Federal Human Rights Protections Could Halt Our Descent Towards Totalitarianism
“A Human Rights Act is Australia’s absent foundational pillar, our missing link,” Civil Liberties Australia CEO Bill Rowlings makes clear. “And its absence affects every citizen, because we don’t know precisely where we stand in relation to our government.” Indeed, CLA...
Leg Sweep, Anyone? NSW Police Continues Reign of Excessive Force, Despite Rising Calls for Reform
A NSW police officer arrested an 18-year-old First Nations man with a disability on suspicion of two attempted break and enters last week. And as the officer walked his captor away, the teen dropped to the ground having a violent seizure,...
PJCIS: Major Party National Security Law Rubber Stamping Club’s Mandate to Broaden
Since 9/11, the Australian government has passed coming up on close to 100 pieces of national security/counterterrorism legislation, with bipartisan approval, that, along with enhancing the security state, has served to whittle away at the basic rights and liberties of...
The Political Climate Is Ripe for a Human Rights Act in New South Wales
Australia remains the only liberal democracy globally without rights protections enshrined in federal law. Indeed, until not so long ago, no bill of rights or Human Rights Act (HRA) existed at any level of government: that was until the often-pioneering...
Thorpe Exposes Inconvenient Truths Suppressed by the Voice Debate at the Press Club
One of the greatest travesties of the Voice debate has been its suppression of one of the most vital positions against the establishment of the advisory body, which posits that it will be a powerless and poor substitute for progressing...
“I Hope It’s Overturned”: Former Magistrate Heilpern on Revoking of Drug Driving Mistake Defence
The drug driving regime in this state, as in the rest of the country, has always been controversial, as the testing model used, which ultimately sees people charged and lose their driver licence, doesn’t test for impairment levels, like drink...
David Hicks-Style Plea Deal Could Be the Lifeline that Julian Assange Needs
US ambassador Caroline Kennedy told SMH on Monday that a plea deal could be on the cards in regard to Australian journalist Julian Assange, who’s been held in a UK maximum-security prison at the behest of the White House in prolonged isolation...
Officer Pulls Firearm on Activist: Disrupt Burrup Hub’s Jesse Noakes on Escalating Police Response
That a WA police officer felt empowered to draw his gun and point it at a 21-year-old climate defender seated behind the wheel of his car, and not being in the act of committing a crime, shows that the campaign...
Major Parties are In Cahoots in Terms of the Surveillance State and Warmongering
The Albanese government has passed new laws to reduce the level of independent oversight that covers this nation’s intelligence agencies, which, thanks to the earlier work of then home affairs minister Peter Dutton, sees some international agents gifted with the ability...
Australia’s Callous Deportation System Must End, as Danger Awaits Yet Another Deportee
Then immigration minister Scott Morrison oversaw the passing of legislation in late 2014, which strengthened the character test in section 501 of the Migration Act (Cth) 1958, so that residents of Australia have since been deported en masse, after being sentenced to...
