Acknowledging then that the government has a legitimate interest in combating fire ants, that interest must be weighed against the fundamental interests protected by the right to privacy and particularly access to private property in the form of a person’s house.
Read MoreIssues relating to free speech have become more intense in recent years, given the increasing moral panic about social media and related issues.
Read MoreIt is positive to see that reviews and inquiries into Australia’s surveillance landscape have reached similar conclusions to our own - that is, surveillance power lack proper transparency and oversight, and that is particularly concerning given Australia’s lack of enforceable human rights laws.
Read More"It is unjust to treat equals unequally; it is equally unjust to treat unequals equally." – Aristotle The “Adult Crime, Adult Time” legislation is unjust as it treats children equally to adults with whom children are unequal.
Read MoreOur central submission is that the current definition should not be expanded. Terrorism should not be seen as a ‘catch-all’ term for serious crimes. The criminal law, with its established principles of criminal justice and procedure, already accommodate crimes which may constitute terrorism. Any further extension of the definition of terrorism would intervene in this system. It would enlarge the application of a wide set of powers that are both repugnant to civil liberties and inconsistent with these established principles of criminal justice
Read MoreIt is submitted that the entire scheme of Controlled Operations in the PPRA should be incorporated into the Bill for the same reasons that the Controlled Operations regime was originally incorporated into the PPRA.
Read MoreIn democratic polities, intelligence organisations have been permitted to operate in secret and without the public accountability mechanisms that apply to police because they neither produce evidence, nor exercise coercive powers. Division 3 departs from this principle. It empowers ASIO, at the request of a cabinet minister, to force a legally innocent person to answer questions
Read MoreThere is a clear link between access to information and the capacity of citizens to secure basic rights.[1] In particular it is clear that if citizens are to be in a position to participate fully in a democracy it is necessary that they have access to the knowledge and information to do so.[2] The Council’s view is that a representative democracy necessitates an informed citizenry. For this reason, freedom of information must be granted to the maximum extent possible.
Read MoreIn our modern era, social media is absolutely essential to freedom of speech. Both children and adults have a right to freedom of speech. No doubt the right of children to speak is not as broad as that of an adult. No doubt, children are entitled to protection from some of the harms that might flow from freedom of speech. But they do have a right to access social media to communicate with their friends and to seek information.
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Sex offender registries create a false sense of security because most perpetrators of sex offences are known to their victims or their families. In 2015 around 75% of sexual assault victims knew their offender, while one third of victims were assaulted by a family member
The Council accepts that it is a fundamental human right of all persons particularly children to be protected from sexual assault. However, proposals such as Daniel’s law are most likely to have the opposite effect and do harm to innocent people such as victims”, says QCCL President Michael Cope
Read MoreIn our submission no changes should be made to the rights of victims which undermine the rehabilitation of the prisoners. The only consequence of that would be to create more victims, which surely is not the intention of the review let alone the government.
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“The Segal report is a rather woolly document - long on assertions and claims for power to be given to the Envoy but short on argument and facts.”
Read More“Inconvenience or offence, as opposed to violence, experienced by some people cannot justify a law which needlessly exposes some of the most disadvantaged people in our community to the loss of liberty and the heightened risk of serious injury or death” said Mr Cope
Read MoreThis letter responds to our letter of 16 April 2025. We are disappointed the Minister has doubled down on this anti free speech position. Unlike the Minister we are consistent eg we opposed the laws banning the swastika
Read MoreThe QCCL submits that there is no version of a PPD scheme that limits human rights in this way which could possibly be justifiable in accordance with section 13 of the Human Rights Act
Read MoreAssociations of workers, consumers and residents must have legal standing as a remedy to regulatory capture and lackadaisical administration of laws designed to protect them from the powerful. This fundamental principle cannot be abrogated because of the alleged importance of some particular government interest. To the contrary the pressure that will come on the government to “do whatever it takes” to get have a successful games makes the risk of bad decisions and hence the need for a check on government even greater;
Read MoreThe current project by the Commission ‘ticks all the boxes’ in relation to the primary principles guiding Law Reform Commissions namely independence, transparency, accessibility and coherence.
Read More“Whatever you think of people who perpetrate domestic and family violence, the idea that police could turn up to your property and have the power to throw you out of your own home without any intervention of a court should scare every Queenslander,” said QCCL President Michael Cope.
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