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ASIO Security Assessments can now be reviewed, but not by the courts
By Adam Fletcher The Government announced this week that it has chosen former Federal Court Judge Margaret Stone to be the Independent Reviewer for Adverse Security Assessments. Justice Stone is the second Independent Reviewer appointed by the Government, following the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor appointed in April last year. Obviously the roles differ, but they…
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M47 Case – High Court Rules that Refusal of Refugee Protection is not ASIO’s Job
By Adam Fletcher On Friday the High Court handed down its decision in the case of Plaintiff M47/2012 v Director-General of Security and Others. The full decision is dense and complex, and runs to more than 130 printed pages, but the High Court has a useful summary on its website. One of the issues in…
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The Right to Silence Takes a Beating in NSW
By Adam Fletcher* Earlier this month, the NSW Government announced that it is going to restrict criminal suspects’ right to silence to ‘tilt the scales of justice towards common sense.’ A Bill will be introduced by October to amend the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) “to allow juries and the judiciary to draw an adverse inference…
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The Human Rights Treaty Body System – Growing Pains or Terminal Decline?
By Adam Fletcher On 22 June, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, issued a report on the ‘treaty body’ system – that is, the system of committees whose task is to oversee implementation of the UN human rights treaties. This system is the closest thing we have to a world human rights…
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Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers’ Report (1): The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
By Adam Fletcher On Monday the Prime Minister’s Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers delivered its hotly‑anticipated report on ‘how best to prevent asylum seekers risking their lives by travelling to Australia by boat.’ Therefore, at the outset the mandate of the panel was to come up with a plan of deterrence. The issue of sinking…
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Is the Max Brenner protestors’ court victory an Australian legal watershed?
By Adam Fletcher The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel is controversial on at least two levels. First, it targets businesses, which some (including the Victorian Government) see as an illegitimate means of political protest. Secondly, it targets Israel, which some see as inherently anti-Jewish. This is not an article about the merits…
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law 
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