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Keywords: Qc

  • AUSTRALIA

    The Bill of Rights power struggle

    • Jonathan Campton
    • 03 July 2009
    1 Comment

    While day one of the National Human Rights Consultation hearing ended with a growing hope for the rights of the oppressed, day two, dominated by politicians and lawyers, diluted this hope in legalism, fear and falsehoods.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Informed solutions to Australian slavery

    • Michael Mullins
    • 22 June 2009
    1 Comment

    Controversry over the documentary Stolen at this month's Sydney Film Festival underlined how difficult it is to even acknowledge that slavery exists. Suppression of information about slavery in Australia allows the slave trade to continue.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Getting smart, not tough, on bikies

    • Moira Rayner
    • 07 May 2009
    4 Comments

    No 'group' can be assumed to be full of criminals. Men form friendships out of common, innocuous interests. Laws introduced in NSW interfere with civil liberties and are likely to be ineffective at addressing organised crime.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    What Frank did

    • Frank Brennan
    • 21 April 2009
    4 Comments

    Frank Costigan was a man of such moral authority that you would not need to speak to him, just think,  'What would Frank do?' When Frank was being wheeled in for surgery, he completed reading the morning papers, then waved to his children.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Eulogy for Francis Xavier Costigan QC

    • Frank Brennan
    • 20 April 2009
    2 Comments

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  • RELIGION

    Euthanasia: doctors' conscience vs patient rights

    • Frank Brennan
    • 02 March 2009
    2 Comments

    The medical pledge to do no harm no matter what the cost effective benefits, and the conscience of the doctor are still key elements in any law which promotes good medicine. –Frank Brennan, addressing the Medico Legal Society of Victoria

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  • RELIGION

    Human rights without God

    • Frank Brennan
    • 27 February 2009
    3 Comments

    Professor Martha Nussbaum's recent book Liberty of Conscience provides a rich textured treatment of the place of religion in the public square. If God is taken out of the picture, it may be difficult to maintain a human rights commitment to the weakest and most despised in society.

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  • RELIGION

    Neither Scott nor Amrozi deserves death

    • Frank Brennan
    • 17 October 2008
    31 Comments

    We should feel deep regret when the bullets pierce the hearts of the Bali Bombers. Neither just nor useful, the death penalty is immoral. Prime Minister Rudd is well positioned to contribute to its abolition.

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  • RELIGION

    Killing people for killing people

    • Frank Brennan
    • 17 October 2008
    9 Comments

    'For me, talk of the death penalty evoked the young, frightened faces of Scott and Emmanuel, as well as the laughing, haughty faces of Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra.' Full text from Frank Brennan's session on 'Killing People for Killing People', Ubud Writers Festival, 17 October 2008.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Watching the watchdogs

    • Moira Rayner
    • 18 June 2008
    2 Comments

    Bodies such as the NSW Crime Commission and Victoria's Office of Police Integrity have proven either ineffective or vulnerable to influence themselves. Ultimately, we the people are responsible for keeping these bodies accountable.

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  • RELIGION

    Lawyers' role in a democracy

    • Frank Brennan
    • 29 November 2007

    The power of the State can be exercised capriciously and unaccountably when the “Don’t ask; don’t tell” approach to government is immune from parliamentary, judicial or public scrutiny. It is the task of lawyers to make it more difficult for politicians to take this approach.

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  • RELIGION

    Loose reasoning on death penalty - Frank Brennan

    • Frank Brennan
    • 25 October 2007

    We think it is wrong for foreign states to impose the death penalty on Aussie drug traffickers and drug mules. But we apply different reasoning to non-Australians facing death at the hands of the state. The practical, hands on, Aussie approach often plays fast and loose with moral reasoning about what is right and wrong.

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