Media releases

The report titled ‘The Use of Strip Searches & Drug Dogs in NSW’, based on 10 years of police data from 2014 to 2023, was released today by Harm Reduction Australia and Redfern Legal Centre.

Redfern Legal Centre calls on the New South Wales Government to make public transport free for everyone under 18 in the 2025/2026 Budget. The Victorian Government recently announced in its 2025/2026 Budget that from January 1, 2026, public transport will be free for children across the state. Redfern Legal Centre urges the NSW Government to introduce a similar policy in its upcoming state budget, due to be handed down in June.

A class action hearing led by Slater and Gordon Lawyers and the Redfern Legal Centre against the State of New South Wales, commenced on Monday, May 5th.

A class action hearing led by Slater and Gordon Lawyers and Redfern Legal Centre against the State of New South Wales will commence on Monday, 5 May. Justice Dina Yehia will preside over the multiple day hearing. The class action, filed in July 2022, challenges the lawfulness of thousands of strip searches carried out by NSW Police at music festivals between July 2016 and 2022.

Redfern Legal Centre welcomes the report on the 2024 New South Wales Drug Summit’s recommendation to halt the use of drug detection dogs and strip searches at festivals during the current trial of drug-checking services but says ensure community safety, strip searches and drug detection dogs should be banned permanently.

A significant development in the ongoing class action initiated by Slater and Gordon Lawyers and Redfern Legal Centre, the State of New South Wales has now admitted, on the eve of trial, that there was no lawful basis to strip search the representative plaintiff at a music festival.

A report by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) confirms serious problems with the deployment of Body-Worn Video (BWV) cameras by NSW Police.

People receiving refunds for paying invalid COVID fines in NSW will also be paid interest on those amounts, following a successful campaign by Maurice Blackburn and Redfern Legal Centre.

Instead of repayment of invalid fines, Revenue NSW advises on its website it will reallocate the money to any unpaid fine debt.

The NSW Government will withdraw and repay more than 23,000 COVID fines, following a successful legal campaign by Redfern Legal Centre and Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.