SA Premier Michael Rann, up for re-election in March 2010, is proposing that a defendant's personal history should be revealed to juries - before they decide guilt or innocence - so as to send more people to prison. CLA and the SACCL, plus most other knowledgeable legal observers, think Mr Rann is confusing conviction with justice.

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Tasmania still has anti-freedom-to-blog laws that South Australia this month canned before the 20 March 2010 elections expected in both states. In Tassie, you can be fined $12,000 AND sent to jail for three months for not putting your name and address at the bottom of election comment online. CLA today called for Tasmania also to abandon the repressive legislation.

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There's an upsurge of community concern in Perth about how police are using their new stop-and-search powers (which are largely mirrored throughout Australia). WA Premier Colin Barnett has promised to review the powers, so CLA issued a supportive statement encouraging 'sensible compromise'.

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CLA has long argued the need for national legislation so Australians can find out what their DNA tells them without suffering penalties under insurance and superannuation rules. Cheaper DNA testing, sometimes sponsored by insurance companies, is bringing this issue into new focus.

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Updated: Michael Atkinson, the South Australian Attorney General noted for quaint ways, is at it again: a new law means you must attach your name/details to any letter or blog comment once the March 2010 SA election is formally called, which is expected imminently. The SA pollies can accept anonymous donations...but citizens can't make anonymous comments on the pollies' performance.

Atkinson backflip: when's the election?

Wed 3 Feb 2010  A-G Atkinson did a backflip

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The world's biggest maker of stun guns, Taser, has done a backflip and is now warning police forces to not aim the weapons at people's chests. The company appears to be trying to make sure it can't be sued if people die in future after being stunned by the weapons - the accuracy of the aim of police forces could become the issue, rather than the potency of the weapon itself.

New uses for DNA information are permeating Australia without debate about how we want to regulate either a useful guide to health or a tool to discrimate against people who - by accident of birth - are slightly different from whatever 'average' is. Some people are already being barred from accessing insurance or superannuation based on the DNA of their relatives. CLA believes national legislation is needed.

Abortion is a difficult societal issue where health concerns are paramount. Women should have the right to make decisions about their own bodies. Laws around the issue of abortion should be based on health grounds, not criminal penalties.

A joint media release, signed by numerous liberties/freedoms bodies, has launched an escalation of the campaign to stop Communications Minister Stephen Conroy imposing censorship on adult Australians. Keep an eye out for TV ads on the same subject.

Investigatory bodies acting for society - from community inquests through civil inquiries to national commissions - should involve panels, act in a coordinated way, and share resources, building a reservoir of intelligence and expertise over time, CLA says in its submission to the ALRC's inquiry into Royal Commissions. CLa also proposes a novel approach to the problem of excessive media reporting subverting the import of any inquiry. (Photo: Prof Les McCrimmon, head of the ALRC inquiry, with Dr Kristine Klugman, president of CLA, at a consultation about the Royal Commissions project in May 2009.)
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If the Rudd Government is to change the pension age from 65 to 67, it should also review other critical age limits, CLA's Raffaele Piccolo says. In particular, the voting age should drop to 17 (from 18) for today's better educated, better informed and better connected young Australians.

Naming guilty drink drivers in the media or online is just an extension of Australia's system of open and transparent legal processes, CLA says. Drink-drive convictions are increasing as police change from 'random' breath testing to targeted testing close to pubs and clubs.