Hear About Julian – 19 Sep 20
Global journalist John Pilger will discuss and update the Julian Assange situation in a Zoom conversation at 1900 on 19 Sept 2020.
Australia extradites with one hand tied, costing Aussies liberty
Australia’s one-side extradition regime gives citizens of other countries much greater legal protection than Australian citizens get. Other countries simply have to allege wrongdoing, and Australia locks up – and extradites – people living in Australia. But going in the other direction, we have to prove, with evidence, our case before other nations will hand over people in their jursidiction. It’s stupid law, and even crazier civil liberties.
Coronavirus Pandemic: Statements by CLA
For all the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, then in the longer-term recovery to normal phase, civil liberties and human rights must be integrated into every decision of all authorities. While a health and emergency policing response is vital, so too is ensuring that the maximum freedoms of Australians are respected at all times. Premiers and others are in danger of forgetting peoples’ rights matter too!
Qld’s new Emergency law comes with inbuilt rights protection
Queensland’s four-month old human rights protection law is doing its job: in a new Covid-19 ‘Emergency’ law, there’s protection for Queenslanders because no provisions of the new law can over-ride the state’s Human Rights Act which came into force on 1 January 2020. Some other Australian jurisdictions should take note.
Asylum seekers, refugees and Covid-19: most vulnerable, most exposed?
Vulnerable refugee claimants are at greater risk of catching Covid-19 illness because of where they are housed, and general poor nutrition and ill-health because of their poverty. Without incomes as the economy grinds to a halt, their plight is worsening. Meanwhile the Australian government appears to have a policy of deliberating slowing down their ‘day in court’ by appointing the wrong people to the main tribunal that hears refugee claims. CLA Director Jennifer Ashton tells the story.
Apps may come to dictate our future ‘freedom’
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.
Crisis causes power to aggregate centrally
As the virus crisis bites deeper into daily life, more people are starting to question what freedoms and liberties we are giving up at the behest of an ever-shrinking ‘executive’ ruling group, comprising a hotch-potch of people from MPs to mining bosses and public servants with interesting track records. CLA member Carolyn van Langenberg airs some opinions alternate to the mainstream groupthink.
Crisis is no reason to abuse secret powers
While civil society is grating the government licence to use extraordinary powers during a medical emergency, that is no excuse to abuse people’s trust by bringing in draconian measures like over-the-top surveillance and elimination of the flimsy privacy rights we still retain, CLA says.
Borders disappear…along with your right to privacy
A new rights-eroding law would increase the reach of police and spooks into our lives at the expense of our withering rights, says author Paul Gregoire writing for Sydney Criminal Lawyers. The Frankenstein legislation would enable five-ways open slather access to all phone calls, emails, data and even metadata.
If your MP says they are ‘tough on crime’, show them this:
For all those politicians (and the media) who posture at being “tough on crime” and who bring in mandatory sentences to appear to be “smart” legislators telling magistrates and judges how to make decisions and pass sentences, hear this plea from a real live criminal lawyer dealing with the consequences of such irresponsible political action in the Northern Territory…