Goulburn and the surrounding area is to get its own civil liberties body to counter the growing trend of local, state and federal government bureaucracies over-riding individual rights.
Media release Thursday 30 March 2006
40 people form new civil liberties group
Goulburn is to get its own civil liberties body to counter the growing trend of local, state and federal government bureaucracies overriding individual rights.
An inaugural meeting of more than 40 people on Wednesday night (29 March) decided to affiliate with Civil Liberties Australia CLA, a Canberrabased rights group.
“The rights of the individual must be balanced against the needs of the community – and the ‘public interest’ is increasingly used a reason to erode civil liberties,” coorganiser of the meeting, James Roxburgh said yesterday (Thursday, 30 March).
“The web of regulations gets increasingly tangled and the critical area in which an individual is free to act and can be deemed responsible for his/her actions is growing ever smaller.
“When our rights and responsibilities are eroded or restricted there should be compelling reasons.
“The erosion of individual rights should have to be explained and justified not just imposed,” he said.
The Goulburn CLA group expressed overwhelming concern for the plight of alleged terrorist supporter, David Hicks, who seems to have been abandoned by the Australian Government.
While the group would try to act on such international issues, the main focus would be on civil liberties and people’s rights in relation to Goulburn, the surrounding region and the state.