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copyright ©2011 Civil Liberties Australia | Canberra, Australia
CLA believes so-called terrorism acts are always criminal offences, and should be so treated. All measures to counter terrorism should conform with international human rights standards, conventions and laws and the customary Australian rule of law.
PM asked to back up her words by launching an
inquiry into Australians' freedoms, democracy
Article posted on Wednesday 25 January 2012
The Obama Gang: unwelcome intruders
Article posted on Monday 28 November 2011How come many hundreds of personnel carrying weapons, some who almost certainly have committed crimes under international law, can enter Australia without Customs or security questioning, Humphrey McQueen asked in a speech outside Parliament House during the US President's visit? In truth, there's a wide range of Americans we would welcome to this country, historically or currently, but it doesn't include members of the Obama Gang, he told the audience.
Security: wrapped in a 'cost-free' blanket
Article posted on Saturday 12 November 2011"Security" is the new catch-all excuse for massive, over-the-top spending without having to prove value for money, or pass a cost-benefit analysis, says economics guru Saul Eslake. From manufacturing through food to electricity and water, "security" has become the password for avoiding rigorous, independent, arms length scrutiny.
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 a "war crime". The Saudi allegedly masterminded the bomb attack on the USS Cole warship in a Yemeni port in October 2000, which killed 17 Americans. He has been held for a decade, half of it in secret CIA prisons around the world, before finally being charged.
Snap! Restrictive laws snare photographers
Article posted on Saturday 05 November 2011Photographers are some of those people most affected day-to-day by terrorism law restrictions. Here's a short film from the UK – 'Stand Your Ground' – which explores what happens when six photographers take to the streets of the City of London. Photographers in Australia face similar problems in going about their work and hobbies: try taking a photo in your city and see what happens.
Phone tapping being used to enforce fines
Article posted on Thursday 03 November 2011
Phone data access being used to enforce fines
Police and crime agencies tapped people's phones and electronic equipment at the rate of about 10 a day last year – 3488 warrants were issued – while nearly 600 surveillance devices (10 a week) went into operation around Australia. Surveillance is on the rise, and privileged access to phone data is also increasingly being used for mundane activities such as collecting council fines and enforcing the dog act, via RSPCAs.
Fishy story: ASIO chief rises to the bait
Article posted on Tuesday 25 October 2011To tell fibs in government, everyone needs a good memory...and to stick to the same tall tales. Here's an example of how the Attorney-General's Department and ASIO got their fishing lines crossed, and the Greens' Senator Penny Wright reeled them in hook, line and sinker during Estimates hearings in Canberra.
Time to delete bad law outside our traditions
Article posted on Tuesday 18 October 2011Emergency 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 the ACT Legislative Assembly, Shane Rattenbury. He speaks for everyone who yearns for a return to sensible laws in Australia.
'Gigantic' policy at odds with reality of risk
Article posted on Wednesday 14 September 2011
Australia's counter-terrorism law and policy is 'close to moral and political bankruptcy', Dr Chris Michaelsen writes. He calls for a comprehensive review and reform of Australian anti-terrorism laws – 'the most draconian in the Western world' – as well as an inquiry what went wrong in the cases of Habib and Hicks.
Hyper terror laws strain Australia's democracy
Article posted on Sunday 11 September 2011Australia 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 Williams writes. What stage are we at, a decade after terrorists attacked America from the air?
Confront our own terrible inconsistencies
Article posted on Friday 09 September 2011The Editor, The Age: The article, 'No room for complacency on terrorism' (The Age, 8 Sept 2011) is timely as it reveals that, of the $10 billion Australia has spent on national security reforms since 2001, less than 1% has been allocated to countering the ideology that fuels religious extremism at home.
'Treat crime as crime': UK reviewer
Article posted on Tuesday 19 July 2011The open access that the UK's Independent Reviewer of terrorism laws, David Anderson, has to secret agencies "reflects the importance which our democracy attaches to rigorous independent scrutiny of the many exceptional powers given to authorities to deal with the threat of terrorism," he says in his just-released report. It will be interesting to compare the UK report with that of Bret Walker, also a QC, who was appointed earlier this year to the same oversight role in Australia.
Unfettered, unreasonable, unnecessary
Article posted on Tuesday 05 July 2011A new law gives ASIO greatly expanded powers to spy domestically, and for the first time allows Australia's spooks to spy internationally for economic reasons only. This is dangerous law, unjustified by the government, which has slipped through an acquiescent parliament asleep on the job.
Gbay: where guilt is optional
Article posted on Sunday 29 May 2011
Documents released by WikiLeaks reveal the extent of official perfidy by US authorities at Guantanamo Bay. They locked people up, not for alleged or even possible crimes, but merely to extract information. No US law permits that.
General calls for war debates
Article posted on Thursday 12 May 2011
EXCLUSIVE: Parliament should be more involved in any decision to go to war...and even more involved in a decision to stay at war, says retired General Peter Leahy, the man responsible for our soldiers for most of the Afghanistan war so far. He calls for a clear statement of Australia's national interests and strategy, and debate in parliament and throughout civil society.
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