Civil rights
Media and commentary related to our work protecting and advancing civil rights. This includes police accountability, justice in youth detention, asylum seeker rights, discrimination, access to justice and Raise the Age.
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Legal help for care leavers who missed out on victims’ compensation
Dedicated legal help is now available for young people who were in NSW State care in May 2013, and who may have missed out on compensation under victims of crime laws because the Government failed to lodge claims for them. Who does this apply to? The NSW Government failed to lodge victims’ compensation claims for…
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Community groups call for comprehensive review of NSW Anti- Discrimination Act
A coalition of community groups has today written an open letter to NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman, calling on him to commission an independent review of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW). ‘This legislation is failing in its fundamental duty to protect vulnerable people in NSW against discrimination and vilification,’ the open letter states. ‘The Anti-Discrimination…
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Parliament must reject a spate of Bills that will introduce sweeping powers and deny basic rights
Legal experts have released a unified statement (attached below) calling for three migration Bills currently before Parliament to be rejected in their entirety due to the threat they pose to the rule of law, basic human rights and transparency. The suite of Bills targets refugees, people seeking asylum and other migrants who are in immigration…
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Government must reduce numbers in immigration detention to protect from COVID
A new report released today has revealed the Commonwealth Government’s failure to follow public health advice in Australia’s onshore immigration detention centres and called for urgent measures to reduce the risk of a COVID outbreak in facilities. In welcoming the report by the Australian Human Rights Commission, Jane Leibowitz, PIAC’s Acting Principal Solicitor, has called…
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Forum: Policing Public Space
Join policy, legal and consumer experts for an important lunchtime forum about the policing of homelessness in public space, as we launch a new joint report that details the experiences of people sleeping rough in Sydney. The over-policing of homelessness in public spaces has been raised by advocates and consumers alike as a significant contributor…
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Government agencies could access personal data without consent under new bill
‘The Public Interest Advocacy Centre said the most marginalised groups, including people with a disability, First Nations people, young people, elderly people and asylum seekers, will likely be most at risk by the proposed new law, because they access government services more than the rest of the population or are disproportionately subjected to corrective services…
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Marginalised groups most at risk from data-sharing proposal
PIAC has joined a number of civil liberty organisations in raising concerns about a new data sharing scheme proposed by the Australian Government. Under the Data Availability and Transparency Bill, the Australian Government is proposing to allow public sector data, including personal information, to be shared with entities including some government agencies, businesses, non-government organisations…
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‘Shield not a sword’: Committee backs new religious freedom laws
‘In an open letter to Mr Speakman, a coalition of 17 organisations including Equality Australia, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Uniting Church in NSW and the ACT, and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, opposed the bill.’ ‘The letter said it would “privilege religion over other protected attributes in some regards, and in…
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Data Commissioner defends new sharing scheme
‘The government has struck the right balance with its sweeping new data-sharing scheme which will “streamline” service delivery, the Data Commissioner has told a Senate committee hearing, which also heard a range of legal and privacy concerns about the new scheme.’ By Denham Sadler, Senior Reporter. ‘Public Interest Advocacy Centre senior solicitor Chadwick Wong said…
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Attorney General should be wary of ‘Religious Freedom’ minefield as Committee leaves problems unresolved
NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman must carefully consider the negative consequences of any possible ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill, including for women, LGBTIQ people, and people of minority faiths, following today’s disappointing Joint Select Committee Report on the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality) Bill. Despite the concerns of a diverse range of stakeholders across civil society,…