Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

Tag: human rights

  • Undermining the Migration Act’s Protections

    By Adam Fletcher Later today the Australian Government plans to put the Migration Legislation Amendment (Offshore Processing and Other Measures) Bill 2011 to a vote in the House of Representatives. So, what does this controversial Bill actually say? The Bill undermines several protections built into the Migration Act 1958, which, with Australia’s unique policies of…

  • Rwanda – free speech for some

    by Marius Smith Rwanda’s President, Paul Kagame, took to Twitter this week to talk to his 28,000 followers in a barely comprehensible blizzard of abbreviations, acronyms and exclamation marks.  Over a period of six hours, he derided his critics in the press, discussed the News of the World phone hacking scandal and lampooned calls for…

  • Andrew Bolt, Free Speech, and Racial Intolerance

    by Sarah Joseph In Eatock v Bolt, decided on September 28, the (in)famous conservative columnist and commentator Andrew Bolt was found to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) (the “RDA”) in writing two particular articles published in 2009, “It’s so hip to be black” and “White fellas in the black”.  In the articles,…

  • Troy Davis, the death penalty, and international human rights law

    by Sarah Joseph Troy Davis died late on Wednesday 21 September, executed by lethal injection in Jackson, Georgia for the murder in 1991 of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.  His execution provoked worldwide outrage, given that clear doubts over his guilt existed. Seven of nine witnesses had recanted from their testimony at his trial,…

  • The Migration Legislation Amendment (Offshore Processing and Other Measures) Bill 2011

    Last Friday (16 September), the Government released an exposure draft of the Migration Legislation Amendment (Offshore Processing and Other Measures) Bill 2011 to “give effect to its commitment to restore power to the executive enabling the removal of irregular maritime arrivals for third country processing.” The ‘purposes’ section of the Migration Act 1958, which this…

  • SARC wants to keep Victorian Charter – so long as it’s not a Charter anymore

    by Sarah Joseph On 14 September, the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee (SARC) of the Victorian Parliament delivered its review of the state’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities.  While SARC does not recommend repealing the Charter, the profoundly disappointing report includes a recommendation that the Charter be gutted so as to deprive it…