Legal Aid NSW bans staff from discussing 'war in Israel, Palestine' at work

Legal Aid staff "fear people will lose their jobs for speaking about Palestine"

Legal Aid NSW has banned staff from speaking about Israel and Palestine at work, triggering a backlash from staff who accuse the organisation of "structural racism".

In an email on April 23, Legal Aid NSW chief executive Monique Hitter sent all staff a link to the organisation's ‘Updated guidance for Legal Aid NSW staff – communicating about the ongoing war in Israel, Palestine and the region’.

"Staff must refrain from campaigning at work on issues that are not directly related to the work that we do or are not identified as strategic advocacy issues for the organisation," the guidance note, obtained by Deepcut, states.

"Campaigning includes using workspaces and resources to encourage staff to take a position or take action on an issue that is not related to their work.

"We will not tolerate communications and actions at work that go beyond the scope of our role or cause harm, or have the potential to cause harm, to other staff."

Speaking anonymously, a Legal Aid NSW employee told Deepcut the guidance note was "an obvious attempt to curtail opinions critical of Israel and the genocide by associating any position supportive of Palestinians with the potential to cause harm".

"The document uses language like ‘psychological safety’ to justify the guidance and assumes that discussion about the genocide and displays of solidarity with Palestine causes harm to some staff," the employee said. "It begs the question: whose psychological safety is Legal Aid NSW prioritising?"

Staff barred from ‘campaigning’ at work

The guidance note immediately caused consternation among many Legal Aid NSW staff.

"There's a real sense of fear that people will lose their jobs for speaking about Palestine," the employee said.

"It's not just a perceived fear – whether it be something someone's wearing, whether it's comments people have made, people have been tapped on the shoulder."

On May 27, over 130 Legal Aid NSW employees sent an open letter to Hitter asking that the guidance note "be retracted immediately".

"We are concerned that the Updated Guidance has focused on suppressing discussion of the ‘war’ while ignoring Legal Aid’s duty to provide a psychologically safe workplace," the open letter states.

"The suppression and silencing of staff responding to critical events in international law and the genocide in Palestine ... causes harm, especially to those staff with personal connections to people affected on the ground."

The letter criticised the process by which the guidance note was introduced, claiming it contradicts existing Legal Aid NSW workplace policies and was not raised with staff or the Public Service Association, the union covering Legal Aid employees.

Staff also took exception to the guidance note's characterisation of any discussion of Israel and Palestine in a workplace context as "campaigning".

"Not every conversation or reflection about public issues can be considered ‘campaigning’, and such issues are instrumental to the work we do," the letter reads.

Legal Aid NSW management doubles down

On June 23, Hitter responded to the open letter in an email to each of its signatories, saying that "the Updated Guidance will not be retracted" and that "Legal Aid NSW is committed to a workplace that is inclusive, respective and diverse".

"We only take positions on law reform or policy issues where we have relevant client casework experience, and we only make submissions on law reform that impacts the areas of law where we provide services for our clients," Hitter stated. "We also generally limit our comment to forums where we are invited to comment based on the work we do for our clients."

A Legal Aid NSW spokesperson reiterated that position in comments to Deepcut.

"The guidance is consistent with our responsibilities as a government agency. As a state-based statutory authority, we, like other NSW government agencies, cannot adopt or promote a public position on any geopolitical conflict," they said.

"The Code of Ethics and Conduct for NSW Government Sector Employees reminds public service employees of the need to act apolitically, demonstrating impartiality, neutrality, and integrity in their professional conduct.

"This guidance does not change that staff are free to campaign on a range of issues, including the conflict in the Middle East, in their personal life if the actions or views are not held out to be those of Legal Aid NSW."

The anonymous staff member told Deepcut Hitter's response has led to a "fractured" environment inside the agency and deepened fears among signatories that they will face professional consequences.

Long-running tensions

The guidance note is not the first time that the issue of Gaza has caused discord inside the government agency. In May 2024, Hitter sent a 'CEO Update' email referring to "the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the violence of October 7 in Israel, and the grief of families with members still held hostage".

"People took exception to Hitter's choice to say 'humanitarian crisis' when referring to the genocide Israel's committing, which is consistently the language they've used," the Legal Aid employee told Deepcut.

"They're happy to talk of violence against Israelis, but not against Palestinians."

The staff open letter also claims that Legal Aid censored comments in support of Palestinians on a fundraising page for an internal CALD Network Iftar fundraising event for Doctors Without Borders held in March.

"We note that the Updated Guidance was introduced after the CALD Network Iftar fundraiser, an event organised by Muslim staff," the letter states.

"Before and during the event, Legal Aid made the decision to edit and delete comments of solidarity by donors on the fundraiser page and then removed that page altogether."

Even prior to the beginning of the Gaza genocide in October 2023, Legal Aid NSW faced internal strife. In 2022, three Legal Aid lawyers told the ABC's 7.30 program that staff of colour, especially First Nations staff, were punished and ignored when they tried to raise allegations of racism with management.

The anonymous Legal Aid employee says the guidance note shows little has changed since then.

"They've brought in some box-ticking reform, like the CALD Network and Diversity & Inclusion policies, but they haven't dealt with the structural racism in the organisation," the employee claims.

Sarah Ibrahim, one of the Legal Aid lawyers who spoke out in 2022, left the organisation to establish the Racial Justice Centre (RJC) – a not-for-profit community legal centre that prioritises cases of racial discrimination.

RJC lawyer Sharfah Mohamed told Deepcut the Legal Aid guidance note "disproportionately impacts a particular racial group".

"We know, through our casework and collective lived experience, that institutional racism pervades the public and private sector. This direction made by Legal Aid NSW is simply the latest in a string of examples that have come to light amidst the ongoing atrocities in Palestine," Mohamed said.

The Public Service Association did not respond to questions.