#CivilLiberties council says #protestLaws 'incredibly poor government and political leadership'.

#TimothyRoberts, president of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, says the approach being taken by the #NSW state and federal governments in pushing through new laws very quickly is “incredibly poor government and political leadership”.

Roberts, speaking to ABC TV, said the Council for Civil Liberties would be supporting the constitutional challenge to the anti-protest proposals.

Roberts said:

“I think there’s a broad coalition of civil society that’s very concerned about these proposals and the civil liberties council is definitely about supporting that.

We’re very concerned about the police commissioner being given far too broad powers to determine when we, as a community, should assemble or communicate with each other. That’s not up to the police commissioner – that’s us.

We’ve been investigating the #constitutionality of what’s been proposed, and we believe that it’s wanting …

Unlike #Minns, we’re going to take some time to consider these laws and their constitutionality and the problems with them. We’ve got a government that’s passing things at an alarming rate. It’s a shame that it’s up to civil society to then pick up the slack of this government and measure these against the constitution and whether or not it’s appropriate …

It’s just incredibly poor government and political leadership at both levels, frankly. Sure, things like gun reform, there’s relatively broad support for. But even that is divisive. And to pursue such important legislation – legislation that cuts across our #democraticRights – without consulting with community, without consulting with the rest of civil society, is an incredibly dangerous thing to do.” #auspol #NSWpol