by Chris Merritt | Jul 5, 2024 | Chris Merritt, Commentary, Human Rights, Media Article
The latest push for a national charter of rights has provided a valuable lesson for charter supporters: they need to open their eyes to reality. Yes, the protection of human rights is an ever-changing challenge. But Australia’s performance on this measure is...
by Chris Merritt | Jun 21, 2024 | Chris Merritt, Commentary, Freedom of Speech, Media Article, Rule of Law Issue
With impeccable timing, Walter Sofronoff KC has blown the whistle on “narcissists and zealots” who he believes are threatening the rule of law. Sofronoff, who is a former president of the Queensland Court of Appeal, did not name anyone. That left his audience at a...
by Chris Merritt | Jun 6, 2024 | Chris Merritt, Human Rights, ICAC, Media Article
On September 25, 1991, when Gareth Evans was foreign minister, Bob Hawke’s Labor government made a series of promises on protecting human rights that the Albanese government seems determined to ignore. This says much more about the current government’s approach to...
by Chris Merritt | May 31, 2024 | Chris Merritt, Commentary, Human Rights, Media Article
Long before this country began its experiment with state-based charters of rights, Australia had a system in place for protecting our liberties that, in the view of some, needed to be improved.That goal is perfectly reasonable. Legal infrastructure can always be made...
by Chris Merritt | May 23, 2024 | Chris Merritt, Commentary, Freedom of Speech, Media Article, Rule of Law Issue
Last Friday, when the leaders of the legal profession assembled in Sydney’s Banco Court, they were marking one of the great turning points in the struggle for power in early Australia. Officially, they were there to mark the bicentenary of the NSW Supreme Court and...
by Chris Merritt | May 16, 2024 | Chris Merritt, Commentary, Freedom of Speech, ICAC, Media Article, Rule of Law Issue
The decision to subject Walter Sofronoff, KC, to a corruption inquiry raises issues of principle that do not reflect favourably on the government of the ACT. The core of the problem relates to the erosion of one of the great principles of the rule of law – equal...
