The commission controlling the building industry has dictatorial powers out of place in a democracy, Prof George Williams says. A re-elected Gillard Government should legislate immediately to restore civil liberties and individual freedoms to construction workers.

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New, web-based systems for information filing and control are great...but are they coming at the price of shaving off layers of privacy, CLA's Tim Vines asks. Should the ANU's new Wattle system allow others to question your private reasons for missing an assignment deadline, for example?

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A former SAS soldier, the newest member of the WA Parliament, delivered a telling commentary on the erosion of civil liberties in Australia when he gave his maiden speech in March. "...a speech capable of making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up," said ABC reporter, Claire Krol.

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Editor, CLA Your Opinion: The Tax Commissioner's defence of his powers to break into homes and businesses without judicial warrants as 'trust me, I'm a good guy' is a dangerous argument. Powers such as these should be resisted when proposed, and removed where they exist. Many societies have lived to regret their complacency in allowing them. In the 1970s the Statistician asked for these powers to gather statistics. After a vigorous campaign, they were deleted.

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Information within government is the people's information. The starting point for access rights and openness must be that the people are entitled to see and hear everything, with very limited exclusions. Currently, the reverse is true, certainly in WA, says Dr Johan Lidberg.

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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.

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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 should be out in the open.

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Australia's northern cattle industry prospered on the backs of Indigenous men and women who worked as slaves, lived in humpies, and went unpaid and uncared for by their bosses and the federal government supposedly protecting them. Now, like dudded workers anywhere, they want the back-pay and benefits they are owed and should have been receiving for nearly a century. Dr Thalia Anthony explains their legal case.

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