New laws proposed by the Department of Home Affairs would authorise the creation of a “dragnet database”, compiling images of innocent Australians – including children – from their drivers’ licences, identification cards and passport photos.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should remove unjustified limits on basic rights and freedoms in Australia, said the Human Rights Law Centre today. HRLC Director of Advocacy and Research, Emily Howie, welcomed the Australian Law Reform Commission’s report, Traditional Rights and Freedoms – Encroachments on Commonwealth Laws, that adds to the growing evidence of Australian laws that infringe on rights. Read More
The Citizenship Bill currently before the Australian Parliament is badly flawed and should not be passed, the Human Rights Law Centre said in its submission to the Parliamentary Committee investigating the Bill. Read More
Australia’s counter-terrorism and migration laws unnecessarily and disproportionately interfere with fundamental rights and freedoms and ought to be repealed, the Human Rights Law Centre has said in a submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) inquiry into “Traditional Rights and Freedoms”.
Read MoreProposed new data retention laws create significant risks that private information of Australians will be unlawfully accessed and misused, said the Human Rights Law Centre in a submission to the Senate inquiry into the draft legislation.
Read MoreIf Australia wants to pursue its own military drone program, far greater levels of transparency and rigorous safeguards are absolutely essential, the Human Rights Law Centre will tell the Senate's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee during its inquiry into Australia's potential purchase of its own drones.
Read MoreParliament should pass a proposed law to preserve and enhance the proper oversight of counter-terrorism and national laws that have serious repercussions for human rights.
Read MoreAustralia’s asylum seeker policies and counter-terror laws came under heavy scrutiny overnight at the United Nations in Geneva when Government officials were questioned by the UN Committee Against Torture.
Read MoreAustralia’s form is bad and getting worse when it comes to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, the United Nations will hear tomorrow.
Read MoreA broad coalition of Australia’s leading academics, media, human rights, legal and migrant organisations today called on the Australian Government to delay the passage of its proposed anti-terror laws to allow more comprehensive scrutiny of the legislation.
Read MoreThe most significant changes to Australia’s counter-terrorism laws in over a decade proposed under the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014 are extraordinary in nature and encroach on fundamental human rights, the Human Rights Law Centre has said in a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security on its review of the Bill.
Read MoreProposed amendments to the ASIO Act introduced into Federal Parliament today would ensure that refugees indefinitely detained on the basis of ASIO security assessments would have the same right to appeal those assessments as everyone else.
Read MoreThe election of a new Indonesian President presents the Australian Government with an opportunity to review its relationship with the Indonesian military.
Read MoreIt is essential that Australia retain robust oversight of the extraordinary powers granted to police and ASIO under Australia’s counter-terrorism laws, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should introduce laws that would minimise the risk of Australian policing or military assistance supporting human rights violators.
Read MoreThe rights of refugees shouldn’t be contingent on secretive, non-reviewable ASIO assessments, the HRLC has said in a submission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee.
Read MoreAustralia should come clean about its role in the controversial American armed drone program after two United Nations human rights experts called for an end to the secrecy shrouding the US program.
Read MoreProposed legislation for the G20 in Queensland would infringe fundamental human rights and stifle legitimate protest, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the Queensland parliament’s Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee.
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