Civil liberties and human rights priorities for the incoming government
The Federal Elections will be held on the 18th May 2019. In recent years civil liberties and human rights have come under unprecedented attack from federal governments in Australia. It is to be hoped that the incoming government will be more supportive of our liberties and rights and perhaps even give consideration to remedying some of these previous decisions.
In this spirit NSWCCL has conveyed to members of parliament and political parties our priorities for action by the elected Government and the new Parliament in the first term of the government.
We have focussed on 9 areas of action
- legislate a strong Human Rights Charter for Australia immediately
- establish a broad based National Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission with strong powers and the right to hold public hearings when that is in the public interest
- halt the excessive flow of National Security and Counter-Terrorism legislation and review the cumulative impact of the very large body of these laws on civil liberties, human rights and democracy in Australia
- act to better protect a free and independent media - and especially the independence and viability of the ABC
- work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to achieve better outcomes on their priority issues including: enshrine an indigenous Voice in the constitution, establish a Makarrata Commission, implement the Pathways to Justice recommendations
- respect the rights of Asylum seekers: end off-shore detention, implement the medevac policy on the Australian mainland in the spirit of the legislation; accept the NZ settlement offer
- protect merit appointments to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
- shut down the Witness K and Bernard Collaery Conspiracy Case or, if it continues, ensure that the court is open to the public and the media
- ensure more robust and effective privacy practices in the digital era, remove exemptions for political parties from the Privacy Act, legislate the right to sue for invasion of privacy, set up an internet regulatory body,
You can read the detail of our analysis and recommendations in the NSWCCL Priorities for the Incoming Government public statement.
We will be contacting the new Government and relevant Ministers after the election to continue our advocacy on these matters.
We invite you to raise them directly with the new Government. We also invite you to join us in working on our campaigns on these issues – become a member and/or an active supporter.
