Mr. Cope says, “The problem the government has is that so far science has been unable to establish a clear relationship between the amount of a drug in your system and your ability to drive. It is quite a different situation with alcohol where there is a clear correlation between the level of alcohol in your bloodstream and your capacity to drive. The government then is forced to introduce this draconian legislation.”
Read MoreThe Queensland Council for Civil Liberties has accused the Corrective Services Minister, Ms Judy Spence, of undermining the rule of law in her treatment of prisoners.
Read MoreIt is actions that should be the subject of criminal sanctions not indications of support or involvement in political organisations. All of the conduct which is alleged against the organisations to be proscribed which is said to justify that proscription could be the subject of an ordinary criminal charge.
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The exemption assumes that small businesses are unlikely to hold significant private information or that they are unlikely to disseminate it widely. But the discussion in the paper, particularly that related to small internet businesses, to the collectors of tenancy information such as real estate agents and similar in itself puts a lie to the notion that small businesses do not collect significant personal information. In some cases important genetic information may even be exempt from the application of the Privacy Act. Our view would be that small businesses should be the subject of the legislation but with the power given to the Privacy Commissioner to make public interest modifications.
Read MoreThe QCCL strongly opposes the authorisation of illegal conduct by police. The purpose of the police is to suppress criminal activity, not to encourage or create it. There is in our view no justification for any police instigation of any serious criminal conduct.
Read MoreThe Australian Council for Civil Liberties today welcomed the decision of the Queensland DPP (Leanne Clare SC) to release the Mulrunji Doomadgee file to the Queensland Attorney General so that an independent opinion can be obtained.
Read MoreWork Choices Decision Highlights Need for Human Rights Act: Mr. Cope President of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties says “The decision of the High Court in Workchoices case brings home the vast increase in commonwealth powers which have occurred particularly in the last 30 years. In doing so it also adds to the case for the Commonwealth Government to introduce a Human Rights and Responsibilities Act “.
Read MoreThe NSW Ombudsman in a report released in September this year after a 2 year inquiry found no evidence that the use of sniffer dogs disrupted street dealing in any sustained fashion. The evidence also showed that the use of police sniffer dogs didn’t reduce drug related crime. Nor did their use lead to any increase in perceptions of public safety.
Read MoreThe Council takes the view that nude beaches should be permitted so long as they are in secluded areas and are known and clearly marked as nude beaches. If necessary, the State Government or relevant local councils should take steps to designate nude beaches and to mark and publicise them appropriatel
Read MoreWe would be of the view that it would not be appropriate to make the de-identification reversible. This is because it opens up the opportunity for the de-identification process to be reversed for inappropriate purposes.
Read More“There is no rational reason at all to presume that a sex worker is incapable of being a good teacher.” says Mr Cope President of the QCCL
Read More“In a democracy people are entitled to try to persuade others to even the most extreme views so long as they do it non violently.”
Read MoreThe Queensland Council for Civil Liberties today welcomes the decision of the Queensland Government to introduce legislation outlawing the covert filming of people in private places engaged in intimate acts.
The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties endorses the view of Mr Alan Borvoy, General Counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association that ‘Citizens in a free country should have a presumptive right to get lost. We should be able to wander around without government keeping tabs on us.’
Read MorePoliticians and bureaucrats are participating in a cruel hoax by using recent terrorist outrages to justify the need for a National Identity Card, which will not stop terrorists but will bring us a big step closer to George Orwell’s 1984.
Read MoreQCCL believes problems within the mental health care landscape have led to a climate of inequity and injustice for people with mental illness. Problems such as the lack of supported accommodation services in the community and the broad failure to prevent people with mental illness entering correctional facilities are symptomatic of a larger theme of inequity across the entire health system. That is, the clear lack of funding and resources afforded to mental health care in this country.
Read MoreACCL President Terry O’Gorman said the poor human rights record of the Howard Government, especially its supine position towards the US over Messrs Hicks and Habib’s imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay, would guarantee a strong backlash against the Prime Minister if he moved to override the ground breaking ACT human rights legislation.
Read MoreThe Australian Council for Civil Liberties (ACCL) has criticised Catholic Church procedures which caused Archbishop George Pell to publicly out himself and then stand aside while Church authorities consider a 40 year old allegation of child sexual abuse against the Archbishop.
Read MoreThe Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (QCCL) has criticised the weakening of the external oversight powers of the proposed Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC).
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