Liberty: A History of Civil Liberties in Australia

241 Pages·2011·2.049 MB·English

by  Stuart Macintyre, James Waghorne

libeRty
James Waghorne is a fellow in the School of Historical Studies at the
University of Melbourne, where he completed his PhD, on the Australian
Council of Civil Liberties, in 2008. He manages an oral history project of
the History of the University Unit, as well as the Australian Centre literary
and cultural awards, and is currently working on a commissioned history of
the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration.
Stuart Macintyre is the Ernest Scott Professor of History and a Laure-
ate Professor of the University of Melbourne. He is a fellow of the Austral-
ian Academy of the Humanities and the Academy of the Social Sciences.
Among his publications are A Concise History of Australia (Cambridge
University Press, 1999) and volume four of The Oxford History of Australia
(Oxford University Press, 1986).
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James
Waghorne
and
stuart
macintyre
libeRty
A History of
Civil liberties
in AustrAliA
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A UNSW Press book
Published by
NewSouth Publishing
University of New South Wales Press Ltd
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052
AUSTRALIA
www.newsouthpublishing.com.au
© James Waghorne and Stuart Macintyre 2011
First published 2011
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose
of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the
Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without
written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publisher.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Waghorne, James.
Title: Liberty: a history of civil liberties in Australia/
by James Waghorne and Stuart Macintyre.
ISBN: 978 1 74223 265 2 (hbk.)
Subjects: Liberty.
Civil rights – Australia – History.
Other Authors/Contributors: Macintyre, Stuart, 1947–
Dewey Number: 323.440994
Design Di Quick
Printer Everbest China
This book is printed on paper using fibre supplied from plantation or
sustainably managed forests.
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Contents
Abbreviations vii
Introduction 1
1 Between Depression and war 8
2 War under Menzies 28
3 Total war and reconstruction 47
4 Cold War 79
5 Revival and law reform 111
6 Rebuilding the Council 137
7 Human rights 166
Guide to sources 194
Notes 197
Index 224
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Abbreviations
ACCL Australian Council for Civil Liberties
ACLU American Civil Liberties Union
ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions
ALP Australian Labor Party
ASFL Australia-Soviet Friendship League
ALRC Australian Law Reform Commission
ASIO Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation
BCAL Book Censorship Abolition League
CAR Council for Aboriginal Rights
COIN Coalition Opposing Identity Numbers
JCCFAS Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism
MHR Member of the House of Representatives
NCA National Crimes Authority
NCCL National Council for Civil Liberties
NLF National Liberation Front
NSWCCL New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties
RSL Returned Servicemen’s League
vii
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RSSAILA Returned Soldiers’, Sailors’ and Airmen’s Imperial
League of Australia
THC Trades Hall Council
UAP United Australia Party
UN United Nations
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
VCCL Victorian Council for Civil Liberties
VJBD Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies
VRIAC Victorian Refugee Immigration Appeals Committee
WWF Waterside Workers Federation

viii
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introduction
When federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock introduced new anti-
terrorism legislation in November 2005, he justified its infringement
of civil liberties on the grounds that defendants would have recourse
through the courts. He also argued that the new powers did not con-
travene international principles of human rights, but would ensure
the security of the individual against the threat of terrorism.1
Fifty-six years earlier, in September 1939, Prime Minister Robert
Menzies introduced into parliament his National Security Bill. Its aim
was to grant the government increased powers to fight World War II.
Under the legislation the government could make regulations with-
out reference to parliament on all matters it deemed necessary for the
prosecution of the war. The Labor Opposition obtained some safe-
guards, but was unable to prevent the passage of the Bill into law.
Menzies argued that the war was a battle for ‘freedom and free belief,
and the value of every individual soul’. During the war, he insisted,
‘our institutions, Parliament, all liberal thought, free speech, free criti-
cism, must go on’, for it was these that provided the basis of freedom.2
1
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