The Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Victorian Government to amend proposed legislation currently before the Victorian Parliament to remove controversial powers to detain people based on what they might do.
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Lawyers and advocates from across Victoria have welcomed the Andrews Government announcement of a Royal Commission into police misconduct, but say the Andrews Government should immediately establish an independent Police Corruption & Misconduct Division within IBAC.
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New laws proposed by the Department of Home Affairs would authorise the creation of a “dragnet database”, compiling images of innocent Australians – including children – from their drivers’ licences, identification cards and passport photos.
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An avalanche of news stories from people who have experienced excessive force, racist policing or other police misconduct, and tried unsuccessfully to make complaints, provide a shocking glimpse into the failings of Victoria's police complaints system.
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The Australian Government was again grilled last night at the United Nations in Geneva with the Human Rights Committee taking aim at the failure to scrap the cruel fines laws that resulted in Ms Dhu’s tragic death in custody.
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In November 2016, Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) announced that charges would be laid against a Leading Senior Constable of Victoria Police in relation to the brutal assault of Corinna Horvath nearly 20 years earlier.
Read MoreThe Northern Territory’s harsh police protective custody powers will come under scrutiny after the High Court agreed to hear a legal challenge brought by the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) on behalf of Mr Anthony Prior.
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The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) today filed submissions in their case appealing a decision of the NT Court of Appeal, Mole v Prior, concerning an Aboriginal man who was taken into protective custody.
Read MoreOn the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the Western Australian Government is being urged to adopt justice targets to address the State’s appalling rates of Aboriginal peoples’ over-imprisonment.
Read MoreThe North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) today sought permission from the High Court to appeal a Northern Territory decision concerning police powers of ‘protective custody’.
Read MoreAs the coronial inquest into Ms Dhu’s tragic death in police custody concludes, her family has called for a meeting with Premier Barnett to ensure he is taking action to address Aboriginal deaths in custody.
Read MoreWith the coronial inquest into Ms Dhu’s tragic death in police custody recommencing on Monday, family members and human rights lawyers are urging the Western Australian Government to urgently scrap the practice of locking people up for unpaid fines.
Read MoreThe coronial inquest into Ms Dhu’s tragic death in police custody has heard that Ms Dhu was in a violent relationship with her partner, Dion Ruffin, at the time of her arrest. Mr Ruffin was taken into custody together with Ms Dhu and was known to police as someone with a violent criminal history.
Read MoreThe coronial inquest into Ms Dhu’s tragic death in police custody begins in Perth tomorrow morning.
Read MoreEqual opportunity laws should proactively tackle discrimination and promote equality, according to a large coalition of community organisations and legal experts.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre today expressed grave concerns over statements by the newly formed Australian Border Force that they would be stopping individuals in Melbourne’s CBD.
Read MoreThe full bench of the High Court will hear an important human rights case next week in Canberra about the Northern Territory's excessive police powers.
Read MoreA Court of Appeal decision today highlights the need for reform to the system of investigating police complaints in Victoria.
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An independent inquiry is needed into the violent bashing of an Aboriginal man in custody in the Australian Capital Territory. Less than 3 hours after being remanded, Steven Freeman was the victim of a severe assault and was taken to Canberra Hospital where he was placed in an induced coma for almost a week.
Read MoreToday the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) will commence a High Court challenge against the ‘paperless arrest’ regime in the Northern Territory that gives police new detention powers.
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The mother of fifteen year old Melbourne boy, Tyler Cassidy, who was shot dead by police in 2008, has progressed her individual communication to the United Nation’s Human Rights Committee aimed at highlighting Australia’s failure to ensure police-related deaths are properly investigated by an independent body.
Read MoreAlmost six months since Julieka Dhu’s tragic death in police custody, her family still have no answers as to how she died.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has joined with 12 other NGOs to urgently call for greater accountability for police misconduct in Victoria in the wake of a UN Human Rights Committee finding in favour of Ms Corinna Horvath who was brutally assaulted by police in 1996 and is yet to receive adequate compensation for her injuries.
Read MoreIt is essential that Australia retain robust oversight of the extraordinary powers granted to police and ASIO under Australia’s counter-terrorism laws, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
Read MoreProposed new ‘move-on’ powers for police in Victoria will unreasonably limit human rights and are susceptible to misuse. The Human Rights Law Centre’s Executive Director, Hugh de Kretser, said protest rights and free speech are particularly threatened, but the proposed laws may also have an impact on young people and the homeless.
Read MoreProposed legislation for the G20 in Queensland would infringe fundamental human rights and stifle legitimate protest, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the Queensland parliament’s Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee.
Read MoreThe fatal shooting of a man last night in Windsor by a Victoria Police officer highlights the need for independent investigations into police-related deaths. The Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of Advocacy and Strategic Litigation, Anna Brown, said that the current practice of police investigating themselves undermined public confidence in police and breached international human rights guarantees.
Read MoreUrgent reform is needed to Victoria Police training and policies to end the harm caused by racial discrimination and deliver more efficient and effective policing.
Read MoreFlemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre’s Anthony Kelly looks at Victoria Police’s efforts to lift its game on tackling racist attitudes within the force.
Read MoreWith the help of the Human Rights Law Centre, the mother of Melbourne teenager, Tyler Cassidy, who was shot dead by police in 2008, has filed a communication with the United Nation’s Human Rights Committee to highlight Australia’s failure to ensure police-related deaths are properly investigated by an independent body.
Read MoreIn May 2013 Shani Cassidy submitted a communication to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on behalf of her son, Tyler, who was shot by Victoria Police in December 2008.
Read MoreA decision by the Victorian Supreme Court, Bare v Small, has failed to uphold the right to the independent investigation of complaints of serious mistreatment at the hands of Victoria Police. The case was brought by Youthlaw and pro bono counsel on behalf of a young African man, Nassir Bare, who alleged serious assault, including being capsicum sprayed while handcuffed, and being racially slurred by police in a February 2009 incident when he was 17 years old.
Read MoreVictoria Police will commence a public inquiry aimed at stamping out racial profiling in police practices as a condition of an agreed out of court settlement in Haile-Michael and Others v Commissioner of Police and Others [Court no. VID 969 of 2010] – a racial discrimination claim brought by Flemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre and a pro bono legal team on behalf of six young African-Australian men.
Read MoreA shooting in Redfern has provided a sombre reminder for the need of independent investigations into police related deaths.
Read MoreHorrifying footage of a young Aboriginal boy being repeatedly Tasered, together with damning Coronial findings into the death of a Brazilian student and a Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission report indicating increased reliance on Tasers by police, demonstrate the urgent need for more rigorous police training and more stringent regulation of police use of force.
Read MoreTogether with our friends at the Federation of Community Legal Centres, the Human Rights Law Centre convened a roundtable discussion on the use of Tasers with international expert Professor Rob Gordon, Director of the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. The roundtable was generously hosted by Allens and attendees included senior members of Victoria Police, policy makers from the Victorian Government Department of Justice, academic experts and community lawyers.
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As the NSW State Coroner begins her inquest into the death of the Brazilian student Roberto Curti, we need to ask ourselves if the investigation into his death was flawed from the outset, writes the HRLC's Anna Brown about the ongoing problem of police investigating police.
Read MoreWith the coronial inquest into the fatal police Taser shooting of 21 year old Brazilian student Roberto Curti commencing today, a leading human rights organisation has renewed calls for investigations into police related deaths to be entirely independent – in keeping with international law.
Read MorePrime Minister Gillard should use today’s meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to advocate for an end to the effective ban that prevents the international media reporting from West Papua, a leading human rights group has said.
Read MoreAmnesty International has called on Indonesian authorities to ensure a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into reports of unnecessary and excessive use of force including the use of firearms by security forces in Wamena, Papua province.
Read MoreWhen the police shoot someone, the resulting investigation should be independent of the police force. Following an ABC Four Corners program about the police shooting of Adam Salter, Public Interest Advocacy Centre Chief Executive, Edward Santow, said there is an urgent need for independent investigators to assist Coroners when the police are involved in someone’s death.
Read MoreWhen the police shoot someone, the resulting investigation should be independent of the police force, according to two of Australia’s leading human rights organisations. Public Interest Advocacy Centre Chief Executive, Edward Santow, said last night’s Four Corners program about the police shooting of Adam Salter, highlights the need for independent investigators to assist Coroners when the police are involved in someone’s death.
Read MoreThe Australian Government’s silence on human rights abuses in the region has once again been put in the spotlight, with the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) and International Lawyers for West Papua (ILWP) urging the Foreign Minister to speak up in defence of basic rights such as freedom of expression and assembly.
Read MoreVictoria Police must take a new approach to handling confrontation with people in crisis, the Human Rights Law Centre has said, following today’s release of the findings of the coronial inquest into the 2008 police shooting of Melbourne teenager Tyler Cassidy.
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Victoria Police must take a new approach to handling confrontation with people in crisis, the Human Rights Law Centre has said, following today’s release of the findings of the coronial inquest into the 2008 police shooting of Melbourne teenager Tyler Cassidy. The Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of Advocacy and Strategic Litigation, Anna Brown, said it is important to keep in mind that the police shooting of Tyler Cassidy was not a one off.
Read MoreLast night’s fatal police shooting in St Kilda exposes the need for the independent investigation of police shootings and highlights the pitfalls of a media-unit lead response, say legal and human rights groups. “This is an extremely serious case,” said Mr de Kretser, Executive Officer of the Victorian Federation of Community Legal Centres.
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A new approach is needed for how Victoria Police handle confrontation with young people in crisis and investigations into serious police violence need to be independently conducted, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre said.
Read MoreThe announcement that Victoria Police will conduct a trial to roll-out Tasers to all uniformed and traffic management police in Bendigo and Morwell leaves vulnerable groups at risk of greater harm. “This announcement reflects the race to the bottom in the Victorian Government’s pre-election law and order agenda. We are seeing good, evidence-based policy being discarded in favour of policies that won’t work and that will place Victorians at greater risk, particularly our most vulnerable groups,” said Emily Howie, a senior lawyer with the Human Rights Law Resource Centre.
Read MoreCentre Granted Leave to Appear as Amicus Curiae in Right to Life Test Case On 17 June, the Centre was granted leave to appear as amicus curiae in the Victorian Supreme Court in the matter of Chief Commissioner of Police v Bryant (in his capacity as Coroner).
The case concerned a coronial inquest into the death of a cyclist in December 2006 and, in particular, the Coroner's powers and the scope of matters into which the Coroner may inquire pursuant to s 19 of the Coroners Act 1985 (Vic). The Chief Commissioner of Police sought an order in the Supreme Court prohibiting the Coroner from inquiring into certain systems, policies and practices.
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