By Bill Rowlings, CEO of CLA Tasmania should have a Human Rights Act, its pre-eminent legal research body says. The Tasmanian Law Reform Institute on 30 April 2024 released a report making 21 recommendations and urging the state to become the fourth jurisdiction in Australia to adopt human rights legislation. The ACT since 2004, Victoria since 2006 and Queensland since 2020 already have human rights laws, with a total 42 years of experience in operating them. The TLRI’s report – A Charter of Human Rights for Tasmania? Update – reviewed and updated its 2007 report on human rights in Tasman ..read more

Four different public inquiries have been investigating problems around how Australia has handled the COVID-19 pandemic. One inquiry only recommends basing further detailed probes into lessons for the future on the basis of the human rights of Australians. The C-19 issue sits alongside key questions generally about whether police, prosecutors and the courts are letting Australia down. It is time for a national inquiry into justice: there has never been one. Other items in May include: Integrity of judges in Australia being questioned  Can you believe evidence given in court by police? Fo ..read more

Why federal human rights don’t ‘entrench racism’  By Dr Kristine Klugman, President of Civil Liberties Australia  Rebuttal of Quadrant article: Entrenching Racism as a Human Right, authored by Augusto Zimmermann and Gabriel Moens 17 April 2024 To these authors, the status quo is too avant garde. Their attitude to progress in social policies is best reflected in the moaning predictions of Hanrahran – “We’ll all be rooned.”* They view any change in the social order as a threat to their own positions of privilege as old white men.  They fear losing prestige and power.  Their d ..read more

The tabling date for a major report into Australia’s human rights framework has been postponed by two months, to 30 May 2024. The report, after 14 months’ analysis by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, is expected to detail the full benefits that could accrue by modernising and improving the framework. In particular it is likely to discuss how to avoid more illegal Robodebt claims, ancient fines resurrected by the ATO and similar bureaucratic fiascos. Better empowering citizens in the long run could enhance trust in parliament, politicians, government and Australian democracy i ..read more

By the end of the month, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus should have in his hands the report of the special parliament committee which has inquired into Australia’s human rights framework for the past year. As that happens, rights related to forensic quality and how genetic testing can be used against us are coming to the fore. The Defence Department is trying for the second time in a decade to restrict and control the communication rights of research scientists. And, in a fascinating twist, the High Court will soon be asked to consider whether missing parts turn a body into something else, leg ..read more

Human Rights in Australia – 3 February 2024 Campaigning for the rights of Australians The story of the struggle to enact human rights into Australian law, federally and in the states and territories, has been marked by prolonged agitation by interested community groups, exhaustive community consultation marathons and, rarely, actual legislation by governments. Why do people want to live under a Human Rights Act (HRA)? Because HRAs better protect the average, less-powerful citizen. If they believe their rights are ignored, they can in most cases challenge the excessive might and assumed never-e ..read more

February is a key month for human rights in Australia. Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights is finalising its report and recommendations after a year-long inquiry into the nation’s human rights framework. Chair Josh Burns is due to hand the blueprint for the future to the Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, by the end of March. Many issues in this CLArion will be top of mind as this report changes hands. They include treatment of Indigenous Australians, forensic disasters in laboratories and courtrooms, secrecy across government, and questionable cultures like those permeating police force ..read more

Considering the merits and legal aspects of cycle helmet legislation and fines or sentences in Victoria, Australia Author Colin Clarke In Victoria, the Magistrates’ Court, 393 charges of cyclists failing to wear an approved bike helmet were sentenced in the three years leading up to 30 June 2021. The most common sentence for a charge of this offence was a fine (46.1%, or 181 of 393 charges). In 9 cases a prison sentence was applied[1]. This study considers the evidence regarding requiring people riding bicycles to wear helmets on public highways and the basis of fines and legal action for not ..read more

CLA explained in detail in October to the parliamentary inquiry into rights precisely why Australia needed to create a national Human Rights Act, to achieve a ‘Fair Go’ for everybody and to help rebuild social capital and expand the national integrity network after years of significant stress. In examples of failed moral codes, the nation is paying Indonesian boat kids for our falsely classifying them as adults, just as Australia begins a new round of renditioning – kidnapping – asylum seeks to Nauru. In other developments: High Court wimps out of another key forensic science ruling Smartest ..read more

The first No Rights Without Remedy clauses in a Human Rights Act in Australia will soon become law. Anyone ACT resident who has a complaint about their rights being breached will be able to take a case for conciliation to the ACT Human Rights Commission. The breakthrough is establishing a model for a future national HR Act. Meanwhile (Walter) Sofronoff inquiries continue to dominate legal headlines: accusations of a missed core issue blight the Queensland forensics inquiry, while the former DPP suing over Sofronoff findings in the ACT will see a judge imported from Victoria to wrestle with som ..read more