CLA’s policy on criminal justice
All Australians are entitled to protection from arbitrary arrest and unnecessary detention; to a fair, speedy and public trial; to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and to legal advice and representation.
Sentencing should be based on the principle of rehabilitation wherever possible.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland has the opportunity to resolve an overwhelming injustice by acting on the Bryce case, where a man who could not be jailed elsewhere in Australia languishes in a Queensland jail on a federal charge. The time to act is no…
Debate over burqaThe burqa debate involves complex questions of individual and group rights, Dr Chris Michaelsen told the Australian Federation of Muslim Councils conference in Sydney in May 2010, speaking on behalf of CLA. But in Australia, there’s no national »…
Streets littered with liberties lost“I’ll never be affected by abuse of civil liberties: it won’t happen to me”. But, as Susan Carty explains, you can be accused and convicted on an Australian street – even when innocent – if someone whose identity is kept secret reports youfor littering,…
Censorship in Australia involves a defined government system, open and accountable. But suddenly we have booksellers withdrawing books from sale because of religious objection. Mary Walsh explains why this type of warped censorship is fundamentally wrong…
The Rudd government pans to set up a secret list of people suspected only of arson, and to possibly restrain, detain or put suspects under active surveillance for three months every year. The proposals , which represent a new low for civil liberties in A…
As the Rudd Government fails to honour traditional Labor policy to introduce a Bill of Rights, there’s hope that the new Tasmanian Government may lead the other states by introducing just such a bill, already supported in a widespread consultation proces…
Police and the Police Minister in WA seem determined to introduce a system where people are penalised by loss of demerit driving points if they can’t prove themselves innocent. The proposal to reverse the burden of proof is a further example of how the…
Australians have been denied the opportunity to restrict the power of the political elite by the Rudd Government’s failure to enact a national Bill of Rights, CLA says. Federal MPs who believe in individual rights should coalesce across political boundar…
The area of ‘racial vilification’ is fraught with making decisions on difficult nuances of free speech and individual and group rights. What’s important, Briant Tennant says, is that those responsible for anti-discrimination laws should not themselves d…
CLA President Dr Kristine Klugman and CEO Bill Rowlings are holding meetings in Launceston and Hobart in April 2010 as part of trying to reinvigorate civil liberties in Tasmania. President to visit three cities President Kristine Klugman is holding…