Right-Wing Extremists: The Real Terrorism Threat
The horrific massacre in two Christchurch mosques which was allegedly perpetrated by Australian white supremacist Brentan Tarrant has led to calls for a renewed focus on right-wing terrorism. On 15 March 2019, Tarrant allegedly slaughtered 49 defenceless people, including children,...
Laws Empowering Government to Revoke Citizenship May be Unconstitutional
The Morrison government announced late last year it would be passing legislation to lower the threshold for stripping Australians suspected of terrorist activity of their citizenship. The Federal Labor Party has now signalled its intention to oppose the measure after...
Government Limits Power of Courts to Impose Alternatives to Imprisonment
Section 5(1) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (‘the Act’) makes clear that a court “must not sentence an offender to imprisonment unless it is satisfied, having considered all possible alternatives, that no penalty other than imprisonment is appropriate.” This is the statutory...
Sydney Man Sentenced to Death in Iraq
An Australian man has asked the Australian Government for assistance after being found guilty of terrorism offences in Iraq and sentenced to death by hanging. Former labourer Ahmed Merhi travelled to Syria in 2015 where, he says, he engaged in...
Victoria Increases Police Powers and Removes Legal Safeguards
The recent weeks, the bulk of Victoria’s Justice Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Bill 2018 has been enacted, which the state government claims will better protect the community against the threat of terrorism. The changes include new powers for police to detain...
Government Seeks Power to Intercept Phone Communications
“The best way to take control over a people and control them severely is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way, the people...
Diminishing Rights: An Interview With the Muslim Legal Network’s Zaahir Edries
US District Judge Denise Casper recently found that the US Department of Homeland Security’s policy of searching electronic devices at the international border without a warrant could be in breach of the fourth amendment. The Massachusetts federal judge ruled in March...
The War on Journalism – How 9/11 Changed Everything
For more than two and a half decades, Peter Greste worked as a foreign correspondent in some of the world’s most volatile warzones. Born in Sydney, he left Australia in 1991 to pursue a career that saw him from report...
Facial Recognition Glasses: Next on the NSW Police Wish List?
In recent years, police in New South Wales have been the beneficiaries of hundreds of laws which increase state control at the expense of legal safeguards and protections - from laws which broaden police powers of arrest, to those which...
Turnbull Refuses to Rebuke Colleague for Posting Anti-Muslim Videos
Malcolm Turnbull continues to refuse to rebuke Liberal Senator Jim Molan for posting two propaganda videos by the extreme right-wing anti-Muslim ‘Britain First’ on his Facebook page. The videos purport to depict Muslim men committing acts of violence on religious or...
