A cascade of more than 50 Acts tackling ‘anti-terrorism’ – short-term reactions to then-perceived threats – have engulfed Australian society since 2001. Over the next decade or so, there’s a need to re-balance the legislation to better reflect the co…
Worst civil liberties transgressions of ’07
What were the worst American civil liberties trangressions in 2007? Here’s what the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says…and there’s a lot of resonance with civil liberties violatons in Australia – this article by Richard Ackland in the Sydney Mo…
Haneef: How a Minister’s discretion failed the nation
The Australian newspaper – not traditionally anti-police or security services – has summed up how seriously ex-Minister Andrews failed Australia by "…engaging in a cynical attempt to ramp up the Howard government’s security credentials".…
CCL censorship battle proved the Lady was no tramp
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties helped to break the back of archaic Australian censorship laws by taking the fight to Sydney’s streets, which were then rife with police corruption. The Liberating of Lady Chatterley and Other True Stories is the tale…
Boosting human rights is a progressive move, CLA says
The move by the Stanhope Government in the Australian Capital Territory to further strengthen Australia’s first human rights legislation is a progressive and positive step, CLA says. The right to take legal action in the Supreme Court as a remedy to an a…
CLA WA to facilitate panel to review CCC
There’s a pressing need to review how WA’s Corruption and Crime Commission is using its sweeping powers, the West Australian State Convenor of CLA, Peter Dowding, told an ABC TV Stateline audience in late November. He joined media representatives in requ…
Call for pact to make Senate work better
There’s a need for a cross-party pact to ensure the Senate functions properly in future, no matter what the party split in the Senate is, CLA says. Read the media release calling for all parties to announce their support for such an agreement.
Media…
Let there be light
CLA strongly supports transparent and accountable government that, in part, is enabled by strong freedom of information legislation. CLA has welcomed the tabling of a Bill in the ACT Legislative Assembly that addresses the increasing tendency to reduce a…
Australians to have net access censored, and cut
The Australian Government has introduced a Bill to allow the Federal Police to block or censor web content. The police, with limited oversight by courts, would decide what Australian’s can read, see or hear on the net. CLA believ consensus approach to ac…
Tassie Speaker’s credibility gets pulp treatment
The Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, Mr Polley, is trying to ban someone from Parliament and its precincts for six months…but it appears he doesn’t have the power to do so and, if he did have, he’s chosen the wrong premiss.
Speaker Mic…