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The Globalisation of Free Speech: A Race to the Top or the Bottom?
By Sarah Joseph Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations in support of anti-blasphemy laws. EPA/Justin Lane The meeting of world leaders at the United Nations has confirmed major faultlines over free speech. In the wake of the outrage prompted by The Innocence of Muslims, member States of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (“OIC”) are demanding…
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Wiping the slate clean: historic convictions for gay sex must be expunged
By Paula Gerber Most of the current media relating to gay rights focuses on marriage equality. But for some older gay men, another issue is even more important. Sex between consenting men ceased to be a crime in Australia between 1975 and 1997, with South Australia being the first state to decriminalise sodomy and Tasmania…
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Marriage equality defeat: where to from here?
By Paula Gerber The 98 to 42 defeat of the Marriage Equality Bill in the House of Representatives this week has almost been overshadowed by the circus that surrounded the lead up to the vote, including Liberal Senator Cory Benardi’s vile comments regarding bestiality, and Nationals Senator Ron Boswell’s offensive remarks about same-sex parents. But…
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Short and long videos from our 2012 Conference – Kerry Arabena on Indigenous Constitutional recognition
News has broken today that the Commonwealth Government has postponed plans for a Constitutional referendum to recognise Indigenous peoples in Australia’s Constitution. According to Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin, the decision was made because there is insufficient community awareness of the proposal. Kerry Arabena, who is Director of Research for the School for Indigenous Health at Monash…
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Social media, free speech and Innocence of Muslims
The responsibilities of social media companies over free speech By Sarah Joseph Protests, like this one in Pakistan, have spread over the Muslim world in response to an incendiary video depicting Muhammad that was posted on YouTube. EPA/Rahat Dar The global uproar over the YouTube trailer for Innocence of Muslims may have subsided, but the…
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law 