The Australian Government’s proposed National Human Rights Action Plan has some significant shortcomings, the author of CLA’s submission on the plan, Rhys Michie, said. The “national” plan lacks contributions from NSW, Qld, SA, WA, Tas and the ACT; it d…
“Security” is the new catch-all excuse for massive, over-the-top spending without having to prove value for money, or pass a cost-benefit analysis, says economics guru Saul Eslake. From manufacturing through food to electricity and water, “security” has…
CLA is concerned at the creeping trend throughout Australia to make more offences subject to “strict liability”. That is government lawyer speak: it means that, under these new types of laws, you have to prove you are innocent rather than the government…
Health Minister Nicola Roxon has lashed out at privacy and civil liberties people, calling them “obsessive” about the risk of private health records of Australians being mislaid, stolen or inadvertently posted online for anyone to access. However, the a…
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 publi…
‘Twenty years on, not enough has changed,’ says Eddie Cubillo,delivering the Elliott Johnston tribute lecture for 2011 in Adelaide. An Aboriginal man and the NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Cubillo describes the impact on his son as they return to…
Smoking today, alcohol tomorrow, food the day after? That’s the anti-free will road we’re heading down, says a smoker who tells his local MP that the only thing consistent about the government policy on cigarettes is its hypocrisy.
29 June 2011
Ms Gai…
The planned new personal health identifier – one number supposedly to identify you for all health purposes – is a disaster waiting to happen, the Australian Privacy Foundation indicates in a submission. APF, with CLA help, identified that the system mak…
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 Ca…
A recent public debate pitted pro-legalisers against ‘war on drugs’ supporters. Here Brian McConnell describes the contest and gives a rundown on how the pre- and post- polling indicated a strong switch in support in one direction.