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'First warning: if you're going to be serious about a Human Rights Act, make sure that your government departments are sufficiently resourced and encouraged to produce meaningful statements of compatibility. Second warning, especially in a unicameral legislature: make sure that your parliamentary committee on human rights has sufficient muscle and status to arrest the progress of any bill until it has been thoroughly scrutinised for human rights compliance.' Frank Brennan's remarks at the Fringe Conference of the 2016 Queensland ALP Convention.
Through the rough and tumble of politics, Fraser helped the country find true north on issues relating to race and human rights. His friendship with Gough Whitlam has been one of the great signs in Australian public life that human decency and shared commitment to noble ideals can transcend even the most entrenched political animosities cultivated across the despatch box. May he rest in peace.
'Even without the political static which is drowning us all out down there in Canberra, there is real doubt whether the Gillard bluff 'Don't get on a boat because you might end up in Nauru' can do what the Howard bluff could not deliver.' Full text from Fr Frank Brennan SJ's Law and Justice Oration at the Law and Justice Foundation 2012 Justice Awards Dinner, Parliament House, Sydney.
Fr Frank Brennan SJ's paper 'Reflections on the death penalty on the tenth anniversary of the Bali Bombings' presented at the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and Australians Against Capital Punishment Dinner, Red Hill, Brisbane, 12 October 2012, Commemorating the 10th World Day Against the Death Penalty.
Who is this Assange? Is he a messianic hero, larrikin, renegade, terrorist, or just a very naughty boy? As a psychologist my interest lies in history, as this is frequently re-enacted in our lives. And Julian Assange had a very unusual childhood.
There is no getting away from the public's interest in a human rights act. But the Labor Government has baulked at the recommendation for such an act. While many Australians enjoy adequate human rights, we can do better.
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.
'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.
Gay equality is a touchstone by which to measure politicians' moderate credentials. Turnbull's support is not totally altruistic: the inner-Sydney seat he represents has one of Australia's largest gay and lesbian populations.
Cardinal George Pell opposes a bill of rights in any form, but there are pros and cons. Some judges are tempted to extend their reach, running ahead of the public in forcing a social agenda.
The text is from Professor Frank Brennan's 2008 Institute of Justice Studies Oration from 22 May 2008.
Most Australians no longer think about the nuclear threat. Yet the editors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said in January 2007 that the minute hand of the 'Doomsday Clock' had moved from seven to five minutes to midnight. Australia has a vital role in the global survival strategy.
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