Dr Kristine Klugman and Bill Rowlings from Civil Liberties Australia addressed the Vintage Reds meeting in March.

Civil Liberties Australia is a non-party-political organisation, which makes it able to criticise or praise impartially. Bill introduced the meeting to one aspect of the CLA’s activities, the Better Justice Strategy, illustrating this with the case in Tasmania of Sue Neill-Fraser, imprisoned for the murder of her husband. It’s a case with multiple disturbing details, and a number of people believe that she is innocent of the crime. And there are other troubling cases around the country, including here in the ACT. A few members of the legal profession have risen to high office without any apparent good reason, and some of their judgements reflect this.

Australian courts of law have barely changed in 50 years. CLA has put together a series of initiatives for reform, covering modernisation, affordable and timely access to the law, improvement in the quality of magistrates/lawyers/judges, etc.