Content Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised the following includes the names of First Nations people who have passed away.
MEDIA RELEASE 12 September 2025
National Justice Project welcomes passage of ‘Cindy’s Law’ in NSW
The National Justice Project (NJP) welcomes the passage of vital legislative changes in the NSW Parliament that close a long-standing loophole in the Crimes Act 1900. The amendments ensure that offenders who commit acts of sexual violence, or indecently interfere with a body, when the time of death is uncertain, cannot escape prosecution. This is an important reform that closes a gap in the law that allowed perpetrators to go unpunished.
The NSW Government has expressly acknowledged that these changes are in direct response to the dedication and tireless advocacy of the families of two cousins, 16-year-old Murrawarri and Kunja girl Mona Lisa ‘Mona’ Smith (16) and 15-year-old Wangkumara girl Jacinta Rose ‘Cindy’ Smith (15). This change also implements the Coroner’s findings and recommendations into the 1987 deaths of the two young girls.
The inquest commenced in 2023, following years of lobbying by the Smith family, with the assistance of the National Justice Project.
Adjunct Professor George Newhouse, NJP CEO, said the passage of “Cindy’s Law” is a hard-won legacy of family courage over nearly four decades:
“For 37 long years, the families of Mona and Cindy Smith have carried the unbearable weight of grief and injustice, and their tireless pursuit of truth has been vindicated.
Mona and Cindy were vibrant, much-loved Aboriginal girls whose lives were tragically cut short. Their deaths devastated their families and communities. But the pain did not end there; it was compounded by a series of legal and institutional failures that denied their families dignity, justice, and closure.
The coronial inquest confirmed what the family has always known; that the legal system and police failed their daughters and failed them.”
One of the most harrowing elements of this case was the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions not to proceed with charges against the man who sexually assaulted Cindy as she lay helpless by the side of the road. It is hard to believe that charges were dropped because it could not be determined whether the assault occurred before or after Cindy died. With this law, this injustice will never happen again.
35 years after the girl’s deaths, the Coroner found that there had been sufficient evidence to prosecute Cindy’s perpetrator at the time. The failure to pursue the perpetrator to seek justice for Cindy understandably caused Cindy’s family unimaginable hurt.
The courage of Mona and Cindy’s families, along with their unwavering demand for accountability, has led to this important law reform.
The NSW Attorney General has acted decisively to ensure that no other family will be forced to endure this kind of injustice. While this reform cannot bring back Mona or Cindy, it is a meaningful step forward and a powerful legacy of their lives.
We are grateful for the respectful and compassionate way the Attorney General has engaged with the family throughout this process.
This is about more than legal reform. It is about restoring trust, honouring lives lost, and ensuring that Aboriginal families are heard, respected, and treated with justice.”
Dawn Smith, Cindy’s mother, said:
“We have waited too long for justice for our girls. Justice that will never come. I hope no one ever has to go through what my Cindy went through, but if they do, I am comforted that these changes might help them find justice. We will always love and remember our girls.”
Barrister Julie Buxton, who represented the family at the inquest, said:
“It was a privilege to assist the family of Mona and Cindy to pursue this important legislative reform. This law reform is vitally important to protect the legacy of deceased victims and their families who continue to live with insufferable pain.
“The reform is also vital to ensure sexual offending does not go unpunished in the future, particularly given the disproportionate rate such crimes impact First Nations girls and women.
“I pay my enormous respect to Mona and Cindy’s family – the bravery and grace with which they conducted themselves throughout the harrowing evidence at the inquest, and their fierce determination to seek legislative change to prevent other families enduring such horror and injustice.
“It is also a great credit to the NSW State Coroner that she referred the proposed reform to the Attorney-General so swiftly after delivering her findings.”
We pay our deepest respects to the Smith families and to all First Nations families who have been denied justice. We honour Mona and Cindy and the strength of their loved ones, whose courage has driven reform so that no other family faces the same injustice.
Media Contact
media@justice.org.au
The National Justice Project is a human rights legal and civil rights service using strategic legal action, education, advocacy and innovation to fight systemic discrimination.
The National Justice Project acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we work and live and pay our respects to Elders past and present.
In the media:
- Passage of ‘Cindy’s Law’ welcomed amidst legal reform in NSW – National Indigenous Times, 12 Sept
