Stay up to date with the latest from the QCCL
Evidence given by a former Queensland Homicide Detective at this week’s Whiskey Au Go Go bombing inquest that verballing allegations against police were “what criminal lawyers did in those days” is a tired old almost 50 year refrain by senior former Queensland Police trying to rewrite history.
Read MoreIt is this Council’s position that the monitoring role by the CCC is ineffective both in respect of individual cases and in dealing with trends in relation to complaints against police. While high level corruption or other serious police offending is investigated and prosecuted from time to time by the CCC all other cases are handed back to the QPS with a so-called monitoring role by the CCC. It is submitted that Queensland should adopt the New South Wales procedure for investigating complaints against police namely that there should be a standalone body separate from the QPS and the CCC to investigate complaints against Police.
Read More“The government keeps on telling us that the powers will come to an end one day, but it will not tell us in advance in what circumstances it says it will no longer need the powers. This is not the approach of an open and accountable government.”
Read More“With the vast majority of the population vaccinated in a way which is overwhelmingly effective at preventing serious illness or hospitalization and effective treatments, including the Pfizer one which is 89% effective, it is time to allow people to make their own assessment of how they want to spend their time and the risks involved”.
Read MoreThe Council has repeatedly called on the government to publicly identify the criteria which it will use to decide that the state of emergency is no longer required. We note it has again failed to do so.
We have maintained throughout this crisis the emergency powers are justified so long as they are necessary, proportionate and are in place for the absolute minimum period. It cannot be said at this time that the case has been made for the continuation of these emergency powers.
Read MoreOne area of inequality is that of social status. Anti-discrimination law is directed at addressing inequalities of social status. It seeks to deal with the fact that some people in our society are denied “goods on the basis of the widely held view that certain facts about them, such as race, gender, or religion make them less entitled to those goods than others are. The fact people are subject to a widely held view of inferiority of this kind- of being less entitled to important goods and opportunities, and less suitable for valued forms of personal relationship-is a distinctive feature of discrimination
Read MoreWe recognise the importance of ensuring security of Australians’ and their freedoms. The rationale for national security law comes from the importance of ensuring that freedoms are protected. We are concerned to ensure that the ‘forest isn’t lost for the trees’ in this reform process and that the guiding and predominant principle in this reform is that our national security framework serves to protect the freedoms that ought to be enjoyed by all Australians.
Read MoreNational security and surveillance powers in Australia ought to follow the introduction of a Federal and enforceable human rights framework, recommended by a succession of law reform commissions and bringing Australia into line with other democratic nations. The protection of Australians’ human rights and associated freedoms is the rationale for the existence of national security legislation and therefore must be the paramount consideration for the use of intrusive powers. Adopting the text and spirit of the guiding principles for reform contained within the Discussion Paper, we consider that it would be appropriate to have the objects of a simplified Electronic Surveillance Act coupled with clear requirements for the use of national security and surveillance powers expressly reflecting Australia’s obligations pursuant to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This would instill public confidence by requiring law enforcement agencies (and Court’s issuing warrants) to have an express object of human rights compliance together with a decision making criteria that directly requires contemplation of human rights implications
Read MoreThe legislation that would enable a regime of identity matching exists only in the form of the Identity-matching Services Bill 2019 and the Australian Passports Amendment (Identity-matching Services) Bill 2019 (collectively, “the Bill”) has to our knowledge not been passed.
Read MoreThe Civil Liberties Council today backed calls for a public inquiry into integrity issues in the Queensland Government and the Queensland Public Service, particularly into the Public Service Commission’s alleged meddling in the operations of the Office of the Integrity Commissioner
Read MoreThe social media platform is simply the provider of a space, a forum, in which people make contributions. They are not like for example the editor of a newspaper- controllers of what content goes on their sites.
Read MoreThe Internet is the new public square. So much of public debate, discussion and exchange of information now takes place on the Internet. On that basis, the doctrines of freedom of speech must be applied to the Internet.The rights of speakers on the Internet need to be protected. Another fundamental aspect of the right to freedom of speech is the right to do so anonymously. History is replete with examples of people having exercised their right of speech then being subject to reprisals by government or individuals
Read MoreAs John Stuart Mill argued the preventive power of the State is, “far more liable to be abused, to the prejudice of liberty, then the punitory function; for there is hardly any part of the legitimate freedom of action of a human being that would not admit of being represented, and fairly too, as increasing the facilities for some form or other of delinquency.”
Read More“Whilst the laws will provide a significant improvement over the current position they do not go far enough” says Michael Cope QCCL President
Read MoreThe right of freedom of speech, dictates that the media must be given the widest possible latitude to seek and publish truthful speech about matters of public interest so that the audience is best able to form their beliefs and desires.
Two overarching issues arise from gaps in the ACT human rights legislation: lack of access to justice for breach of a human right and consequent lack of accountability within decision-making bodies. These are inextricably linked to the two purposes of human rights legislation as set out above.
Read MoreReligious people are entitled to laws which remove practices that restrict the range of opportunities available to them. But they are not entitled to special accommodations for their preferences. The distinction is between limits on the range of opportunities open to people and limits on the choices they may make between the opportunities available to them which are a consequence of the interaction between laws of general application and their religious preferences.
Read More
