Legal Rights Project
Ideas & Liberty / Legal Rights Project
The Institute of Public Affairs has established the Legal Rights Project to stand up for the fundamental legal rights of every Australian. Despite the crucial role these rights play in safeguarding our liberties they are often ignored for the sake of political expedience. Increasingly, Australian governments are guilty of removing our right to silence, reversing the onus of proof, granting sweeping discretionary powers to regulators and serious breaches of the rule of law. These legal rights form the bedrock of a peaceful and prosperous society and the Legal Rights Project has been set up to launch a powerful defence of them.
News
Anything you don't say may be used against you
The first sentence of the press release announcing the New South Wales Government's changes to the right to silence read: "The scales of justice...
The left is misguided when it uses a bill of rights to distribute wealth
How protected are our rights to free speech? Two rulings of the High Court last week have brought the question into focus. The court upheld an...
Freedom fighters will save the HRC
The Australian Human Rights Commission must correct its bias towards a left-wing human rights agenda by moving to appoint freedom commissioners....
Shameless use of tax to fund rights attack
The Gillard government's proposed anti-discrimination overhaul - which would make it unlawful to discuss almost any political idea in the workplace...
Anti-discrimination laws: an act of confusion
Even when discussing complex pieces of legislation, it's worth trying to get basic concepts right. The Gillard Government's proposed...
Memo to government: having an opinion is not a crime
By now we ought to have learnt this lesson: don't let lawyers write law. At first glance, the Gillard government's proposed changes to federal...
Publications
IPA condemns attack on right to silence
"Moves by the New South Wales government to remove the right to silence in the state are an outrageous attack on fundamental legal rights," said Simon Breheny, director of the Legal Rights Project at free market think tank the Institute of Public...
Gillard backdown on anti-discrimination laws a victory for free speech
The Institute of Public Affairs, the organisation that led the public campaign against the Gillard government's proposed changes to anti-discrimination laws, said today that the decision to withdraw the legislation was a victory for freedom of...
Conroy media regulation is government licensing in all but name
"Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's proposals for media regulation are a de facto licensing scheme for the print media and a fundamental threat to freedom of the press," said Chris Berg, Research Fellow with the free market think tank the...
