21 October 1998
(Public Seminar)

Chair:
The Honourable Justice Peter Hidden, Supreme Court of NSW

Speakers:
Justice Greg James, Supreme Court of NSW
Duncan Chappell, Deputy President, Administrative Appeals Tribunal
John Broome, Chair, National Crime Authority
Kevin O’Rourke, President, NSW Council for Civil Liberties
Peter Ford, First Assistant Secretary, Information and Security Division, Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department

Convenors:
Duncan Chappell
Bron McKillop

Electronic surveillance, particularly telephone interceptions and the use of listening devices, has grown to become a major form of investigation into certain types of criminal activity and an important means of gathering criminal intelligence. The secrecy of these operations and the risk that non-targets will be recorded by them raise obvious concerns for privacy and civil liberties generally.

This seminar will examine these issues from the competing perspective of law enforcement on the one hand and privacy and civil liberties on the other. Considerations relating to the issue of warrants for electronic surveillance and the role of the courts in dealing with evidence obtained form such surveillance will also be canvassed