The peak Indigenous legal service in New South Wales has criticised the passing of new knife laws in state parliament, saying they warned parliamentarians last month the legislation would give "extreme new powers" to NSW police which would disproportionately impact Aboriginal people.
The legislation, which the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) NSW/ACT previously labelled "rushed", was introduced after a spate of knife incidents, including the Bondi Junction attack which resulted in six deaths.
Known as 'wanding' laws, they will allow police to stop and search people for weapons - without reasonable suspicion or a warrant - in a move ostensibly designed to crack down on youth crime.
ALS chief executive Karly Warner said giving police additional powers to stop and search people would inevitably "lead to Aboriginal people being disproportionately and unfairly targeted".
"Whenever police are given discretion, we see this same pattern play out," Ms Warner said on Thursday.
The new laws come on the back of new legislation surrounding bail in NSW, making it more difficult for children accused of certain offences to get bail than adults.
At the time the ALS said it was a "line in the sand" moment and the legislation was attacked by Labor members as punitive and against the government's commitment to Closing the Gap.
The new knife laws have been defended by Police Minister Yasmin Catley, who also advocated for the bail legislation. She told Parliament on Tuesday: "The bill is about getting knives out of public places."
"We will not accept people carrying knives around on our streets with no good reason. The police are proactively doing everything they can, but these reforms will give them extra capabilities to take knives off our streets and make the community feel safe," the minister said.
A 2022 Griffith University review into wanding powers in Queensland - known as "Jack's Law" - found whilst it may help with knife detection in certain areas, "there is no evidence yet that wanding deters knife carrying".
"There is also no evidence yet that wanding has led to reduced violent or other crime, but it has led to an increase in detected drug offences, which can increase the flow of minor offenders into formal criminal justice processes," the report said.
The new police powers will allow no-warrant wanding in designated areas, including transport hubs, shopping centres and other crowded places, in circumstances where a relevant weapons offence/knife crime has occurred within the past six months.
Warner said everyone was devastated about incidents where people tragically lost their lives, "but the new laws would not have prevented those incidents."
"What they will do is force more Aboriginal people and other marginalised groups into contact with police," she said.
Highlighting the number of Aboriginal people in prison in NSW - which recently hit a record high - Ms Warner said: "This is a time of crisis when the Government should be working in partnership with us towards a better way, not introducing legislation with no evidence base and that flies in the face of Closing the Gap."
