Proposed new sexual assault law takes away a 400-year-old right to defend yourself in person in court, introduces secret trials, and is farcical in relation to some ill-thought-through provisions. It needs major review, partly because many problems it ai…
No more ‘Bali 9’ cases, and extraditions to be monitored
An Australian Parliamentary Committee is proposing sweeping changes to previous laissez-faire policies which expose Ausralians to the death penalty overseas, and also ignore what happens to people we extradite to other countries. Civil Liberties Australi…
Is an Australian man’s home his castle?
Can a man clad only in boxer shorts order six police officers, who fear domestic violence may have occured, from his home? Yes, in certain circumstances, says the High Court, confirming nearly $0.5m in damages and proving that The Castle was a documentar…
‘Fair go’ should drive courts, not through-put
A fair go and justice for all must drive the ACT courts system, not speedy through-put as the main consideration, Civil Liberties Australia says in its submission on court reform. CLA calls on the ACT Government to raise competency at the investigation,…
US ‘greatness’ lost at Guantanamo, US Major says
Read the ‘closing argument’ by US Air Force Reservist Major, David Frakt (in civilian life, a law professor), who is the military counsel for Mohammad Jawad, only 17 when detained in Afghanistan. He is charged with injuring US soldiers in a war, an act…
AFP should adopt sensible Canadian stun gun rules
The AFP should adopt recommendations of a Canadian inquiry into stun guns, CLA says. The report of the Commission for Public Complaints against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is a sensible, balanced analysis and approach to using these potentially let…
CLA says the ACT Government’s review of the Road Transport (Alcohol and Drugs) Act raises serious ‘fair go’ questions about whether random drug testing (RDT) is either appropriate or viable; whether delaying 1 in 7 drivers tested for 30 minutes is reason…
DNA: US legislates, why not Australia?
A bill prohibiting discrimination and bias by health insurers and employers based on people’s genes has passed both Houses of the US Congress by a vote of 509-1. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act is a powerful shield for Americans. Meanwhile,…
Who is being victimised today?
Who is being wrongly convicted in 2008, asks Keith McEwan as he reviews a book by and about a woman who spent virtually all the 1990s behind bars, wrongly convicted. Framed by a police officer in a conspiracy with her own husband, she needed enormous str…
CLA Keelty comment up on US legal website
CLA spokesman Max Jeganathan’s comments are being read far and wide, with the US legal website Jurist asking for what CLA thought of AFP Commissioner Michael Keelty’s recent outburst against the media. Read what Max said.
See the article on the ‘Jurist…