Submitted by Liberty Victoria on Mon, 31/07/2023 - 17:03
Victoria’s broken bail laws need urgent fixing. These harsh laws result in the unnecessary detention of many persons accused of committing low-level minor offences and disproportionately affect First Nations people and women. In no uncertain terms, the Coroner’s Court has found that these laws are a “complete, unmitigated disaster” which breaches the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities.
Liberty Victoria is grateful for the opportunity to make this submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) review of the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Prohibited Hate Symbols and Other Measures) Bill 2023 (Cth) (the Bill).
It is often said by those who oppose a federal Human Rights Act that there is no need for one. They argue that the human rights of Australians are more than adequately protected by the common law and statute. Anyone remaining of that view will be hard pressed to retain it should they read the comprehensive report on the subject prepared by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) entitled ‘Traditional Rights and Freedoms: Encroachments by Commonwealth Law’ (December 2015).
Submitted by Liberty Victoria on Tue, 11/07/2023 - 10:29
Liberty Victoria is strongly opposed to the Human Source Management Act 2023 (Vic). We are committed to its repeal. We are also deeply concerned by the closure of the Office of the Special Investigator.
Submitted by Liberty Victoria on Wed, 07/06/2023 - 10:26
Liberty Victoria is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2023 Voltaire Human Rights Award is human rights and Raise the Age advocate Sophie Trevitt.
The Voltaire Human Rights Award honours a person who has made an outstanding contribution to human rights, free speech, and/or civil liberties, with particular emphasis on progressing freedom, respect, equality, dignity, and action.
Liberty Victoria is deeply worried by the emergence of far-right extremism, but opposes the ban of the ‘hakenkreuz’ for the reasons set out in our joint submission to the PJCIS. We understand that the display of Nazi symbols is highly confronting and offensive, particularly to the Jewish community and other minority groups that have been targeted by fascist ideology.
A CDO is a court order that keeps a person who has committed a terrorism offence in prison beyond the end of their sentence. It is made on the basis of perceived risk of future terrorism offending, but there is no valid tool to assess that risk.
