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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
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 »...
Bill of rights: where to next?
Article posted on Thursday 09 September 2010The first shot in the next round of achieving a bill of rights for Australia is heard in Canberra just as a new parliament settles in. Prof George Williams outlines where he sees the debate going next in the 2010 Alice Tay lecture at ANU.
Read article »...
Vulturous ATO preys on the grave
Article posted on Thursday 26 August 2010
As the Actor represents Everyman, so Paul Hogan represents us all over the bureaucratic inequities of oppressive legality and secrecy laws in Australia. He is now locked in the debtor's prison the nation is becoming, reverting to its penal role two centuries ago.
Reform committee needs more time,
resources and publicity, CLA says
Article posted on Monday 23 August 2010
The processes of an almost 'secret' Senate Select Committee on Reform of the Australian Federation (SCRAF) should re-start completely, CLA says. SCRAF's inquiry was totally swamped by the August 2010 federal election: the questions asked of the committee are too important to be decided without extensive Australia-wide debate and discussion in the full glare of publicity.
Victoria adopts automatic enrolment
Article posted on Monday 09 August 2010
The Victorian Legislative Council has passed the Electoral Amendment (Electoral Participation) Bill 2010, which introduces automatic electoral enrolment for all school students on their eighteenth birthdays, and allows election-day enrolment for everyone else.
While the Coalition opposed this bill, which was passed by the ALP and Greens, it is similar to one passed recently in New South Wales with the support of all parties. Rob Hoffman discuss the new arrangements in The Age. Read details in the Parliamentary Library Research Service's brief »...
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