Because Australia does not have a national Bill of Rights, federal legislation can transgress against peoples freedoms and liberties with impunity. But the ACT (and Victoria) have passed Human Rights Acts, so legislation in the ACT “mirroring” federal l…
A former SAS soldier, the newest member of the WA Parliament, delivered a telling commentary on the erosion of civil liberties in Australia when he gave his maiden speech in March. “…a speech capable of making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up;
SA Premier Michael Rann, up for re-election in March 2010, is proposing that a defendant’s personal history should be revealed to juries – before they decide guilt or innocence – so as to send more people to prison. CLA and the SACCL, plus most other kno…
Victoria is one of the more enlightened states in looking after Indigenous people…but still the statistics are appalling, as this analysis by Keith McEwan (pictured) points out. “Life is not so good for an Indigenous person living in Victoria…or, for…
As governments worldwide cut back on prison numbers to save money, New Zealand is headed in the other direction, counter-intuitively cutting back on rehabilitation services, which will increase repeat offending and lead to more cost to the taxpayer.“To…
With an appeal pending in the High Court from the SA Government because of the over-turning of part of its ‘bikie’ legislation, similar laws are largely on hold Australia-wide. In WA, motorcycle groups are getting active ahead of a likely mid-year in…
Australian drug policies are not working: criminals are getting richer, prison populations are swelling and there are major national health problems, including deaths from overdoses in every State and Territory. Surely, CLA says, it is time for the new N…
A man’s serving five years in jail in Queensland for customs duty evasion, a federal offence. Anywhere else in Australia he would be free. Is this a fair go? Here Tim Vines outlines how ‘justice’ in Australia depends on where you live. And there’s also s…
There’s an upsurge of community concern in Perth about how police are using their new stop-and-search powers (which are largely mirrored throughout Australia). WA Premier Colin Barnett has promised to review the powers, so CLA issued a supportive stateme…
Round-robins of ‘tough on crime’ legislation go from state to state, nation to nation. Here, noted Manchester QC Mark George analyses the cumulative effect of years of repressive laws in the UK, which have whittled away the traditional protections of the…