Stay up to date with the latest from the QCCL
The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (QCCL) is very concerned that the Australian Government has not yet introduced into Parliament the abovementioned Bill despite the publication over 2 years ago by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights of its report into its Inquiry into Australia's Human Rights Framework recommending that Australia enact a legislated federal Human Rights Act (HRA).
Read MoreOur position remains that it is safer to provide extremists with a peaceful outlet for their views and that the proper way to defeat those views is through debate and electoral politics, not criminal sanctions. While exposure to these views will undoubtedly cause distress to some members of the community, that is the price to be paid for living in a free society.
Read MoreThe assumption innate in the Bill is that allowing people to use deadly force to protect themselves and their dwelling will improve community safety and deter crime. However, outcomes of similar legislation in the USA show across the board that increasing legislative permissiveness of deadly force correlates with increased violent crime, unnecessary death, institutional racism, and no crime deterrence.
Read MoreThe Bondi beach terrorists, appear to have been hardline Islamists. Do we really imagine that had these phrases been censored, or all pro-Palestinian demonstrations banned, the Akrams would not have perpetrated their horror? To believe this is to refuse to take Islamist terror seriously.
Read More“Children, especially the teenagers that are the Bill’s primary subject, are to the relevant level capable of making their own decisions, and where a parent has not been proven to have incited or condoned a child’s misbehaviour, the child should be held responsible for it alone.”
Read MoreWe begin by noting what appears to be the irony of a conservative government introducing this type of legislation, since conservatives are usually associated with strong support for the rights of parents to choose how to bring up their children.
Read MoreModern policing apparently involves disrupting legal behaviour that makes people uncomfortable so the AFP told Parliament but in its letter to us it says something different…But surely we should believe what the AFP told Parliament?
Read MoreArguably, George Orwell’s most famous novel is ‘1984’. It is set in a dystopic future world ravaged by global and civil wars which is shroud in government surveillance. It is a fictional book. It should not be a play book for how the world might be today. It was a caution and one which we all ought to heed to.
Read MoreWhile move on orders could theoretically promote community safety, the flaws outlined above mean that, in practice, they promote a mere sense of it. In fact, the manner in which they are often issued leads to further harm, disproportionately made against marginalised groups, cementing adversarial relationships with the police, promoting intolerance and, ultimately, failing to address underlying social issues that lead to unfavourable conduct
Read MoreCitizenship is not a license that expires upon misbehaviour...The deprivation of citizenship is not a weapon the government may use to express its displeasure at a citizen's conduct however reprehensible that conduct may be.
Read More“ Criminalising chants with harsh jail terms in respect of the biggest public protest issue since Vietnam is up there with other excesses of the Bjelke -Petersen government, “ Mr. O’Gorman said.
Read MoreThe QCCL condemns the statement of the police minister Mr Purdie that “the hate speech laws would criminalise phrases that led to people being murdered at Bondi” as not only unsupported by any evidence but as tending to undermine the moral responsibility of the bigots who perpetrated the mass murder at Bondi.”
Read MoreCitizenship is not a license that expires upon misbehaviour. Could a citizen be deprived of her nationality for evading tax or murder? And one of the basic rights of a citizen is to return home,” says QCCL President Michael Cope
Read More
This Bill with its current poorly researched and consultation non existent background will inevitably have consequences in practice that have not even been apparently considered by the closed door policy formulation process
Read MoreThe fundamental principle of freedom of speech in Australia, the UK and the US is that “ causing offence “ is an inevitable result of maintaining freedom of speech principles and rights.
Read More
The Council has, at all times, been opposed to the disenfranchisement of prisoners. The concept of the civil dead no longer has any place in our law. Prisoners are human beings and ought to be treated with dignity. They are in prison as punishment not for punishment.
Read MoreThe Bill will fundamentally rework and expand hugely hate speech laws as well as having the 2026 equivalent of the 1950s ban of the Communist party which was struck down by the High Court. It is simply performative politics.
Read MoreThe atrocities at Bondi necessitate a response that will address the causes of violence and increase harmony. The NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Liberty Victoria and Queensland Council for Civil Liberties condemn the proposed Bill due to its remarkable impact on human rights and civil liberties, and because there is no evidence that it will make any of us safer.
Read MoreJustice Wilson’s report was published in June 2023. Whilst your government has been in office for only just over 12 months, we have no doubt that the bureaucracy has been working on this topic since the report was released. In our submission this matter requires urgent attention.
Read MoreThe QCCL does not endorse the tenets of national socialism in any way. However, we have concerns about members of a criminal law enforcement agency taking action to ‘disrupt’ the lawful conduct of members of the Australian community because the conduct is denominated a ‘threat to social cohesion.’
Read More
