Keep up to date with ALRC news and media.
For media queries, please contact comms@alrc.gov.au.
02.06.2006
Telemarketing heads list of privacy concerns
Friday, 2 June 2006: Telemarketers who intrude into home life was the most common privacy grievance raised by callers on the first day of a National Privacy Phone-In, said the Australian Law Reform Commission. Almost 75% of callers raised concerns about the volume and persistence of unsolicited calls they received from telemarketers, said ALRC President …
Read more30.05.2006
National phone-in to probe privacy pitfalls
Tuesday, 30 May 2006: Sick of the telemarketer’s call just as dinner is about to be served? Wondering how advertisers got hold of your name and address? Concerned that electronic links might make sensitive health information more vulnerable? Bewildered about an apparent negative credit rating? Annoyed to find a stranger taking photos of you sunbaking …
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 more10.04.2006
International law reformers ‘peering over the horizon’
Monday, 10 April 2006: What will our legal and regulatory systems need to do to manage the rapid advances in the sciences and in information technology? How will those societies facing an HIV/AIDS crisis cope when almost an entire generation is wiped out by the epidemic? What should be the regional and international response if …
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 …
Read more02.03.2006
Sedition law review must strike a delicate balance
Thursday, 2 March 2006: Concern to protect the security of Australians here and abroad must be balanced against the fundamental rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association, in the Australian Law Reform Commission’s new inquiry into controversial federal sedition laws. ALRC President Professor David Weisbrot said that Australians place a “very high premium …
Read more08.02.2006
Complexity, courtroom games must go in evidence shake-up
Wednesday, 8 February 2006: Australia must have a single set of streamlined, flexible evidence laws that will protect witnesses as well as parties, recognise the importance of confidential relationships, and curb legal ‘games’ in the courtroom, Australia’s peak law reform agency said today. “It is crazy that we currently have so many different evidence law …
Read more30.01.2006
Protecting privacy in a wired world: new ALRC inquiry
Tuesday, 31 January 2006: Do Australians have enough privacy protection for health, credit and other sensitive personal information? Who can gain access to it? Can it be traded, sold or provided to others? Should privacy laws go beyond data protection to provide rights not to be photographed or subject to electronic surveillance? These questions are …
Read more09.12.2005
Australia ‘well placed’ to lead world in protecting human genetic information
Friday, 9 December 2005: Australia will be well placed to meet the challenges posed by rapid advances in genetic science and technology, with the Australian Government accepting most of the recommendations of a landmark report on genetic privacy and discrimination. Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) President Professor David Weisbrot said he was “delighted with the Government’s positive and comprehensive …
Read more01.12.2005
Better parliamentary procedures required to support law reform: Justice Kirby
Thursday, 1 December 2005: Australian jurisdictions—federal, state and territory—need to improve parliamentary procedures for responding to law reform reports if the law is to keep pace with social and technological change, the Hon Justice Michael Kirby said today.The problem of how to secure governmental attention to law reform is an “institutional defect” that represents a …
Read more