Civil Liberties Australia

A government using regulation to curb freedom of choice over a legal product will obviously create problems. Australia has managed to lose revenue at the same time as boosting criminal gangs and encouraging their use of teenagers to murder and commit arson in yet another classic example of why governments should promote individual rights instead of selectively refusing classic freedoms. Analysis by Mark Jarratt.

In a telling speech before the UN General Assembly, PM Anthony Albanese made wild, unfounded claims about his supposed personal support of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, putting Australia’s bid for a seat on the Security Council at severe risk. He highlighted his own ongoing failure to give Australians what at least 75% want, a Human Rights Act for the nation. A HRA would nip the next Robodebt federal fiasco in the bud, and offer immediate relief when a state Parole Board “legally hallucinates” that it can deny a person free speech and their own opinion – and even declare, in error, that they don’t have the legal right to appeal a wrongful conviction.

Other articles this month...

• Columnists and lawyers call for a Human Rights Act for Australia;
• ‘We do not have free speech in Australia': statement by CLA;
• MPs remain free to cause chaos in Question Time;
• Need a friend at law? Try McKenzie;
• Territory takes baby steps towards statehood;
• Prisoners released early to free up cells in overcrowded jails.

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Lawyers throughout Australia were stunned by the outrageous use of AI by Tasmania’s Parole Board to gag a person on parole. They were also amused by the amateurism of the people involved in the decision, barrister Greg Barns writes, as he calls on those responsible to resign.

Campaigners for a national Human Rights Act launched a petition with 50,000 signatures at Parliament House in Canberra late last month. Petitioners want the Albanese government to pass an Australian ‘bill of rights', an initiative supported by 75% of Australians.

Support for a Human Rights Act for Australia is now solidified on the ALP election platform. Parliament should pass an Australian ‘rights' law ASAP before handing down a greater national ‘responsibilities’ education scheme in late-2027, after the Bell Royal Commission into Social Cohesion and Antisemitism reports in December 2026. More than 75% of Australians support legislating a Human Rights Act.