Banning flag burning would be doubly unproductive, CLA says in response to an RSL call for a new law to that effect. Australian Diggers fought to ensure Australians enjoyed freedom of expression, which a ban would do away with. As well, forbidding flag burning could well be a strategic error: police might like to identify who is so hostile to Australia they are prepared to burn the flag.

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Fringe-dwelling firms are finding sneaky ways to exploit government agreements to milk them for private data never envisaged when the deal was originally done. In the West, you park at your peril, because the government willy-nilly hands over your private address details – despite previously saying the information was 'off limits'

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Women prisoners are locked behind razor wire in maximum security jails when they should be housed in much less stringent conditions, reports indicate. WA could solve its problem by building more lower security facilities and slashing the numbers in jail generally by not imprisoning people for relatively minor, non-violent offences, CLA's Rex Widerstrom says.

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"Giving police the power to ask a driver to remove their face covering or veil is a reasonable response to a legitimate public concern," Civil Liberties Australia director and media spokesperson, Tim Vines, said.

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As Perth gears up for the CHOGM leaders meeting, the WA Police are sweeping its streets clean of the city's fringe-dwelling citizens, less they offend the eyes and ears of Commonwealth heavies. But perhaps the local and federal police would do better to arrest some of the leaders themselves for human rights abuses, CLA's Rex Widerstrom says in this media release.

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Why should innocent drivers have photos of their vehicles kept for 30 days, CLA asks, as the ACT Government is about to introduce a new speed detection system? Keep the photos of those exceeding the speed limit, by all means, but why should innocent people, obeying the speed limit, have images kept for 30 days? Technology should be used to delete photos of the innocent within hours, CLA says.

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A withering Ombudsman's report tabled in the NT Parliament is scathing about the recent failures of the Child Protection Agency and its master department to protect the Territory's vulnerable children. The report calls into question whether the NT public service is capable of managing its own child safeguards, or of competently delivering federal intervention programs. On the evidence of the report, the human rights of little children are much less than sacred in one-eighth of Australia.

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CLA closely scrutinizes government action which infringes the general right to be left alone. If this right is to be infringed, and the Government demand we hand over personal information, we expect the benefits to outweigh the cost and inconvenience. We also expect our private information to be kept just that: private. Sadly businesses and governments often just collect information for its own sake, and then fail to protect it. They treat it as a commodity to be sold or traded. How does the Census stand up?

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POLICE WA - ARRESTS - NUMBERPLATE ID - DRUGS
WA Police using 'I Spy' numberplate trickery could be breaking the law by pulling over drivers with previous drug convictions who have served their time, Civil Liberties Australia's National Media Director, Tim Vines, said.

Police should not pull drivers over "just because"...police should actually have "just cause" before stopping someone, he said.

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Even with the annual Bass in the Grass music festival over for 2011, politicians in the NT continue to debate whether young people should be given messages on safe sex and free condoms at the event. Read what CLA says, what the NT News columnist Nick Calacouras thinks...and some differing and surprising opinions from politicians of the major parties.

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