Writer
Spencer Zifcak
Spencer Zifcak is Allan Myers Professor of Law at the Australian Catholic University, a former President of Liberty Victoria, and a Director of the Accountability Round Table.
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Spencer Zifcak. Co-opting the Judiciary: Counter-Terrorism Laws at Work
Regrettably, one matter that has drifted to the sidelines in Australian debates about the operation of counter-terrorism laws is that these laws consistently marginalise and undermine the role of the judiciary. Judicial power, and hence the rule of law, is being incrementally distorted and diminished. Counter-terrorism law continues to burst from the executive and the… Continue reading »
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Spencer Zifcak. UN Human Rights Council Weighs in on Australia
On 21st of March 2000, an Australian delegation appeared before the UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva. The Hon Philip Ruddock, then Minister for Immigration in the Howard Government, led the delegation. The meeting did not go well. Confronted by exceptionally well-informed and assertive questioning by the… Continue reading »
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Spencer Zifcak. Human rights inquiry and a Charter of Rights!
Tony Abbott and George Brandis always used strong rhetoric about the necessity to protect Australians’ traditional rights and freedoms. The reality under the Abbott government, however, was different. The rights of minority racial, religious, ethnic, refugee and environmental groups were relentlessly pared back. Those who stood up for human rights, like the President of the… Continue reading »
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Spencer Zifcak. Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights.
Fairness, Opportunity and Security. Policy series edited by Michael Keating and John Menadue. Do Human Rights Fit or Should We Just Forget About Them? Hard upon the ascent of violent terrorism in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere, and Australia’s first experience of terrorist crime in Martin Place, the Australian Government has been active in… Continue reading »
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Spencer Zifcak. The Martin Place Siege
I first came across Man Haron Monis, the Sydney siege gunman, in early 2013. The High Court of Australia had just handed down an important new decision on the breadth of the protection the Australian Constitution provides for freedom of expression. The facts of the case centred upon offensive letters sent to the parents of… Continue reading »
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Spencer Zifcak. Proportionality Lost: Australia’s New Counter-Terrorism Laws. Part 2
The Foreign Fighters Bill The second tranche of counter-terrorism legislation introduced by the Attorney-General, Senator Brandis, late last year was contained in the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill. This Bill (now passed into law) amended several Commonwealth Acts, most notably the Commonwealth Criminal Code. The primary purpose of these new laws is to enable… Continue reading »
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Spencer Zifcak. Proportionality Lost in Australia’s new Counter-Terrorism Laws. Part 1
The Attorney-General, George Brandis, crashed two major tranches of counter-terrorism law through federal parliament recently. As always there are two problems with such an approach: overkill and error. Both tranches demonstrate these deficits in abundance. It’s important to say that in Australia the threat of terrorist attacks is real. So is the danger posed by… Continue reading »
