03.05.2010
ALRC submission to inquiry into the provisions of the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 and Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Bill 2010
Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, 3 May 2010The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Committee’s inquiry. The ALRC will restrict its comments to the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 (Cth), drawing on its experience from the major inquiry into sedition laws in …
Read more23.12.2008
Government to implement ALRC’s Sedition Report
Australian Law Reform Commission President, Professor David Weisbrot, welcomed the Government’s positive response to the ALRC’s 2006 report Fighting Words: A Review of Sedition Laws in Australia (ALRC Report 104), announced today by the Commonwealth Attorney-General, the Hon Robert McClelland MP. The ALRC made 27 recommendations for reform of the law in this area, and …
Read more20.03.2007
UWS Symposium: Sedition, free speech and the war on terror
Prof David Weisbrot AM, President, Australian Law Reform Commission, 20 March 2007 Free speech or ‘sedition’? Prohibitions on encouraging violence Introduction In its November 2005 package of anti-terrorism laws, the Government introduced a set of five ‘modernised sedition offences’, including: three offences that prohibit ‘urging others to use force of violence’ to overthrow the Constitution or …
Read more13.12.2006
Fighting Words: A Review of Sedition Laws in Australia (ALRC Report 104)
ALRC Report 104 (tabled 13 December 2006) is the final report of the ALRC’s Inquiry into sedition offences contained in the Commonwealth Criminal Code and related offences in Part IIA of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).Historically, sedition law has been used to suppress political dissent, punishing speech that is critical of the established order. Stakeholders, …
Read more13.09.2006
Support for anti-violence measures, not ‘sedition’
13 September 2006: Media commentators, satirists, artists and activists should be safe from controversial sedition laws—even if their ideas are unpopular and confronting—as long as they don’t urge the use of violence, under changes to federal law proposed by the Australian Law Reform Commission. The ALRC report, Fighting Words: A Review of Sedition Laws in …
Read more05.07.2006
Sedition
In this Inquiry, the ALRC examined the offence of sedition as amended by federal Parliament in 2005.Historically, sedition law has been used to suppress political dissent, punishing speech that is critical of the established order. Stakeholders, including politicians across party lines, the media, and a Senate inquiry expressed concerns that sedition laws introduced by the …
Read more29.05.2006
Review of Sedition Laws (DP 71)
DP 71 (released 29 May 2006) is the second consultation document produced during the course of the Sedition Inquiry.View DP 71 in HTML on the AustLII website.
Read more29.05.2006
‘Sedition’ should go, focus on urging violence
Monday, 29 May 2006: The term ‘sedition’ should be removed from the federal statute book, and offences urging force or violence against the government or community groups should be redrafted, the Australian Law Reform Commission said today. Releasing a Discussion Paper (DP 71) on federal sedition laws, ALRC President Professor David Weisbrot said the proposals …
Read more20.03.2006
Review of Sedition Laws (IP 30)
IP 30 (released 20 March 2006) is the first consultation document produced during the course of the Sedition Inquiry. View IP 30 in HTML on the AustLII website.
Read more20.03.2006
Are sedition laws necessary and effective?
Monday, 20 March 2006: An independent review of federal sedition laws is asking whether the controversial laws are necessary and effective. Australian Law Reform Commission President, Professor David Weisbrot, called for public comment today with the release of a community consultation paper Review of Sedition Laws (ALRC Issues Paper 30). The federal government ‘modernised’ the …
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