Every police patrol in the NT will carry at least one stun gun by Christmas, with 100 new weapons taking the NT Police total to 230. In 2009, Kwementyaye Rubuntja, 39, died from heart failure after being stunned twice in Alice Springs. The NT coroner fou… more »

Despite adequate resources and general goodwill, 'significant improvement' continues to elude Indigenous Australians, even in the national capital, Aboriginal Justice leader Brendan Church writes. He provides a 10-point list of ways improvement is possib… more »

CLA works with advanced and honours students on topics of mutual interest, where the student gains credits for 'internship' programs or honours studies, and CLA benefits from excellent research papers which help to shape a current or future dilemma. See… more »

Around Australia, drug testing of drivers takes places with no proven benefit to society and great penalty to people's civil liberties. In WA, the accuracy of the tests is declining, research in SA shows (see CLArion newsletter July 2010). Here, Bill Bus… more »

Victoria is one of the more enlightened states in looking after Indigenous people...but still the statistics are appalling, as this analysis by Keith McEwan (pictured) points out. "Life is not so good for an Indigenous person living in Victoria...or, for… more »

Australian drug policies are not working: criminals are getting richer, prison populations are swelling and there are major national health problems, including deaths from overdoses in every State and Territory. Surely, CLA says, it is time for the new N… more »

You'd think, from all the posturing by Law & Order (LO) politicians through Australia, that crime was up, but it is down. But what's really up is the prison population, by 36% (or 7759) from 21,358 to 29,317 over the past 10 years. At nearly $100,000… more »

Deciding what goes into our bodies is a basic human right: why then do politicians interfere selectively in our freedom to choose? Regulation and education could take supply of drugs away from criminals, and let adults make their own, educated decisions… more »

Portugal decriminalised personal consumption of drugs almost a decade ago, showing a lead to other advanced nations. It is also about to introduce an innovative national alcohol program. Advisor to the national drugs board, Fatima Trigueros, reports in d… more »

CLA is often asked about rights concerning drug tests in the workplace. Here two Australian academics discuss the usefulness of drug testing procedures and, among other issues, question whether mandatory testing can actually hide some problems that shoul… more »

News coverage of America's Taxpayer March on DC, 12 September 2009, shows hundreds of signs with words now given new meanings: communist, socialist, fascist, Nazi. Equating the current American administration with any of these demonstrates ignorance, or… more »

A Bill before the Queensland Parliament will give that state's Police Commissioner the power to sell seized drugs 'without limits'. The provision is tucked away at the back end of a prisons Bill yet to be passed.Qld police chief to get power to peddle… more »

As New Zealand's former Prime Minister, Helen Clark, puts her hand up for a top UN job, how does NZ's record on human rights compare with Australia's, where a bill of rights consultation is just starting? Sabine Elvy takes a closer look at our near-neigh… more »

Neglect of social issues has swelled the number of indigenous people, particularly youth, in State jails and detention centres, former Labor Premier Peter Dowding says. The new WA Liberal Government deserves the opportunity to show it can make a differen… more »

CLA has launched a campaign to stop the Rudd Government imposting mandatoring internet filtering - censorship - on adult Australians' access to the internet. The campaign consists of a new website - http://www.censorfree.com.au/ - and a series of eve… more »