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 National Drug Strategy 2010-2015 to learn from other countries and try new health-based carrots, rather than police-based sticks.

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Some airports overseas are rushing into service full body-revealing scanners. Australia trialled them in 2008 in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide: after a full report, the government had no plans to introduce them...until pressure in early 2010 from the USA after the "underpants bomb" fiasco. Four civil liberties groups (including CLA) and the Australian Privacy Foundation are asking the Minister to hold a full public consultation and privacy assessment, before deciding whether or not to introduce scanners here.

CLA congratulates the National Human Rights Consultation Committee for an excellent report and recommendations after an exhausting process. Now it is time for the politicians to respond in a bipartisan way to what the people clearly want - a clear and unequivocal statement of our rights and liberties as Australians, with the force of Parliament behind it.

The proposed 'Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Bill 2009' has benefited greatly from the voluntary input of many civil liberties and human rights groups, including Civil Liberties Australia. The Overview of the parliamentary review committee's report is clear evidence of how crucial public consultation is in producing a better outcome than an original government draft.
Photo: Committee Chair, Senator Hellen Polley
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Everything you own is suspect. With, say, $100,000 in assets, you have to prove you are not guilty of crime. Police - maybe using false identities - can go fishing in your tax files and your private bank records. As you try to fight to prove your innocence,  the government freezes all your assets, and you have no access to money. Welcome to Australia 2010. (Caption: Senators Hutchins, Parry and Fisher, CLA's Lance Williamson, Senate Committee Chair Senator Crossin and CLA's Bill Rowlings at the Melbourne hearing on 28 Aug 09.)

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Crime continues to trend down, but wobbly politicians still play the vote-seeking 'law and order' card, reacting to rabid media beat-ups. The latest serious crime bill lowers the bar for prosecutors, doubly punishes those who have already served time for their crime, and can even bankrupt someone who successfully defends himself against a bureaucrat-initiated witch-hunt.
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Any new health records system must safeguard a person's ownership of their personal medical records, and their privacy from abuse or misuse of the information, CLA says in a submission to those designing the laws and rules around Australia's new Health ID system.

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The parliamentary committee system has worked well in the past, but is starting to develop stress faults under a much-increased workload. CLA's contributions to the House of Representatives Procedure Committee, and to the Chairs of Committees, suggest reforms and changes.

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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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Ignoring Ausralia's agreed Model Criminal Code would be a mistake, CLA has advised the ACT Government as it plans to fiddle with the mens rea (having intent) provisions of murder law, possibly as a reaction to one horrific case.

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