News and Events

Today the NSW Supreme Court published its reasons in a test case about COVID-19 fines. The decision clarifies the requirements necessary for a fine to be valid, and calls into disrepute all the remaining 29,017 COVID-19 fines that have not been withdrawn.

Redfern Legal Centre (RLC) launches the Police Accountability Dashboard - a groundbreaking tool and the first of its kind in Australia.

The National Justice Project (NJP), Redfern Legal Centre (RLC), Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) are hosting an expert forum, ‘Mental health call outs: who should respond?’ to consider alternatives to the current approach that sends police to be first responders to a mental health crisis.

New South Wales police used force toward Aboriginal people at a vastly disproportionate rate compared to non-Indigenous people, new data has shown.

There’s been a change in the types of matters coming through the doors of Redfern Legal Centre’s financial abuse service.

Another music festival cancellation shows the effect of over-policing on the music festival industry.

Redfern Legal Centre (RLC) has released a new report that reveals over a thousand children (aged 10-17 years) have been strip searched by NSW Police within a seven year period from June 2016 to July 2023. The report written by RLC solicitors, Samantha Lee and Josh Raj -‘The Need for Reform: Strip Searches of Children by NSW Police’ collates data about the number of children strip searched by NSW Police. The data was obtained from NSW Police via access to information law.

Redfern Legal Centre stands with a coalition of Aboriginal and legal organisations that say 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 going to jail – may be considered as early as this week.

The NSW Police Force strip-searched 31 girls (10-17 years) between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2023. Three girls were aged 12 and six girls were aged 13.

Are you passionate about social justice, and committed to governance and the community legal sector? Redfern Legal Centre is looking for several new Directors, to plan for the succession of a number of Directions whose time on the Board will be concluding in the next 6-12 months.