MEDIA RELEASE Thursday 1 February 2024 A coronial inquest heard today that vulnerable people are still being held in cells with hanging points in a NSW prison unit where an Aboriginal man took his life. Proud Darkinjung man and father of two, Timothy Garner died on 7 July 2018 while held on remand at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre (MRRC) in...

MEDIA ALERT WHAT: Deputy State Coroner, his Honour Magistrate Lee will deliver findings for the coronial inquest into the death of Timothy Garner. A Smoking Ceremony will be held outside the court prior to the findings. WHEN: Thursday 1 February, 9:00am Smoking Ceremony followed by 9:30am court session WHERE: NSW State Coroner’s Court, 1A Main Ave, Lidcombe   Proud Darkinjung man and father...

MEDIA RELEASE Tuesday 30 January 2024 State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan has suspended the inquest into the death of Dunghutti teenager Jai Kalani Wright, and has referred the matter to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider whether a criminal charge should be laid.  Jai died on 20 February 2022 after an unmarked police car collided with the trail bike...

MEDIA RELEASE Thursday 25 January 2024 On the eve of our Survival Day, the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited (ALS) is called by conscience to speak up for the people of Palestine in their ongoing Nakba – their 75-year-old catastrophe. We stand with the Palestinian people, as we do with all colonised peoples. In our shared mourning, we uphold the tradition of...

  From everyone here at the ALS, we're wishing our clients, community and supporters a happy and safe holiday season. Our staff will be taking a short break over Christmas and New Year to rest and recharge. All ALS offices will be closed from 5pm Friday 22 December 2023. Our phone lines will be back open from 9am Tuesday 2 January 2024. During...

MEDIA RELEASE Tuesday 12 December 2023 The Aboriginal Legal Service is calling on NSW Police and the Attorney General to take urgent action after an independent inquiry found “a systemic problem” of police interviewing vulnerable people against their accepted legal advice. Under NSW law, ‘vulnerable persons’ include children under 18, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and other groups. “An accused person’s...

MEDIA RELEASE Monday 6 November 2023 The Aboriginal Legal Service welcomes the NSW Government’s move to de-privatise Junee Correctional Centre, urging the Government to follow through with bringing all private prisons back into public hands. “Prisons are inherently harmful and dangerous places, especially for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who are still dying in custody,” said Karly Warner, CEO of the...

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE Monday 30 October 2023 A scathing report from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) says NSW Police use of the Suspect Targeting Management Plan (STMP) against young people ‘amounted to agency maladministration’ and ‘could possibly meet the threshold for serious misconduct’. It recognises the STMP policy followed by police was unreasonable, unjust, oppressive and improperly discriminatory in its effect...

MEDIA RELEASE Wednesday 25 October 2023 NSW Police must share responsibility for Closing the Gap, says the Aboriginal Legal Service in response to a new report assessing how police work with Aboriginal communities. The Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited (ALS) is concerned that it was not consulted on the new blueprint for police engagement with Aboriginal communities before its launch in August...