Onus of proof should not be reversed
In commenting on proposed new unexplained wealth law, CLA agrees with Attorney-General George Brandis: reversing the onus of proof is not good practice, and should not be countenanced.
While the MPs holiday, we must work
While MPs fly, sail and ski off to their holidays, they leave behind masses of work for voluntary bodies over the break. Oh, and they are getting paid, we aren’t.
Stating objects key to Patents Act
IP Australia must give proper weighting to community rights in deciding the formal ‘objects’ for the Patents Act. Australia must also be free to address clear societal need.
Standing up for right to boycott
Early in any government, maverick Ministers are a danger. CLA has written to Senator Colbeck, reminding him the right to free speech trumps corporate commercial demands
CLA warns over privacy limitations
In a rushed process, the Senate’s SLAC committee (Senate Legal And Constitutional affairs) is examining a privacy amendment that may have significant effect on our online rights. CLA recommends broadening a definition so that ‘harm to identity’ includes…
PM’s new COAG law would repress freedoms
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is proposing all states adopt new laws against bikies that would potentially repress every Australian’s freedom of association. A future federal, state or territory government could selectively use a law, supposedly targetin…
Give the terminally ill freedom to choose
People who are terminally ill – but also disabled – should not be discriminated against, CLA says in a submission on a voluntary assisted dying law for Tasmania. Lead author Richard Griggs explains why rights over our own bodies are uncontroversial, and…
CLA asks Privileges to end censorship…of CLA
CLA has been censored by a Parliamentary Committee, which is refusing to publish online a submission by CLA. The reason, the committee says, is that the CLA submission reflects poorly on a public official. But the CLA submission is merely reporting what…
Govt to penalise people with genetic defects
The government’s Bill to prevent discrimination is introducing new discrimination into how people with genetics defects are treated. Either inadvertently or deliberately, the government has omitted a key clause which was in the old Act. If it remains ou…
Reject discrimination Bill: Do no harm!
A Senate Committee should reject totally the deceitfully-named ‘Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012’, CLA says. It is not needed, has dumb and dangerous definitions, would create more problems than it solved, and would effectively censor the…