COSTS ON ACQUITTAL
Annual General Meeting (October 1964).
'The Council for Civil Liberties shall press for the enactment of a provision that in all criminal cases, whether upon summary trial or by indictment, the presiding Judge, Magistrate or other judicial officer, may order that the defendant in the event of being duly acquitted and not either bound over or detained, shall be entitled to have his costs of defence (reasonably incurred) paid out of the fund provided for that purpose.'
IMMIGRATION
CM. 20.7.64.
'The Council for Civil Liberties in accordance with its principles is firmly opposed to the refusal of entry permits on purely political grounds. In particular, it holds that entry into Australia should be granted to authorised political delegates from overseas seeking to attend a meeting or congress held in Australia under the auspices of any legal Australian political party.'
NATURALISATION
Annual General Meeting (October 1964).
'The Council for Civil Liberties considers the present Government policy enabling Europeans to become naturalised after five years'; residence in Australia, but extending non-European residential qualifications to fifteen years, to be discriminatory, and strongly recommend that non-European migrants be given the right to become naturalised after five years. It is not intended that non-European students be included in this recommendation, but that they be given a separate legal status.
N.B. The substance of this resolution became law in 1966.
Letter of 10th September 1964 to Minister for Immigration quoted in Newsletter No. 4.
'We, therefore, suggest that serious consideration be given to extending the provisions of the Nationality and Citizenship Act to include:
- the right of a migrant to apply for and be given information revealing the grounds for the rejection of his application for naturalisation; and
- the right of a migrant to lodge an Appeal to be heard by either an independent commissioner or a tribunal, (in camera, if necessary) who will decide whether the grounds for the refusal are justified and are substantiated.'
POLICE PROSECUTORS
CM. 20.7.64.
'We are in favour of the abolition of police prosecutors as they presently exist in New South Wales.'
POLICE
Letter of 7th July 1964 to Premier Renshaw quoted in Newsletter No. 3.
'The integrity of the Police Force can only be maintained whilst vigilant action is taken, by those responsible, to purge the Force of those members who bring discredit upon it from time to time. A great deal of public disquiet can exist if no action is taken in such cases and the policeman concerned is allowed to carry on in the execution of his duty as before.'
