Stop expecting detail in the Constitution
The ‘no detail’ argument for a ‘no’ vote on the Voice referendum is at best misconceived, and at worst dishonest. The simple position is that the Australian Constitution is.
A letter to Sydney Law students
Getting arrested is certainly one way for someone like me to get people’s attention, ‘someone like me’ being a white, middle class, male law professor; we don’t get arrested,.
As police power increases, scrutiny of those powers diminishes …
One day in the middle of spring last year a member of the New South Wales Police Force grabbed me from behind, kicked and pushed me to the ground,.
NSW’s anti-discrimination law is confusing and outdated
An anti-discrimination law is, in effect, a code of conduct. An employer, an HR manager, a school principal, a shopkeeper, or hotelier needs to be able to pick up.
How not to do religious discrimination reform
Public consultation is at the heart of sound law reform. With an issue as complex and sensitive as the Coalition government’s proposed religious discrimination bill, effective public consultation is.
Who says Australia needs a national Human Rights Act?
It’s been a while. It must be time for another crack at a Human Rights Act for Australia. If at first (second, third, fourth, etc.) you don’t succeed, try,.
Talking up ‘common law rights’
When the Australian Law Reform Commission published its interim report on its “freedoms” inquiry, I wrote that the government was on the back foot. Attorney-General George Brandis had asked.
Plenty of Australia’s laws limit common law freedoms
In its interim report on what Attorney-General George Brandis calls “traditional rights, freedoms and privileges” (common law rights), the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has given Brandis – and.
Generous limits on free racist speech
Early in 2014, federal Attorney-General George Brandis released a proposal to significantly amend our law against racial vilification, Sections 18C and 18D of the Racial Discrimination Act, on the.
Race hate law reform is free speech on steroids
Holocaust denier Fredrick Toben would never have breached federal racial vilification law under the Federal Government’s proposed changes – that’s how weak they are. Senator George Brandis cannot be.