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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…
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Government seeks to ramp up terror laws yet again
By Adam Fletcher Australia’s ever-expanding anti-terror laws were in the spotlight again last week when the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (JCIS) tabled its report on the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2015. It recommended the Bill be passed, subject to a long list of amendments (20 in all). The report gives…
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Australia found to have breached the human rights of David Hicks
By Sarah Joseph The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) released its reasons in Hicks v Australia on February 16, 2016, in which it found that Australia had breached David Hicks’ right to be free from arbitrary detention. While the decision represents a measure of vindication for Hicks in the face of ongoing hostile disdain from the…
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Making commercial surrogacy illegal only makes aspiring parents go elsewhere
By Dr. Paula Gerber When many people hear the word “surrogacy” their immediate reaction is to think of the plight of Baby Gammy, abandoned in Thailand by his intended parents. Yet stories like this do not reflect the experience of hundreds of Australians who travel overseas every year to start a family through compensated surrogacy.…
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Philip Morris loses plain packs battle, but the war continues
By Professor Mark Davison Just prior to Christmas, 2015, the Australian government received the gift of a decision that Philip Morris Asia’s Ltd’s action pursuant to the Bilateral Investment Treaty between Australia and Hong Kong against Australia’s measures for plain packaging of tobacco was not within the jurisdiction of the tribunal. The facts leading to…
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Do we need a new Human Rights Commissioner? Yes, but it’s complicated…
Adam Fletcher Tim Wilson has just announced his resignation as human rights commissioner to seek Liberal Party preselection for the federal seat of Goldstein. Wilson resigned from the party in 2013 to work at the Australian Human Rights Commission and is now heading back into the political fold. So the question now is: does Australia…
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law 
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