News and Events

The Statutory Review of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010: Discussion Paper (October 2015) states 47% of renters in NSW either lost some or all of their bond during the previous financial year.

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) is a new independent oversight body for the NSW Police Force and NSW Crime Commission.

RLC's Dr Linda Tucker spoke with Radio 2ser 107.3FM in response to Transport Workers' Union secretary Tony Sheldon's recent comments that employers who underpay workers should be jailed for "wage theft".

One of NSW's pioneering providers of community-based law is marking its 40th birthday with a fundraising push to further diversify its revenue streams and ensure it can continue to provide key services.

The NSW Ombudsman has released a review of the operation of the consorting offence in the Crimes Act.

The NSW Government has recently passed four new bills, all of which will function to increase police powers while further restricting the rights of NSW citizens

RLC police powers solicitor David Porter was interviewed by The Guardian following legislation passed by the NSW upper house on 4 May 2016. These new bills grant police the power to treat minor offences as serious crimes, shut down public gatherings and impose individualised control orders, which seriously restrict the rights and liberties of individuals. 5 May 2016 - The Guardian Paul Farrell "This isn’t a question of the gradual erosion of equality before the law – the passing of these bills means it is gone," Porter said. "These new bills introduce public safety orders that are not about safety, but about control. They are about shutting down all sorts of public events, from protests to footy finals." "We can expect these serious crime prevention order applications to be substantially based, and determined, on secret police intelligence and evidence that police say cannot be shown to the person or their lawyer. In addition, the orders which will control the next five years of a person’s life, are determined on a lower burden of proof than normally applies in criminal proceedings." Read the article on The Guardian website.

Complaints of alleged ‘online abuse’ by NSW Police towards Greens MP Jenny Leong have been made to the Police Integrity Commission. 14 April 2016 - Alt Media Christopher Harris

6 April 2016 The NSW Police Force has announced it will increase its roadside drug tests threefold by 2017, raising its numbers from 32,000 to 100,000 roadside tests annually.

City of Sydney Council has proposed the scrapping of 62 of the 399 alcohol-free zones (AFZs) across the City of Sydney's local government area. In response to NSW Police Force's objections, Redfern Legal Centre's police powers solicitor David Porter spoke to The Daily Telegraph about the benefit of removing AFZs.