Ian Cunliffe

Lawyer, formerly senior federal public servant (CEO Constitutional Commission, CEO Law Reform Commission, Department of PM&C, Protective Security Review and first Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security; High Court Associate (1971) ; partner of major law firms. Awarded Premier’s Award (2018) and Law Institute of Victoria’s President’s Award for pro bono work (2005).

Ian's recent articles

Optus privacy policy vague, full of holes

Optus privacy policy vague, full of holes

I was a midwife at Optus conception and birth. So it gives me no joy to watch Optus privacy predicaments. As a long time privacy law practitioner, I have a particular insight into Optus responses to the massive haemorrhage of the personal data of half the Australian adult population.

Optus must be prosecuted for Privacy Act breach

Optus must be prosecuted for Privacy Act breach

Late September data privacy muscled its way onto the centre stage courtesy of Optus and some as yet unnamed hacker.

The road ahead for a more workable Parliament.

The road ahead for a more workable Parliament.

The focus of political commentary since the election has largely been on the balance of power in the House of Representatives and on the make-up of the new Government. Labor has a very narrow majority in its own right in the House. So what is the road ahead for Labor?

What does Scott Morrison believe?

What does Scott Morrison believe?

Departing Liberal Senator, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells told the Senate just before the election was called that Morrison has no moral compass. Referring to Morrisons publicly espoused adherence to evangelical religion, the Senator said that Morrisons actions conflict with his portrayal as a man of faith: He has used his so-called faith as a marketing advantage, she said. Harsh words from a fellow Liberal about her leader.

Beware internet defamation: Australian law's worrying turn

Beware internet defamation: Australian law's worrying turn

An Australian defamation court case has made it a whole lot more risky for publishers or anyone, for that matter to allow third-party comments on their social media pages.

Ministerial standards exposed by Christian Porter's 'blind trust'

Ministerial standards exposed by Christian Porter's 'blind trust'

Until last week, blind trust seemed to mean the faith that many Australians put in their political leaders. However we have been better educated by the revelations that Christian Porter was given money by a blind trust.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute rorts Wikipedia

In an important but shocking article in Michael West Media (MWM) on 21 August, journalist Marcus Reubenstein has exposed a pernicious practice by which supporters of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) have assiduously removed all negative criticism of ASPI from Wikipedias ASPI page, and added fawning praise of ASPI which renders the page, in Wikipedias judgment, to be ranked C on the Quality Scale, which is the lowest ranking for an established Wikipedia page.

Australia's diabolical foreign interference laws

Australian laws criminal penalties of up to 20 years in gaol on anybody who engages in foreign interference. But the way the law is written makes it very difficult to determine precisely what activities the prohibition extends to.

Acting on health advice

Acting on health advice

In the absence of corroborating evidence, I do not believe Scott Morrison.

Stalinist-style prosecutions of Witness K and Bernard Collaery

Stalinist-style prosecutions of Witness K and Bernard Collaery

Following the Bernard Collaery and Witness K matters, occasionally there are little glimpses into the strange Stalinist world within which the Commonwealth beavers away to discredit two distinguished Australians. The Senate Estimates hearing on 29 May provided such an opportunity.

Who just gives away billions? Is this what the Collaery case is all about?

Who just gives away billions? Is this what the Collaery case is all about?

Many of us have heard about the prosecution of Bernard Collaery on the say-so of Christian Porter. But very few know much more than that it is an almost secret trial against the former ACT Attorney-General. Unfortunately, John le Carr is no longer with us to tell this intriguing tale.

Of bars, prosthetic legs and statements that are no longer operable

Whether General Angus Campbell was aware of the Fat Ladies Arm bar or not, fact is, it was allowed to operate, and its mere existence points to a broken culture within the ADF.

The role of the ADF and its core business model

The role of the ADF and its core business model

The core business of the ADF will always be the application of lethal violence in the defence of our values, sovereignty and interests, according to the newly installed Assistant Defence Minister, Andrew Hastie, speaking to military personnel. This statement is dangerous and wrong. The only person whose core business is the application of lethal violence is an executioner; a hangman. Thankfully, we dont have hangmen anymore.

Good fortune and marketing briefs can't save Morrison from his recent fumblings

Good fortune and marketing briefs can't save Morrison from his recent fumblings

Seemingly blessed by that invaluable gift that Machiavelli called fortune, Scott Morrison has overcome significant setbacks to achieve Australias highest office. He overcame his dismissal as CEO of Tourism Australia, the loss of initial preselection for his seat of Cook by 82-8, to oust the pre-selected candidate on the basis of allegations against that person which, according to Wikipedia, proved to be false. Morrison was able to stand back from the Dutton challenge to Turnbull as Prime Minister, but then emerge with the top prize.

Scott Morrison's rule of law

Scott Morrison's rule of law

Lawyers around the country are shaking their heads in trying to understand just what the Prime Minister means by the 'Rule of Law'.

It is way past time Attorney General Porter was dumped

The Political Right asserts that an investigation into the Porter allegation would mean the end of Western civilisation as we know it. It would trash the Rule of Law, the Presumption of Innocence, the Right to Silence, and many other rights - all individual rights that the Political Right so strongly resists putting in an Australian Bill of Rights. Which is so much poppycock.

Most viewed articles 2020: Robodebt is far from dead, buried and cremated (Nov 23, 2020)

Those who closely follow the news will believe that the dreaded Robodebt has been slain, dead, buried and cremated, with the Federal Government agreeing at the door of the court on 16 November to settle the Robodebt class action. But its not as simple as that.

Most viewed posts 2020: Juukan Gorge the plot thickens (Sep 14, 2020)

Under cross-examination, Federal Environment Minister, Sussan Ley made two major admissions on ABC Radio National last Friday over the destruction of the two ancient Aboriginal rock shelters at Juukan Gorge. The shelters had been inhabited for 46,000 years, and now will become bits of iron and steel.

What responsibility does ADF's top brass have for war crimes in Afghanistan?

As much as clothes, language has fashions. This months in-vogue expression is walking back a metaphor for resiling from a position previously taken. And in these changing times, there is a lot of walking back about.

Not only governments exert foreign influence. What about Rupert Murdoch?

A Royal Commission under the best leadership could shine an enormously powerful spotlight on the fact that NewsCorp grossly breaches our foreign interference laws on a daily basis.

Australia's unnecessary involvement in various wars

Our Prime Ministers and other senior Ministers must bear the greatest responsibility for atrocious decisions to involve us in wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam. They have shown repeatedly that they are not up to the task.

Robodebt is far from dead, buried and cremated

Those who closely follow the news will believe that the dreaded Robodebt has been slain, dead, buried and cremated, with the Federal Government agreeing at the door of the court on 16 November to settle the Robodebt class action. But its not as simple as that.

It is a gross injustice to Mr Moselmane. Beyond gross.

The attacks on Mr Moselmane began months before the raids, with journalists and shock jocks being backgrounded to demonise him. Sky News Peta Credlin broadcast If we really have foreign agent laws, why isnt Moselmane being looked at? She knew very well that he was being lined up. Another leak by his opponents. Another crime which will go uninvestigated. Not much moral courage to be seen.

Inside the Canberra Bubble

After the Four Corners program Inside the Canberra Bubble, I was asked whether, assuming there was any truth to the allegations made, there were any implications for a Federal ICAC.

Fear and loathing of China is poppycock

Australia seems often to act like a junior gang member who is hyper anxious to impress the leader of the gang....Annoying China is good politics but bad leadership.

Review of 'The Eleventh' on podcast ABC

The ABC 2020 podcast, The Eleventh re-examines the events around the dismissal of the Whitlam Government 45 years ago, on 11 November 1975. The podcast is very penetrating but also very long and detailed. Some revelations from the podcast deserve being reduced to print.

Australian foreign interference laws.Rupert Murdoch and Duong Di Sanh

Murdoch is an American, but he has a major impact on our elections, and works insidiously, for example, to sabotage efforts to get Australian Governments to act effectively against climate change. His empire also works surreptitiously at undermining that most important Australian democratic institution, the ABC. We all know that nothing will be done about Murdoch - the laws of Australia are not enforced without fear or favour.

US leading Australia on China

Many of our political and thought leaders in Australia seem in the past couple of years to have followed the US into a mindset that de facto China is the enemy. It seems a very uncomfortable position for Australia, given our massive economic reliance on China and the large Chinese diaspora in Australia.

A Claytons Integrity Commission?

Some readers will recall the major marketing campaign in the 1970s and 1980s for a non-alcoholic drink called Claytons, which looked like and was packaged to resemble whisky: the drink you have when you're not having a drink was the slogan. The term Claytons caught on to mean anything which is not the real thing, and that is ineffective.

Is it time for Federal Integrity Body or should we just turn off the life support machine for integrity in the federal public sector?

It is not a pretty picture. Bernard Keane writing in Crikey said recently: Everywhere you look in the Morrison government, you see sleaze and self-interest, if not outright corruption. Merely itemising the current scandals on foot is an arduous task.

Covid: How are we going? Facts and spin

Impressions can be more important than the facts that was the case even before Trump demonstrated that a good tweet is worth a thousand facts.

We the people have a right to know.

Two issues largely treated as separate have got increasing attention in Australia this Millennium. The first is whether the activities of governments are sufficiently transparent, whether a lack of transparency breeds incompetence and corruption, and whether we need a federal ICAC. The second is about what used to be referred to as the Official Secrets Act.

Following up on Otto and Eric Abetz

A Google search for the German-born Abetz condemnation of the Nazis produced very little, except that, according to Wikipedia, his great uncle,Otto Abetz, was a convicted war criminal, a Nazi SS officer and the German ambassador to Vichy France.

Dan Oakes, Witness K and Bernard Collaery

Dear Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, please demonstrate that the decisions whether or not to prosecute, and the decisions to continue the prosecutions of Collaery and K, are not influenced by possible political advantage, disadvantage or embarrassment to the Government. Please apply the Prosecution Policy to the facts in front of you, uninfluenced by what Porter and the Government so obviously want. Do your lawful duty! Drop the prosecutions!

Abetz fearlessly proclaims he is not a Fascist by birth

Likely, none of the three distinguished Australians of Chinese ethnicity appearing a Senate committee hearing expected to be comprehensively done over by two ideologues from the Australian right Senators Eric Abetz and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.

Will the US survive the next three months of Trump?

There's a terrible prospect that few seem strong enough to contemplate. Sensible people who care about the future of the USA should hope that Joe Biden wins the vote on 3 November by a landslide. Otherwise literally terrible outcomes are real prospects.

Why the resistance to a national anti-corruption commission?

Scott Morrison and Christian Porter are insisting that a new federal integrity body could not look at old corruption. What is that about? Is it because there are skeletons in too many people's closet? Is it the extent to which Alexander Downer and other senior officials benefitted financially from their activities during the Australian Government's shenanigans on behalf of Woodside and others over oil and helium, which should always have been Timor-Leste's, in the Timor Sea?

Australian Values for new citizens

Last month the acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alan Tudge announced that from November, there will be an updated Australian Citizenship Test which for the first time will include a section on Australian values.

Is the Foreign Interference Law just about China?

Having on the statute books a very serious crime, committed by dozens of people every day but which is only enforced selectively, is a grave breach of the Rule of Law. It gives the government the power to criminalise the actions of a few and not those of the majority.

"Disgraceful" Tudge puts him self above the law

Late last month, the Federal Courts found that Minister,Alan Tudgeengaged in criminal conduct by keeping an asylum-seeker in detention and depriving of his liberty for five days in defiance of an order by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal that the man be released.

Sports rorts and muddy waters

Last summer, just like much of the country, the federal political landscape was ablaze. Scott Morrison was caught out taking a secret holiday in Hawaii; and those who werent evacuating from bushfires were very angry about sports rorts.

Christian Porterhas shown himself unfit to be federal AttorneyGeneral

By his response last week to the Federal Courts finding that Immigration Minister Alan Tudge engaged in criminal conduct by detaining an asylum-seeker for five days in defiance of an order by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), Christian Porter has shown himself unfit to be federal AttorneyGeneral.

Banks behaving badly again and get only a rap over the knuckles

Westpac has agreed to pay $1.3 billion for breaching anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing laws more than 23 million times. That is a lot of money. But it translates to just $56.52 per offence. AUSTRAC says it send a strong message to the banks.

The Foreign Interference law is more a political stunt. But what about Rupert Murdoch's foreign interference?

Rupert Murdoch and NewsCorp are currently campaigning to have the ABC neutered. Murdoch is a foreigner, as NewsCorp would seem to be. Australians and others are allegedly doing Murdochs bidding, with the intention to influence a political or governmental process; or to influence the exercise of an Australian democratic or political right or duty.

Australian values and obligations: a follow up

We often hear politicians spouting about mutual obligation usually in the context of Centrelink benefits or the like. The emphasis seems always to be on what the recipient of benefits must do not on the obligation of Centrelink or the Government.

Australian values: what are they and what has Covid done to them?

Australia is the only common law country with neither a constitutional nor federal legislative bill of rights. Only a few rights are constitutionally protected. For the most part, we have all the rights that Parliament and the common law have not yet taken away.

Juukan Gorge - the thick plotens

Under cross-examination, Federal Environment Minister, Sussan Ley made two major admissions on ABC Radio National last Friday over the destruction of the two ancient Aboriginal rock shelters at Juukan Gorge. The shelters had been inhabited for 46,000 years, and now will become bits of iron and steel.

The atrocious foreign interference law It doesnt add up

When, for example, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) receives grants from the US State Department to undertake research projects it is an admission that it is engaging in conduct on behalf of a foreign principal.

Robodebt and suicide

Department head stubbornly avoids answering questions on the role of Robodebt and the death of Australians and whether she apologised for those deaths.

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