The New South Wales police force is overusing intrusive technology to monitor the phones and computers of people suspected of committing less serious crime, the commonwealth ombudsman has found.
The watchdog said Victoria and Queensland police were not keeping sufficient records to justify their use of the electronic surveillance powers, while NSW police “were unable to demonstrate” they were meeting the requirements of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/18/nsw-police-overusing-highly-intrusive-legal-powers-to-monitor-phones-and-computers-national-watchdog-finds
18 Comments
Are we suprised?
Shocking no one paying attention
>The watchdog said Victoria and Queensland police were not keeping sufficient records to justify their use of the electronic surveillance powers, **while NSW police “were unable to demonstrate” they were meeting the requirements of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979.**
Oh, geez.
>“Accordingly, we consider there is a not insignificant risk that a court would find that NSWPF have not used the powers lawfully.”
Basically, cops along the east coast are spying on us and have no evidence to justify whether it’s necessary or lawful.
NSW police is an overreaching and incompetent bully of a police force, enforcing the law selectively rather than equally.
I mean, the current police commissioner nearly drunkenly started a fight with ambos trying to help him, back in only 2021, with many key figures asking people involved to hush hush the whole thing. What else would you expect?
Incidents like that often result in suspension of a firearms licence and a mental health assessment. He wasn’t needing to do either despite being intoxicated with a firearm.
Holy shit!
Fuck off you dogs
Quelle surprise
Got to do something when you’re not strip searching young women
Did someone in power get called a “wog” again?
Thought crimes next
Wouldn’t this just mean that it’d get thrown out in court?
If that warrant they got doesn’t fit the crime?
So, any consequences for officers engaged in this illegal conduct?
So, the article says:
> The act, referred to as the TIA Act, allows for police or security agencies to seek a warrant to intercept, access and disclose communications in order to investigate the commission or intended commission of a state or federal offence.
Isn’t requiring a warrant a good thing? I’m against all laws that permit warrantless access, but don’t judges have to sign off on warrants in order for the warrant to be valid?
So cops doing cop things, gotcha.
That’ll inspire people to join the force and foster community respect
Interesting report. Ombudsman says you shouldn’t do it where the offence relied on is conspiracy under common law (no maximum penalty) but the unlawful act relied on for conspiracy is less than 3 years (threshold for warrant). These warrants are being approved by Supreme Court Judges. The NSWPF did not agree with the ombudsman recommendation.
Seems like they are getting the warrants within the law. So the state or federal government needs to change the law. The Ombudsman’s recommendation is to not to do something that is permitted at law.
They’re probably looking for anyone typing or saying those six words and starting a file.
Sure would be good if we had police forces which obeyed the law. VicPol turned out to be more criminal than Tony Mokbel. How the fuck are we supposed to respect the law when it’s just a different bunch of criminal thugs?