Govt. Acountability - Civil Liberties Australia

Porter can lift us out of these ‘sad times’

29 May 2020 29 May 2020

The secret trials and sentencing currently running in the Witness K and Bernard Collaery matter could – and should – be stopped instantly by the Attorney-General withdrawing his permission to prosecute. If he doesn’t the injustice of it all will forever be on his head. He has the perfect excuse: he’s too busy crafting a national integrity commission, and also getting the nation back on its commercial feet after Covid-19.

1245 Tasmanians complain about photo ID

23 May 2020 23 May 2020

The Tasmanian government is downplaying how many people are upset by their transferring of all personal driver licence photos from Tasmanians to a national database without data protections laws in place. The government wrongly stated only 20 people had complained: the true number is 60 times that number, more than 1200.

Bike helmet fines are enough to do your head in

18 May 2020 21 May 2020

Australia was first to mandate wearing bike helmets to enhance safety for bicyclists. But the fines have gone crazy, police abuse propensity is huge and, as usual, the poor suffer more than others. A bike fine can even follow you into later life, and cost you a job. The fines are examples of Executive regulatory regimes gone feral, two academics say.

Trust is the issue when politicians want people to act

10 May 2020 10 May 2020

As the federal government seeks to influence people to download the C19 virus tracing app, it starts a long way behind square in being trusted. The problems are that Minister Stuart Robert announced the app using untrue statements, and the government has an awful record of being incompetent in safeguarding people’s data and privacy.

Canada illustrates the danger of ‘emergency’ laws

6 May 2020 6 May 2020

Fifty years after Canada’s most recent police state imposition, two academics warn about the repressive history of laws brought in to cope with ‘emergencies’. Citizens must not give governments powers that are certain to be abused by later suspension of civil liberties, police crackdowns and, with today’s and tomorrow’s technology, electronic Big Brother surveillance.

How does the government define privacy?

1 May 2020 26 December 2020

Privacy probably means something entirely different to you than it does to the Australian government, its police and security services. That’s why close examination of the upcoming legislation around the Covid-19 tracing app is so vital. Kelsie Nabben and Chris Berg comment.

Fencing off the House of Ghosts

23 April 2020 26 December 2020

Currently ghostly and almost unused due to Covid-19, trod by very few feet other than the police and security guards, Australia’s Parliament House is still fenced off from the people. This enclosed community, preventing overall access by the citizens of the nation, is against every principle on which the parliament chose the design after a mammoth, worldwide architectural competition. Tony Murney investigates…or tries to!

Is the government’s coronavirus app a risk to privacy?

22 April 2020 22 April 2020

Will you download a government app to allow them to trace you – and everyone you meet for more than a few minutes – over the next few months, or years? Law and criminology professor Rick Sarre weighs the pros, cons and the government’s track record before making his choice.

What the special Covid-19 Select Committees should do

20 April 2020 22 April 2020

OK, so parliaments are virtually abandoned, and we’ve handed our democracy over to ’Select Committees in the inter-regnum. What should those Select Committees be doing? One of Australia’s top experts in the field of committees and parliaments, Dr Sarah Moulds, provides advice to get them headed in the right direction.

Apps may come to dictate our future ‘freedom’

17 April 2020 17 April 2020

The more fear and worry, the more governments impose technology “for your own good”. With a virus pandemic, big-tech companies are offering surveillance solutions that are hard to resist in the short-term…but that may be ’trojan horses’ for a widespread big brother, non-parliamentary dominance once the Covid-19 panic has passed.