The appalling and tragic attack on journalists at the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, has once again ignited a debate about the extent and limits of freedom of speech in Australia.
Liberty Victoria is deeply concerned by the content and tenor of comment on this issue in some segments of the media and more widely by certain community organisations.
The human rights group Liberty Victoria today called on the Federal Government to use its review of security laws to introduce a much higher threshold for access to telecommunications data and limit access to agencies directly responsible for national security and the investigation of serious crime.
The Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples has been accepting submissions as part of its duties to inquire into steps required for a successful referendum on constitutional recognition of Australia’s indigenous population.
Liberty Victoria has joined the chorus of criticism levelled at the Federal Government over its bullying of the Australian Human Rights Commission president, Professor Gillian Triggs.
It is a matter of great concern that, according to Professor Triggs’s evidence to the Senate estimates committee, she was told that the Attorney General required her resignation and that she would be offered other work with the government, if she agreed to resign as president of the AHRC.
Such a request strikes at the very heart of the independence of the Commission.
Liberty Victoria is alarmed at the Prime Minister’s response to comments by the United Nations that various aspects of Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers contravenes the UN Convention Against Torture.
“The Prime Minister’s assertion that Australians are ‘sick of being lectured to’ by the United Nations is yet another attempt to belittle the bearer of bad news without honestly acknowledging what is in the report,” said George Georgiou SC, President of Liberty Victoria.
An alarming trend has evolved in calls being made for tougher laws whenever a perceived or real problem of rising crime appeared, Liberty Victoria said today.
“Such is the case with recent suggestions that Victoria has a gaping ‘black hole’ in its laws, making it a choice destination for motor cycle gangs,” said Liberty President George Georgiou SC. “There is no black hole.”
