Sweeping new criminal laws and police powers to deal with organised crime, proposed by the Minns government, including ‘adult crime, adult time’ laws and increased state surveillance powers, are facing serious criticism from Greens spokesperson for justice Sue Higginson MLC.
The laws will suspend provisions of the Privacy and Personal Information Act to enable drivers licence images to be shared between governments, expand the use of digital evidence access orders that allow police to force people to unlock their phones, and allow unredacted facial images of NSW drivers to be provided to police while withholding those same powers from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
The NSW premier has now also proposed new laws to impose life sentences upon children and young people, and to expand the use of the extraordinarily heavy handed Serious Crime Prevention Orders.
Greens MP, Solicitor and Spokesperson for Justice Sue Higginson said, ‘No-one wants to see killings and violence in our homes or on our streets. It causes so much suffering and the police have assured us that the recent murderous perpetrators of organised crime will be brought to justice.
‘Labor and the Liberals have hit an all time low in their populist race to the bottom, with their ‘adult time for adult crime’, which will not prevent crime or make our communities safer,’ she said.
Expert evidence ignored
‘They are racing from all of the expert evidence and instead they’ve set their sights on proposing life sentences for children and young people, who are mostly victims of organised criminal behaviour, including extortion, blackmail, and child abuse.
‘Targeting the young people, instead of confronting the gang lords coercing those young people, is a cop out from the Minns Labor government. The premier is clearly more focused on catching headlines, rather than the gang lords, and winning a law-and-order election rather than keeping communities safe.
‘When politicians run populist law and order agendas the civil liberties, rights and freedoms of the people of NSW get thrown under the bus and crime carries on,’ said Sue Higginson.
‘The price we pay for tackling organised crime must not be the rights and freedoms of ordinary innocent people in NSW. Any expansion of the coercive power of the state must come with strict safeguards and independent oversight.
‘I am calling on the Minns government to ensure their new police powers are reviewed by the independent police oversight body, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission. Independent MP Greg Piper has circulated amendments which would allow Labor Premier Chris Minns to conduct his own review of the powers, but as a minimum safety measure, it must be the LECC,’ Ms Higginson said.
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