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Reviewing these activities confirms my view that we are trying to carry out an ambitious task with quite inadequate resources, a task which is well beyond the capacity of a small group of concerned people attempting to cope in their spare time on a voluntary basis with difficult matters often requiring considerable research and expertise…
Read MoreThe current state government shows blithe disregard for the separation of powers and contempt for its critics such as this resilient and wily Council. As a republican former Attorney-General, I am reluctant to offer advice to the present, monarchist Attorney-General Jarrod Bleije; but, out of respect for the current Queen who is after all a constitutional monarch, the Attorney really should approach Buckingham Palace to seek a renaming of the Queen Elizabeth II Supreme and District Courts Building to the Stuart Kings Courts building. This would reflect more accurately his recently legislated power to use executive power to override the Judiciary. Courts can be such a nuisance to cocky governments.
Read MoreA review of the discussion document indicates that the only research that has been undertaken to prepare it is into opinion polls. It is a document designed to pander to some of the worst prejudices in the community
Read MoreBoth industrial organisations and corporations are economic actors pursuing their economic interests in the economic market and the political market.The interests of shareholders and the members of industrial organisations are in this regard indistinguishable from one another. There is no legitimate basis for subjecting one set to a series of burdens and controls which do not apply to others. Or to put it in a positive way, there is no reason why one set of individuals, that is members of industrial organisations, should have more rights than shareholders.
Read MoreThe Council views some human rights and civil liberties as so fundamental that they should never be curtailed. These include habeas corpus and the prohibitions against slavery, torture and secret trials. John Stuart Mill also accepted that free speech was a right not subject to a simple balancing analysis.
Deputy Premier’s attack on the CMC is a worrying portent for the future of the CMC.
Read MoreThis Wednesday night 19 September, the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties will host a professional debate about euthanasia at The Irish Club, Brisbane.
QCCL vice president Terry O’Gorman said three guest speakers will discuss all the issues surrounding voluntary euthanasia, physician assisted suicide, assisted dying, palliative care and pain relief that causes death.
Read MoreMichael Cope, President of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties, said today, "The Council condemns the government’s proposal to amend the Civil Partnerships bill to remove the right to a public ceremony and replace it with a form of registration as a hollow sham and an insult to gay and lesbian couples”
Read MoreThe purpose of CCTV is said to be protecting the public. In the Council’s view tracking down illegal parking does not fall into this category.
Read MoreThe CMC review of police discipline and conduct is merely tinkering at the edge of the problems with Queensland’s police complaints process, the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties said today.
Read MoreDr Alex Wodak, Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, said that it is now clear that 'Medically Supervised Injecting Centres (MSICs) provide great benefit to drug users and communities at relatively little cost'.
Read MoreThe Queensland Council for Civil Liberties has today called on the Commonwealth Government to cancel its school chaplaincy program in the light of today’s report on the program by the Ombudsman which provides evidence supporting claims that it is being carried on in breach of the principle of the separation of the church from the state.
Read MoreThe Council welcomed the comprehensive report by the CMC noting that it recorded that a bad situation had gotten better. The Council supported the recommendations of the CMC but argued that the report did not go far enough.
Read MoreThe starting point of any censorship system in the Council’s submission should be that as we live in a free society adults should be free to determine what they watch
Read MoreThe Council has a long standing concern about the use of CCTV particularly as part of the increasing level of surveillance of us all by both public and private bodies.
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The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties today criticized the CMC's announcement that it would take over responsibility for investigating deaths in custody.
Read MoreWhy do people use drugs? The question should be amplified and rephrased: what makes some young people use drugs that are officially declared dangerous and illegal in contrast to the majority who drink and smoke socially approved substances? The most obvious and natural answer is because they like them. We do not generally look for obscure, psychological or sociological explanations of most drug use in the community. People take alcohol, smoke tobacco, drink tea and coffee because they enjoy the effects of these substances
Read MoreIn the end, whilst we acknowledge that there may be certain efficiency benefits to your proposal we do not consider that those efficiency benefits outweigh the risks that flow from the collection of this permanent piece of private data about a person.
Read MoreThe Civil Liberties Council today described as farcical the CMC’s announcement that it would not conclude its investigation into the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee until sometime next year.
Read MoreThe Bligh government stands condemned for its confused and confusing approach to the issue of same sex surrogacy as opposed to adoption by same sex couples.
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