The Clarke report into the detention of Dr Mohamed Haneef, the Gold Coast doctor whose relative had exploded a suicide device in Scotland, is postponed a second time. The inquiry, which cannot compel witnesses or the taking of evidence under oath, is now…
New sexual assault and violence laws passed in haste just before an election may have blinded the courts to proper scrutiny of evidence, barrister Shane Gill writes. Real justice, unlike TV dramas, has to deal with a range of motives, complainants not ne…
The debate about whether Australia should have a national Charter of Rights and Responsibilities will launch on 10 December, international Human Rights Day. It is hoped that the Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, will throw his weight behind the program to indicat…
Stereotyping clouds thinking over relationship violence, says CLA member Roger Anthony Smith. The Australian Government has no place funding and promoting biased campaigns that support one sex while stigmatising the other – that’s against basic human ri…
Cartoon by Nicholson
Bidding to heighten the fear of terrorism to boost his agency’s status, ASIO’s Director-General has used Weapons of Mass Destruction…just as his boss, the Attorney-General, is downplaying terrorism and signalling a radical chang…
The Rudd Government should move earlier than 2010 to fix one of Australia’s worst laws, the ABCC legislation, which denies building workers their industrial rights. Not for 100 years have similar wobbly laws blighted industrial relations in this country,…
Mohammad Jawad was a child in December 2002 when rendered into Guantanamo Bay for throwing a grenade at American soldiers in Afghanistan. His ‘signed’ – with a thumbprint, because he doesn’t read or write – written confession is in Farsi, a language he d…
Considerable CLA effort, along with that of experienced and astute lawyers, has produced much-improved sexual and violent offences legislation in the ACT. The CLA-inspired changes better define violence, allow the media to cover cases, and make videoing…
Proposed new Sexual and Violent Offences law will not work, and will cause a procedural breakdown in the courts, says experienced barrister Ken Archer. Two other barristers are also highly critical, while Canberra Times Editor-at-Large Jack Waterford say…
Proposed new Sexual and Violent Offences law will not work, will cause a procedural breakdown in the courts, and will embarass the ACT Government, says experienced barrister Ken Archer. He contends the proposed legislation is rushed, biased and plain bad…