Freedom of Speech Archives - Civil Liberties Australia

NSW expands unexplained wealth seizures using secret surveillance

9 July 2022 9 June 2026

Election in the offing: law ’n order pollies get desperate. Both major parties want new ‘frighten the citizens laws’, reducing people’s rights, increasing secret surveillance, giving police yet more powers. Pollies pretend the ill-thought-through laws will reduce crime. More likely crime will increase. Stand by for other ghastly laws from the skeleton hands of Premier Perrottet and Pals of the NSW parliamentary ghost train, where scare the punters trumps care for the citizens.

Did philosopher Prior nail it for NZ…and for Oz?

22 December 2021 22 December 2021

A modern philosopher, Dr Mike Grimshaw, dissects the nature of New Zeaanders and therefore why civil liberties might be under threat, and dissipating, in that coutnry. Does his analysis also hold true for Australians?

Q. to CLA: How about we adopt an Australia Card?

18 July 2021 19 September 2021

It sounds so simple, just adopt an ID card that you must carry with you everywhere to ‘sign in’ during the Covid-19 pandemic. But how quickly would surveillance-creep go viral, and your movements be subjected to watching and recording every second of every day, all year, everywhere, by the police, spooks and governments? Massive safeguards are needed to protect our privacy and our private information, CLA says.

Police infiltrate iPhone privacy

8 June 2021 8 June 2021

Once again, for the umpteenth time during the Covid-19 pandemic, police appeal to have gone overboard the moment a new restrictions regime is implemented. They seem to be pre-ordained to use excessive intrusion and invasion of privacy in the first instance, before public complaints eventually force them to take a more reasonable and balanced approach. Why is there always a problem? Is it bad leadership, or bad training…or both?

Porter ‘wins’ after dead woman’s rape allegations

1 June 2021 2 June 2021

Minister Christian Porter, who sued the ABC and reporter Louse Milligan for reporting the fact that he had been accused by a woman, who had since died, of teenage rape 33 years ago, has dropped defamation action.

Secret files held secretly is vigilantism and a nether world of justice

25 March 2021 25 March 2021

It has been reported that NSW police are accepting secret reports of sexual assault in a dangerous new type of vigilantism. Asked to comment verbally by the media, Civil Liberties Australia chose to put our concerns in writing. Here is our statement.