18.09.2014
Freedoms Wiki
In the last enews we talked about the tasks that lie ahead for the ALRC Freedoms Inquiry. The first task is to identify Commonwealth laws that encroach—justifiably or not—on traditional rights, freedoms and privileges.
To assist in creating this catalogue, the ALRC has set up a public wiki—a set of collaborative online documents that ALRC staff and external participants can contribute to.
Consultation is a vital part of the law reform process, so the ALRC has always used crowdsourcing—but mainly through meeting with people and inviting submissions. This is our first wiki, and we are very excited by the prospect of working collaboratively with stakeholders and members of the public on this ambitious survey of Australian law!
About the wiki
The ALRC wiki is set up in Google docs. Anybody can view the documents, but to add to the document you will need to contact the ALRC Web Manager (or phone on 02 8238 6305) for access as an editor. You will then need to log-in with a Google account. If you prefer, you may instead email your list of laws to freedoms_wiki@alrc.gov.au—we will add them to the catalogue for you.
See full instructions for using the Wiki >>
At this stage, we are not looking for comment on whether these laws are justified. We want the catalogue to include both laws that are appropriately justified, and laws that may not be. There will be an opportunity to explain whether you think the laws are justified when we call for submissions later in the Inquiry. We are only looking at Commonwealth legislation—not state or territory legislation.
You can keep up with the Inquiry by following us (@AusLawReform) on Twitter. You can follow and join conversations about the Freedoms Inquiry using the hashtag #ALRCfreedoms.