Posts tagged Elections
Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill
Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill

The government's role as an intellectual arbiter of the truth in social and political debate must be constricted, if not completely denied.  This is based on a deep skepticism about the good faith of those controlling the government.  That skepticism flows from the fact that decisions about what is true or false, when made by those in power, are bound up with political perspectives of those in power. In that regard the government is not impartial when it comes to contested disputes about the facts underlying political life.  This is not meant to be some conspiracy theory.  It derives from the fact that in the words of Lord Acton “All power tends to corrupt.” 

Read More
SubmissionQueensland Council for Civil LibertiesFree speech, Federal Government, Elections
Local Government Electoral Expenditure Caps Bill 2022
Local Government Electoral Expenditure Caps Bill 2022

Restrictions on electoral expenditure are akin to the rules of debate in a meeting which restricts the length of speeches and provide for rights of reply. In the context of political speech, the restrictions are essential to fairness, in that the arms race between various political players is continuously increasing the cost of elections, which results in an increasing number of people being excluded from the political process. Capping expenditure would also help to create closer financial equality between candidates at elections

Read More
SubmissionQueensland Council for Civil LibertiesElections, Free speech, criminal law
Proposed local government electoral expenditure caps scheme
Proposed local government electoral expenditure caps scheme

The expenditure cap for third parties should strike a fair balance between respect for freedom of speech and association, and the importance of preventing third parties exercising disproportionate influence in elections and being used to circumvent expenditure caps. The current proposal is that each third party can spend the same amount as all the mayoral candidate caps combined. This is absurd. This system permits every third party the same influence, in expenditure terms, as all the mayoral candidates combined. It is hard to see how this system would not inevitably lead to the exact outcome the system purports to be trying to avoid – that being the complete drowning out of other election participants’ voices.

Read More
SubmissionQueensland Council for Civil LibertiesElections, Free speech, freedom of association
MEDIA RELEASE VOTER IDENTIFICATION LAWS SHOULD BE REJECTED - 26 November 2013
MEDIA RELEASE VOTER IDENTIFICATION LAWS SHOULD BE REJECTED - 26 November 2013

Voter Identification Laws Should be Rejected: Last week the Queensland Government introduced a Bill which will require voters to produce identification before voting at state elections. Michael Cope, President of the QCCL, said today, “Voter identification laws will unjustifiably disenfranchise the elderly, the young, the poor and the disadvantaged.”

Read More
Media releaseQueensland Council for Civil LibertiesElections, Voter Identification Laws