The Greens would opt for a Bill of Rights for NSW, whereas the Lib/Nats wouldn’t. That’s one of the prime differences in policies to emerge when CLA asked key parties standing for the NSW election on 26 March where they stood on freedoms and rights issues.
NSW election 2011: How do the parties score on civil liberties?
The Greens and the Nationals were the only party organisations who responded to a 10-item questionnaire sent to five parties by Civil Liberties Australia.
Overall, the Greens were far more positive to civil liberties and human rights issues. In particular, the Greens supported a statutory Bill of Rights, while the Nationals opposed one.
The other questions covered supporting issues such as the repeal of laws allowing the federal government to overturn the rights of the Territories, setting limits on the Executive’s powers to go to war without consulting parliament, rights to privacy, accountability of COAG and SCAG etc, review of censorship and of the terror laws, and the creation of a national independent commission of inquiry into corrupt conduct.
The last question we posed was – What would you do about the Waldon case? This refers to a case of alleged police harassment (see full details elsewhere on this website).
The Nationals said, re the Waldon case,: As a matter of general principle, the NSW Liberals and Nationals would be appalled by any government Officers who unlawfully invade the privacy of people’s homes and will encourage adherence by Government Officers to the law.
The Greens said: The Greens NSW will work to ensure that the system for the investigation and resolution of complaints about police actions/inactions is independent, transparent, accessible, effective and adequately resourced.
– Kristine Klugman, CLA President