Latest articles and news by Liberty Victoria

  • President's report: advancing Liberty in 2010

    Liberty Victoria Updates
    Post date: December 24, 2009
    Michael Pearce SC This is my first President’s column in my second term as President. I was re-elected unopposed at our Annual General Meeting held on Monday 23 November 2009. Also elected to the executive were: Jamie Gardiner, Vice-President; Anne O’Rourke, Vice-President; Tim Warner, Treasurer;... Read more

  • The myth of Australia as a land of the 'fair go'

    Liberty Victoria Updates
    Post date: December 24, 2009
    Stephanie Batsakis Australia prides itself on being the land of the ‘fair go’ and yet from an international perspective, this reputation has been tarnished by our recent human rights record. Persistent human rights violations across both Howard and Rudd governments demonstrate that a federal Human... Read more

  • Playing politics with people's lives

    Liberty Victoria Updates
    Post date: December 24, 2009
    Jessie Taylor Since Liberty’s last newsletter, there has been a significant escalation in the game of asylum seeker policy. Perhaps it all started with a phone call from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to his Indonesian counterpart, asking that Indonesian authorities intervene to prevent a boatload of... Read more

  • The reality of the global refugee crisis

    Liberty Victoria Updates
    Post date: December 24, 2009
    Dr Larry Stillman Public perception of refugees causes razor sharp public anxiety with every boat arrival. Yet after rigorous scrutiny by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or Australia’s Immigration Department, the vast majority of asylum seekers can in fact be classified as genuine refugees.... Read more

  • Allowing the voices of victims to be heard

    Liberty Victoria Updates
    Post date: December 24, 2009
    Natalie Simpson Legal representation for victims in international criminal trials is an interesting and emerging field of international criminal law currently being developed through the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Governed by Article 68 of the Rome Statute, legal representation of... Read more

  • Expanding the franchise in Australia

    Liberty Victoria Updates
    Post date: December 24, 2009
    Kate Mallinson The second Electoral Reform Green Paper was released for comment on September 23. Since 1918 the Commonwealth Electoral Act has only been rewritten once, in 1984, and consequently much of language contained in the Electoral Act is outdated, complex and in need of reform. The Green... Read more

  • Is the e-Health Initiative healthy?

    Liberty Victoria Updates
    Post date: December 24, 2009
    Tim Warner Should you visit a Medicare health practitioner in the second half of 2010, you will be asked to identify yourself from a list of persons who have similar names and birth dates. This will be the start of a new medical records system called the e-Health Initiative, designed to allow the... Read more

  • An end to law-and-order auctions in NSW?

    Liberty Victoria Updates
    Post date: December 24, 2009
    Michael Pearce SC In a surprise but welcome move, a senior NSW politician has called for an end to the law-and-order auctions which have prevailed in NSW politics since the 1980s. And this was not just any politician but the NSW Shadow Attorney-General Greg Smith SC MLA. In an article in the... Read more

  • What rights? Police powers and the Charter

    Liberty Victoria Updates
    Post date: December 24, 2009
    Dr Alice de Jonge When the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act was enacted in 2006 it appeared that a new era had arrived in the relationship between government and citizens in Victoria. The Act was described by Professor George Williams as marking ‘a decisive departure, at least in... Read more

  • WATCH the 2009 Alan Missen Oration

    Liberty Victoria Updates
    Post date: December 15, 2009
    2009 Missen Oration from hugh Crosthwaite on Vimeo.

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