Australia will not get a Human Rights Bill. Pale imitations - schools education program and PR campaign - are likely to feature in the 2010 Budget. But at least there's hope that the most undemocratic development in Australia's governance over the past 20 years, the rise of Ministerial Councils, can be wound back by pressure from the Labor Caucus. And it looks like the internet filtering (censorship) proposal has been 'parked' to clear the decks for a federal election, which has firmed up for a blessed weekend in October.

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Is the way Australia decides to go to war appropriate for a democratic nation? What about formal reporting to the people on war progress, and parliament controlling the purse strings? These major questions will get more prominence in the lead-up to the expected 2010 federal election. Also on the agenda - as CLA prepares for its 2010 electronic AGM - will be the inequitable system where Australians living in the Territories can have their democratically-passed laws overturned just because a Prime Minister doesn't like one clause in them.

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CLA will concentrate this year on liberties issues around mental and aged health, and water rights, as well as focusing on the trend towards greater dominance of executive government. Obviously, internet censorship will be a major issue to fight against, and the upcoming federal election, as well as state elections, will bring rabid 'law and order' fanatics out of the woodwork again, to make more promises about jailing more people in a way that the community is less and less able to afford.

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CLA has succeeded in getting nine words inserted into the new, draconian Serious and Organised Crime Bill so that judges have discretion to overturn cases where it would obviously not be in the public interest to prosecute.  As well this month, there's further 'law and order' excesses of governments throughout Australia, while the trend by governments to use ad-hoc groupings to avoid public consultation and parliamentary votes, in Australia and internationally, continues to expand.

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The Greens' have chosen a candidate for the Higgins federal by-election who is rabidly pro-censorship of the internet - directly contrary to the Greens' stance on the issue, so that they appear to be adopting the rubbery principles of other political parties. This month also sees wide-ranging abuses across most states and federally of liberties and rights...even as the government considers a major Human Rights Consultation Committee report.

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Requests for CLA to analyse and propose improvements to federal and state laws are increasing considerably. Current issues we're working on cover children's issues to the nation's war powers, as well as reforming our electoral laws. The pace will only increase, because shortly the Attorney-General will release the report of the national consultation on human rights, and the Communications Minister will table more definite proposals for how he plans to censor the internet.