Information Commissioner Prof John McMillan has agreed to highlight the risks surrounding biometric technology to both government and the private sector in future. His positive response follows a campaign by Civil Liberties Australia, the Australian Privacy Foundation and others over many months to raise appropriate awareness among those choosing security systems.

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A simple signature on a treaty, which the Labor Government has promised for more than four years, would bring relief to people penned behind bars these holidays. CLA is a signatory to a letter asking new Attorney-General Nicola Roxon to sign the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. With a stroke of the pen, a formal inspection regime would open up Australia's dark places to the light of external scrutiny.

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CLA's National Liberty Tree will be a symbol for numerous generations to come, President Dr Kristine Klugman said as she joined the former ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope and seven-year-old Charli Withers to plant the magnificent Kurrajong specimen at the National Arboretum in Canberra. The tree honours Mr Stanhope's introducing the first human rights act in Australia on 1 July 2004 (the day Charli was born) and his lifelong commitment to liberties and freedoms; it now sits in pride of place, at the crown of the area for ceremonial plantings by kings and PMs, where it will in future form part of a citizen's pilgrimage to his/her national capital from around the nation.

Caption: Charli Withers, Dr Kristine Klugman and Jon Stanhope plant the National Liberty Tree.

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The High Court has ruled that the Australian government – diplomats and police mainly – abused legal processes in assisting the deportation of Julian Moti, former Attorney-General of the Solomon Islands, to Brisbane to face age sex tourism charges. Moti is now free to seek an apology and compensation for the politically-inspired misery visited on him for four years. The Moti Farce marked a low point for the Howard/Downer axis in foreign affairs, writes CLA's CEO, Bill Rowlings.

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From a bygone era, CLA's Keith McEwan tells a story of how both lecturer and students learned when the Army decided its officers should know something about the motivations and culture of Communists in Australia. Perhaps it's time Defence asked similar questions about its own internal culture today?

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Human rights law works best when it tweaks the ordinary law to be more uniform, fair, and understandable by the average citizen. In the ACT, the Legislative Assembly has its first chance to achieve those tri-aims by reforming the Bail Act: Human Rights Commissioner Dr Helen Watchirs makes out the case for positive legislative action.

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Government attempts to tackle the Mr Bigs of crime in Australia often end up punishing the Mr and Mrs Littles and their innocent children. At a parliamentary hearing, CLA CEO Bill Rowlings has called for uniform justice throughout Australia, laws which meet the high standards of international convention obligations we have signed, and removing mandatory clauses which prevent judges exercising the full range of punishment options.

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How come many hundreds of personnel carrying weapons, some who almost certainly have committed crimes under international law, can enter Australia without Customs or security questioning, Humphrey McQueen asked in a speech outside Parliament House during the US President's visit? In truth, there's a wide range of Americans we would welcome to this country, historically or currently, but it doesn't include members of the Obama Gang, he told the audience.

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The Father of Freer Information in Australia, Senator John Faulkner, has given his creation – the Office of the Information Commissioner – a tick for achievements in its first 12 months. But he has reminded the Information, Privacy and FOI Commissioners that the big battles are still ahead, and that government information is a national resource.

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