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Tony Abbott’s contempt for international human rights law
Tony Abbott’s open contempt for international human rights law Sarah Joseph, Monash University Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has penned an essay in Quadrant defending his government’s stance on national security. It betrays an extraordinarily open contempt for international human rights law. Mr Abbott starts by saying that he is proud that his government was…
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Criminal Convictions for Consensual Sex
Imagine a world in which you could be convicted of a crime merely for having sex with another consenting adult. It sounds like the sadistic, dystopian construct of a fictional fanatical regime, but the fact is it’s reality for people in (at last count) 76 countries today. In Mauritania, Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and…
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‘Dollar Dave’ and the Reserve Bank: a tale of art, theft and human rights
By Stephen Gray This year marks the 50th anniversary of Changeover day: when Australia swapped from pounds to the new decmal currency. But the “C” in Changeover day might equally stand for Copyright day, for it marks the first Aboriginal copyright dispute. In February 1966, Adelaide’s Advertiser newspaper revealed that the Reserve Bank had not sought…
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What does Human Rights Law say about Gun Control?
Opponents of gun control in the United States have a powerful ally in domestic law, because their Constitution contains a right to ‘keep and bear arms.’ Since the Heller Supreme Court case in 2008, this has been interpreted as an individual right which can trump legislative gun bans. In the context of the 2016 Presidential…
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The ALRC’s Freedoms Inquiry – Time for a ‘War’ on Rights Encroachments?
Last week the Attorney-General tabled the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC’s) Report Traditional Rights and Freedoms – Encroachments by Commonwealth Laws. This Final Report from the ‘Freedoms Inquiry’ follows on from an Interim Report produced in August last year. You can read our full thoughts on that report here, but in summary we questioned the…
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law 
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