CLA
Civil Liberties Australia
- Printed on Saturday 04 February 2012 from http://www.cla.asn.au/0805/index.php/accessjustice/main-16/
CLA's policy on Access to Justice

All citizens must have equal access to a fair and honest justice system, where individual and groups rights are safeguarded without fear or favour. Any court or tribunal must be independent, and free from external pressures. There must be adequate access for all to the justice system, or human rights are compromised.

Double jeopardy: CLA does not support legislation which permits charging a person twice for the same offence.

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Category: Justice Access

Justice

On the death of a mother and her children…

Article posted on Thursday 19 January 2012
The anomalous situation of the Family Court in WA, and the need for better resourcing of family courts everywhere, are poignantly highlighted after the tragic deaths of a mother and her two children from a family caught in a long-running dispute. Peter… more »
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Extradition to US is doubly doubtful

Article posted on Wednesday 18 January 2012
Mark Summerfield, a patent attorney, analyses the current UK alleged piracy/copyright extradition case with major international ramifications. As well, there's links to the NYT coverage of proposed new US laws which are even more draconian, and to an SM… more »
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Principle is not for breaking

Article posted on Thursday 12 January 2012
I see that persistent apologist Jim Unkles is pushing new Attorney-General Nicola Roxon to act on pardoning the Boer War multiple murderers Harry Morant and Peter Handcock. He is offering to "brief her – that is, present his version of the 1901 court m… more »
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Law & order adjudged to need evidence

Article posted on Tuesday 10 January 2012
Just like any other government initiative, law and order measures – such as extra police, tougher penalties, etc – should be evaluated for cost-benefit success or cost-effectiveness by an independent agency, says crime bureau chief Don Weatherburn. And… more »
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More police powers? No!

Article posted on Saturday 07 January 2012
In spite of immensely powerful criminal laws, police always lobby for 'tougher laws' and 'steeper penalties' whenever a nasty crime hits the headlines, even when crime is rapidly falling, says Dr Buck Emberg. They should just get on with it, he says,… more »
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Moti: Australia on trial..and guilty as hell

Article posted on Thursday 08 December 2011
The High Court has ruled that the Australian government – diplomats and police mainly – abused legal processes in assisting the deportation of Julian Moti, former Attorney-General of the Solomon Islands, to Brisbane to face aged sex tourism charges. Mot… more »
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Bail law reform should follow declaration

Article posted on Thursday 01 December 2011
Human rights law works best when it tweaks the ordinary law to be more uniform, fair, and understandable by the average citizen. In the ACT, the Legislative Assembly has its first chance to achieve those tri-aims by reforming the Bail Act: Human Rights… more »
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Such is the uneven quality of justice in Oz

Article posted on Monday 28 November 2011
Government attempts to tackle the Mr Bigs of crime in Australia often end up punishing the Mr and Mrs Littles and their innocent children. At a parliamentary hearing, CLA CEO Bill Rowlings has called for uniform justice throughout Australia, laws which… more »
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Nashiri: US torture of legality continues

Article posted on Friday 11 November 2011
The USA is twisting time and reality – and torturing its own legal system – in trying to prosecute a man, Nashiri, before a military commission for an "war crime". The Saudi allegedly masterminded the bomb attack on the USS Cole warship in a Yemeni port… more »
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Time to delete bad law outside our traditions

Article posted on Tuesday 18 October 2011
Emergency terror laws enacted in fear and haste after "9/11" are coming up for mandatory review. It's time we got rid of laws, like preventative detention without charge, which "sits well outside conventional criminal law", according to the Speaker of t… more »
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Hyper terror laws strain Australia's democracy

Article posted on Sunday 11 September 2011
Australia has more anti-terror laws than comparable western countries; such laws undermine our democratic freedoms, academics agree. At some stage anti-terror laws in Australia could become part of the problem, and not the solution, Professor George Wi… more »
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Jury system in need of urgent reform, for fairness

Article posted on Monday 05 September 2011
Responding to your report “Let jurors speak, says Lindy Chamberlain” by Subiaco Post (Perth) editor Brett Christian, 3 Sept 2011: I fully support Lindy Chamberlain Creighton’s call for jurors to be allowed to speak publicly and… more »
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UPDATED - SPECIAL REPORT:
Australia's property seizure laws:
Now even State Governor speaks
out in favour of changing the law

Article posted on Friday 26 August 2011
There must be something drastically wrong with seizure and property forfeiture laws in Australia, as CLA and others have been saying for years, when even a normally non-controversial State Governor, the former eminent WA barrister Malcolm McCusker, is u… more »
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Guidance could help judges with sentencing

Article posted on Tuesday 23 August 2011
It's fine for the community to give general guidance to judges as to what is "reasonable" in sentencing, CLA says: public discussion on such issues would be useful, and may help judges locally and nationally, CLA told the main ACT political parties. But… more »

CLA wins: full extradition reports

Article posted on Friday 15 July 2011
After four years of lobbying, CLA's proposal for the government to report details about people we extradite to face trial overseas has been adopted by the Attorney-General's Department. The AG's annual report will in future carry reports of extradition… more »

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