Premier’s betrayal: Children in jail will not reduce crime and will end in disaster CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service, Karly Warner, says today’s confirmation that the Premier and NSW Labor will move ahead with dangerous changes to bail laws for children is a betrayal of Closing the Gap, will fail to reduce crime and end in disaster for youth engagement in regional communities....

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE Monday 11 March 2024 A coalition of Aboriginal and legal organisations says a secret proposal to tighten NSW bail laws for children would make NSW regional communities more dangerous. Multiple government sources have indicated off the record that a proposal to introduce punitive law and order measures – including changes to bail laws that will result in more children...

MEDIA RELEASE Tuesday 20 February 2024 The family and lawyers of Dunghutti teenager Jai Kalani Wright have welcomed a decision to lay criminal charges on the police officer whose car collided with the trail bike Jai was riding two years ago. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) charged the officer with dangerous driving occasioning death and negligent driving occasioning...

MEDIA RELEASE Aboriginal Legal Service celebrates the life of Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue  With great sadness and admiration, the Aboriginal Legal Service mourns the passing of Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue, a warrior who fought tenaciously for the rights, health, and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.   “The resistance has lost a truly courageous leader and we extend our deepest condolences to her...

MEDIA RELEASE Tuesday 6 February 2024 In response to recent public scrutiny of the NSW child protection system, Aboriginal organisations are reissuing their calls for reform to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and prevent more children from entering out-of-home care. Aboriginal children make up 44 per cent¹ of those living in the out-of-home care system, with the NSW Department of...

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...