAssange

01.01.2022 At the start of 2021, we find ourselves in the middle of another harmful public debate about the rights of trans and gender diverse children simply to be themse...lves. In our latest issue of the Law Reform Bulletin, Principal Solicitor at Inner City Legal Centre Roslyn Cook defends trans kids in the face of Mark Latham's harmful Education Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill. Read the article: https://clcnsw.org.au/dont-erase-trans-kids Subscribe to the Law Reform Bulletin: https://www.clcnsw.org.au/join-our-community

01.01.2022 'Plans to poison or kidnap Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy were discussed between sources in US intelligence and a private security firm that spied extensively on the WikiLeaks co-founder', the court was told overnight in Assange's extradition hearing.

01.01.2022 "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.