The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) and Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS NSW/ACT) are calling on NSW MPs not to pass a dangerous new law which they say will restrict civil liberties.
NSW Labor is pushing the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Further Organised Crimes Reforms) Bill 2026 as a response to organised criminal activity.
But the NSWCCL and ALS say it “confers broad and intrusive powers which could extend beyond its stated objectives”.
Timothy Roberts, NSWCCL President, said Labor’s bill expands state power at the expense of fundamental human rights.
“By normalising mass surveillance through digital hacking, toll and facial recognition technology, these reforms treat exceptional police powers as ordinary tools of governance.”
He said the bill proposes to jail individuals for seven years if they refuse to hand over passwords or biometric data within a week.
“Compelling citizens to incriminate themselves without a clear legal buffer is a feature of authoritarian regimes, not a free society. Most disturbingly, the government’s latest push to funnel exploited children into adult courts and prisons exposes the reactive, punitive nature of the proposed reforms.”
Sharif Deen, Acting CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT, said the “poorly designed” bill “will make crime in New South Wales worse ... by punishing exploited children.
“All of the evidence shows that incarcerating children dramatically increases the likelihood they will go on to cycles of re-offending as adults.”
The two organisations say the bill creates a risk that extraordinary powers may become normalised as ordinary tools of surveillance and punishment.
They said the bill “risks expanding state power at the expense of established rights, including privacy, right to not self-incriminate and freedom of association”.
They have called on NSW MPs to remove or substantially amend the intrusive provisions. They also want the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) to review the changes the bill makes to the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (LEPRA), arguing that the expansion of digital evidence access orders, under this act, would give NSW Police more powers to seize someone’s device if they deem it to be relevant to the investigation of an “organised crime offence”.
LEPRA already allows police to seize devices and obtain judicial authorisation to access digital evidence, but in connection with a search warrant.
Both organisations are also concerned that the definition of “organised crime offence” is “impermissibly broad”.
Their concerns were heightened by NSW Labor announcing on September 7 it was seeking to expand the definition of “Serious Children’s Indictable Offences”. This would mean subjecting children to adult courts and adult penalties, a regressive step that undermines the youth justice system and fails to address the root causes of systemic crime.”
They say the inclusion of offences under Part 3A Division 5 of the Crimes Act may contribute to the over-criminalisation of marginalised groups, specifically Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Already a disproportionate number of children that the ALS provides legal support to are charged with offences under this division, including offences carrying a term of imprisonment of 10 years or more.
ALS said decades of evidence show that incarcerating children and funnelling them through adult systems severely increases reoffending rates.
“Instead of delivering community safety, this knee-jerk “tough on crime” rhetoric fractures families and locks children into lifelong cycles of the criminal justice system.
Parliament must reject amendments that treat exploited minors as hardened adult offenders.
Roberts said the proposed laws can compel people to incriminate themselves without a clear legal buffer. “This is a feature of authoritarian regimes, not a free society.”
He added that Labor’s push to “funnel exploited children into adult courts and prisons exposes the reactive, punitive nature of the proposed reforms.
“The NSW Parliament must reject this bill in its current form and instead commit to evidence-based policies that protect civil liberties and address the structural drivers of crime.”
Deen called on state and territory leaders to stop pushing a “tough on crime” policies “at the expense of children and actual safety” and called on the Prime Minister to “lead a national response” to the confected youth justice crisis.