The Law Council Rocks Traditional Freedoms

On 9 October 2015, the Law Council of Australia lodged its submission in response to the interim report of the Australian Law Reform Commission as part of the ALRC’s Inquiry into Traditional Rights and Freedoms — Encroachment by Commonwealth Laws.

This well-researched and excellently written submission unfolds the way in which the common law and the great international human rights instruments which commenced with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on 10 December 1948, work in a synergistic manner to preserve the rule of law and the important rights that are the hallmark of a properly democratic society.

The submission also looks at the way in which the Commonwealth Parliament has, indeed, systematically, in the name of border protection and national security, clawed away at those rights and freedoms.

Hopefully, the Inquiry, this excellent initiative of the Commonwealth Attorney-General, Mr. Brandis, will, in its final report, blaze a trail by which those freedoms can be restored.

The submission, along with other submissions of the Law Council, on a broad range of topics, may be found here: http://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/lawcouncil/index.php/library/submissions .

Stephen Keim SC