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Keywords: Human Rights Charter

  • RELIGION

    Vilification laws fuel disharmony

    • Frank Brennan
    • 11 May 2009
    2 Comments

    While it is inherently racist for a person to claim membership of the best race, it is no bad thing for a religious person to claim membership of the one true religion. That is what religious people do.

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  • RELIGION

    Bikies have rights too

    • Frank Brennan
    • 02 April 2009
    3 Comments

    We need to be on our guard against laws and policies enacted in the name of the public interest but with insufficient consideration for the human rights of the minority.

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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

    Maintaining the UN's moral gold standard

    • Frank Brennan
    • 10 December 2008
    5 Comments

    Sixty years on, it is fashionable to describe the Declaration of Human Rights as a peculiarly western, individualistic conception. It was not. Now is the time for Australia to discuss how best to make the State attentive to the still, small voice of conscience.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Terrorism trial's legacy of fairness

    • James Montgomery
    • 09 December 2008
    5 Comments

    A landmark ruling in Victoria's 'terrorism trial' found the accused were subjected to oppressive conditions beyond what prisoners on remand should endure. It's as if they were to be punished prior to the outcome of the trial, irrespective of the jury verdict.

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  • RELIGION

    Totalitarian abortion law requires conscientious disobedience

    • Frank Brennan
    • 24 September 2008
    25 Comments

    The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne has said Catholic Hospitals will not abide by Victorian legislation that compels health professionals to participate in abortions. Civil libertarians are well advised to support this stand, regardless of their moral views.

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  • RELIGION

    The right not to kill

    • Frank Brennan
    • 08 September 2008
    22 Comments

    Victoria's 'groundbreaking' Abortion Law Reform Bill dispenses with informed consent provisions that protect vulnerable women, and neglects the right of health professionals to conscientious objection. Surely the right to freedom of thought, conscience and belief should count for something.

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  • RELIGION

    Catholic teaching affirms freedom that may annoy pilgrims

    • Frank Brennan
    • 03 July 2008
    50 Comments

    The rights of free speech and assembly should not be curtailed because World Youth Day pilgrims might be annoyed or inconvenienced. The NSW regulation is a dreadful interference with civil liberties, and contrary to the spirit of Catholic Social Teaching on human rights.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Democratic Indonesia's lesson for Australia

    • Saeed Saeed
    • 13 June 2008
    1 Comment

    Kevin Rudd's visit to Jakarta today and continued inter-cultural dialogue could do much to enrich Australia's friendship with Indonesia. Indonesia's labelling as a basket case of corruption and terrorism denies the significant strides the country has taken since its democratic reformation.

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  • RELIGION

    Getting the balance right after the 2020 Summit

    • Frank Brennan
    • 26 May 2008
    1 Comment

    The text is from Professor Frank Brennan's 2008 Institute of Justice Studies Oration from 22 May 2008.  

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Burying Australia's inhumane refugee laws

    • David Manne
    • 19 May 2008
    5 Comments

    Australia's refugee regime may represent the Western world's worst practice. The Government has abolished flawed and dehumanising temporary protection visas, but a more substantial review is required to ensure asylum seekers enjoy equal protection under Australian law.

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