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copyright ©2011 Civil Liberties Australia | Canberra, Australia
There are no codified guarantees of fundamental liberties under Australian law. CLA believes Australia should have a Charter of Rights and Responsibilities, like the European Convention on Human Rights, or the NZ Bill of Rights. There should be a court where the rights and responsibilities of less-powerful Australians can be established, quickly and at little cost.
Resources
Available resources:
Australia's First Bill of Rights - A comprehensive ongoing coverage of the debate by the Australian National University
Also:- Prof. George Williams speaking at the CLA AGM 5 Apr 08 -see Annual Reports.
- Prof Hilary Charlesworth at Sydney Institute 22 Jul 08 - Democtratic Objections to a bill of rights.
- Prof James Allen - Occassional Senate Lecture 4 Apr 08- Siren Songs and Myths in the Bill of Rights Debate
Has 9/11 made us 'live differently'?
Article posted on Thursday 17 May 2012Do you think Australians have less freedom, less democracy, than 10 years ago when the planes crashed into New York's Twin Towers? Have terrorists changed the way Australians live? PM Julia Gillard said those questions were how we should test our decade-long, multi-billion response to terrorism. CLA asked the PM to set up a public inquiry to get the answers to her own questions...but she has declined to do so. They're important questions: what do you think?
CLA defends our 'funny country' freedoms
Article posted on Wednesday 16 May 2012From a reader of our website: My opinion of your group is that it is all crap. Take a look at the Suburbs that have been taken over by Muslims. Do you feel sorry for the genuine Australians that live there and on occasions have been forced to leave?
Territory citizens are second-class Aussies
Article posted on Tuesday 10 April 2012Citizens of the ACT and NT are second-class Australians, and are forced to endure that status by Australian law. In any review of the ACT (Self-Government) Act 1988 of the Commonwealth – the legislation which set up the current ACT system – is it is of fundamental importance that ACT citizens gain equal rights in their own 'state' and nation to those of all other Australians, CLA says.
Stifling free speech OK, High Court says
Article posted on Thursday 01 March 2012The High Court of Australia has delivered a blow to the solar plexus of the people of Palm Island. The court has ruled that an islander, now on parole, can have his free speech rights stifled because a Queensland law is nicely written...never mind that the law comprises an abuse of the universal right to freedom of speech.
Privacy forsaken as agencies merge
Article posted on Thursday 24 March 2011Two giant federal agencies – Centrelink and Medicare – are merging without proper examination of the privacy ramifications, which are immense. The Australian Privacy Foundation is calling for the government to abide by supposedly mandatory rules to conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment.
By what right do we protest?
Article posted on Thursday 17 February 2011We won the right to speak openly in public only by repeated protest and group struggle over centuries, Humphrey McQueen told a WikiLeaks rally. It's just as important now to carry forward the oath sworn at Eureka in 1854..."to fight to defend our rights and liberties".
Support Assange...embrace moment
Article posted on Tuesday 08 February 2011Rallies around Australia's major cities have come out strongly in support of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. CLA's Raff Piccolo told those attending the Adelaide rally that the government should seize the opportunity to back free speech and transparency.
Man wrongly jailed for 15
years...but no compensation
Article posted on Monday 31 January 2011
Parliament rejected his bid for justice 47 years ago. He served 15 years for a crime he didn't commit. His conviction was quashed six years ago...but in 2011 the WA Government has still not compensated Darryl Beamish for the courts, the politicians and the state failing him close to half a century ago.
PHOTO: Darryl & Barbara Beamish, courtesy of Post Newspapers
Govt should back Aussie Julian
Article posted on Saturday 29 January 2011
Rather than pillory Julian Assange, and 'shop' him to the US Administration to meet whatever fate, the Gillard government should stand up for him...and for the world's right to free speech, even if honesty and transparency doesn't suit the Americans, CLA member Jim Collier (photo) told a rally in Launceston. (Youtube video included in the full article)
How rights were prioritised
Article posted on Monday 17 January 2011How were claims to human rights prioritised when the Universal Declaration was being established more than 60 years ago? CLA member Dr Bruce Kent outlines his perspective in European Human Rights 1919-1950: From Negative to Positive Example?
Read article »...
Alexis Keogh and jailed father, Criminal Cases Review Commission
Article posted on Thursday 23 December 2010
When someone is wrongfully imprisoned, there are many hidden victims. It’s not only the convicted person who does the time, whose life gets put on hold and turned upside down, it’s every member of their family too.
So even if some people don’t care about the person in prison, they need to know, and remember that the collateral damage is very real and is just as, if not more, devastating. And, it’s totally unacceptable.
Photo: Alexis Keogh and father, Yatala Prison 2010
Govt plans human rights plan
Article posted on Saturday 18 December 2010When a nation doesn't have a Bill of Rights, it seems the best it can aspire to is a 'National Human Rights Action Plan'. That's what the Australian Government thinks, anyway. Here's Australia's plan on how to create a plan in 2011...you too can play, if you wish.
Committee system needs surgery
Article posted on Wednesday 17 November 2010
A two-day conference in November 2010 reviewed Senate Committees after 40 years operation, but most of the time was wasted on platitudes, CLA President Dr Kristine Klugman reports. However, two sitting Senators, in the final hour, started to peel away the facade and reveal why the parliamentary committee system needs major surgery. Read more (and listen/watch, if you wish)...
Photo: Dr Klugman with former Senator Robert Ray at the conference.
Concrete law for the States is
but jelly for the territories
Article posted on Tuesday 09 November 2010
Irrelevant issues, such as euthanasia, should not derail the federal parliament debate over giving people from the ACT and NT equal rights to those enjoyed by Australians living in States, Prof George Williams says. The imbalance of voting power also needs attention, he says.
The debate that will not die
Article posted on Friday 17 September 2010Australia will eventually secure its own national bill of rights, because the people overwhelmingly want one, even if many politicians don't. Here Professor George Williams outlines the background to, and makes the case for, the next round of the 'debate that will not die'.
Read article »...
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