Greg Barns SC is the Spokesman for the Australian Lawyers Alliance and author of Rise of the Right: The War on Australia’s Liberal Values (2019).
Admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1986, Greg has been very vocal against human rights abuses and has called for Australia to adopt a Bill of Rights to protect both its citizens and journalists who are tasked with scrutinising governments. He continues to practise as a barrister, lecture in law at RMIT and write for various publications.
In this interview we discussed the erosion of human rights by powerful executive governments in their desperation to respond to Covid-19. Importantly, Greg stresses that the decline in human rights we are witnessing in Australia started long before and pandemic.
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New Orwellian Identify and Disrupt Laws
https://youtu.be/23dP7JEPxWA
GREG BARNS SC
https://twitter.com/BarnsGreg
https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-barns-sc-8a898773
https://www.booktopia.com.au/rise-of-the-right-greg-barns/book/9781743795422.html
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1:15 The slow death of human rights
2:42 The Orwellian Identify and Disrupt laws now passed
3:59 Why our laws are becoming more intrusive
5:57 Selective anger over freedoms
7:33 Positive Justice vs Natural Justice
9:41 Australia has become legislation happy
12:37 Covid laws that will be used in other contexts
14:58 Making draconian regulations permanent features
16:33 Public Health Orders are not subject to scrutiny and are difficult to access
18:14 Covid ‘laws’ are unfair
20:22 How courts view Chief Health Officer directives
23:40 Predictions and solutions for the future of Australian human rights
31:01 Examples of major legislation reform in Australia
32:33 The enormous powers police have
34:17 What do police want?
36:27 The new outrageous conditions of bail wielded by police
39:07 The result of heavy-handed governance
41:40 Why the police target lower socio-economic areas
