MEDIA RELEASE
Thursday 6 June 2024
The NSW Government’s controversial knife wanding laws have been passed by Parliament today, after the Aboriginal Legal Service warned government weeks ago that extreme new powers for police would disproportionately impact Aboriginal people.
“We know that giving police additional powers to stop and search will lead to Aboriginal people being disproportionately and unfairly targeted. Whenever police are given discretion, we see this same pattern play out,” said Karly Warner, CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited (ALS).
The ‘wanding’ powers which will soon become law are unprecedented in NSW and will give police extraordinary powers to stop and search people in public places with a metal detector for no reason, presenting a clear threat to civil liberties.
“We are all devastated by recent events where people have tragically lost their lives or been injured by knife violence, but the new laws would not have prevented those incidents. What they will do is force more Aboriginal people and other marginalised groups into contact with police,” Ms Warner said.
The passage of the knife wanding laws follows other NSW Government legislation which was criticised by the ALS and other legal bodies including laws requiring courts to apply a new bail test making it more difficult for children accused of certain offences to get bail than adults, as well as ‘performance crime’ laws imposing a potential prison term on those who share the offences on social media.
“We’ve just hit new records in New South Wales for Aboriginal people in prison. This is a time of crisis when the Government should be working in partnership with us towards a better way, not introducing legislation with no evidence base and that flies in the face of Closing the Gap,” Ms Warner said.
ENDS
Media contact: Alyssa Robinson [email protected] 0427 346 017
See previous media releases on this legislation:
