Latest CLArion Newsletter
CLArion Jan 2021: Is Australia a nation of justice?
It’s good to look back on an extraordinary 2020 to re-set the gauges of life for 2021 and beyond. A virus has curtailed personal liberties in the name of a wider good, so the challenge becomes to decide how basic freedoms can be entrenched better in ordinary times – and extraordinary times – in future. This year will feature a push for human rights laws for all of us in more jurisdictions (including federally) and, in particular, the quest for justice denied these past 12 years for Sue Neill-Fraser, still locked in Hobart’s Risdon jail.
- Turmoil roils legal profession and police services
- Parliament should have war power, not Executive
- Hypocrite MHR Kevin Andrews proposes fancy human rights law!
- Trade minister is against fair trade!
- Catholic nun puts Timor oil ’security’ trials in context
- Lindy and Michael Chamberlain were dead wrong
- Former magistrate given 12 months jail
- Should prisoners get C19 vaccine early?
- Judge to review UK’s human rights act
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Recent CLArions
- Dec 2020 CLArion: killings reveal much more than rogue soldiers
Much about wider military and general society is revealed by the alleged murders committed by special forces troops. Cover-ups and refusal to account for bad behaviour are rampant throughout politics and police forces, and strongly suspected among the security elite. ...
- November 2020 CLArion newsletter: skewed spending analysed
Criticise the federal government at your peril is the lesson from the 2020 Budget as the ANAO, ABC, human rights and other agencies suffer more funding cuts. Meanwhile funny money magically appears in ever-increasing amounts to continue the two-decade long ...
- October 2020 CLArion newsletter: keeping liberties in emergencies
There are vivid lessons to learn for the next emergency from the current Covid-19 pandemic. We need to identify the right ones, so that for the next virus wave or national disaster we better incorporate maximum freedoms and individual compassion ...
- September 2020 CLArion newsletter: CLA outlines vaccination policy
As the virus pandemic grinds on, people are increasingly questioning traditional daily Australian life, from how Parliament convenes (eg, with electronic access and voting, or not) to how we value older people’s lives during a Covid-19 disease which specifically targets ...
- August 2020 CLArion newsletter: Pollies, spooks fail to tell full truth
With another election season upon us, politicians and candidates are trotting out their ‘law n order’ fear-creating campaigns to gain election, not telling us that it costs taxpayers more than $300 a day to house each prisoner, which adds to ...
- July 2020 CLArion newsletter: Worst of times provide opportunity to change baseline rights for the futureAs the Covid-19 pandemic restricts traditional freedoms wholesale, and the police and security community seeks even greater powers of surveillance and data control over our photos and faces, these appear to be dark times for personal liberties. But times ...
The CLArion archive
2021 CLArions
- Dec 2020 CLArion: killings reveal much more than rogue soldiers
- November 2020 CLArion newsletter: skewed spending analysed
- October 2020 CLArion newsletter: keeping liberties in emergencies
- September 2020 CLArion newsletter: CLA outlines vaccination policy
- August 2020 CLArion newsletter: Pollies, spooks fail to tell full truth
- July 2020 CLArion newsletter: Worst of times provide opportunity to change baseline rights for the future
- June 2020 CLArion newsletter: Can liberties and rights survive onslaughts from spikes of the Covid-19 pandemic?
- May 2020 CLArion newsletter: Trust emerges as even stronger factor in which politicians and parties we’re prepared to put our faith in next time around
- April 2020 CLArion newsletter: Governments impinge on liberties, freedoms as Covid-19 lockdowns become more widespread, individual and draconian
- March 2020 CLArion newsletter: Year of change is likely as politicians battle over personal power ‘without wisdom, lacking moral compass’
- February 2020 CLArion newsletter: Integrity Commission must have teeth; praise for ANAO; decisive leadership needed
- January 2020 CLArion newsletter: CLA helps chalk up rare win as initiatives begin on prisons, press freedom, whistleblowers
2020 CLArions
- Dec 2019 CLArion newsletter: ASIO spins and leaks as Australia is confirmed as turning into a police-security state
- Nov 2019 CLArion newsletter: At last, the tide of repressive laws appears to have turned – now for rebalancing liberties
- Oct 2019 CLArion newsletter: Census and new laws move us further down track of mandatory questions & duration
- Sept 2019 CLArion newsletter: Security forces gild lily in seeking to retain unaccountable powers to raid journos and ABC
- August 2019 CLArion newsletter: Book strips bare the perfidy inside parliament as chancers go for broke
- July 2019 CLArion: Parliament resumes, but agenda at cross purposes with nation’s need for greater humanity
- June 2019 CLArion: New Ministers but same old problems face the nation’s liberties and rights
- May 2019: Voters lie in wait – what we want of MPs
- April 2019: Six-year CLA battle helps earn Neill-Fraser appeal over her 23-year sentence for murder
- March 2019: Dissonance reverberates as MPs’ words don’t match actions
- February 2019: Let’s think about positively improving Australia, and ignore negative election campaigning
- January 2019: Bright spots provide hope as new year brings fresh battles over aged care and bills of rights
2019 CLArions
- December 2018: Politicians concentrate on fear-raising activities as police and security agencies escape close scrutiny and control
- November 2018: Aged Care RC must consider liberties/rights of elderly; Dutton makes surreptitious move towards national ID scheme
- October 2018: MPs move to safeguard genes data from insurance companies; ABC management fail, but journos spark another Royal Commission
- September 2018: Major intelligence review likely to beef up security, surveillance
- August 2018: Future of rights and liberties under scrutiny
- July 2018: Nauru has become Australia’s devil’s island
- June 2018: Spook special: how wrong choices skew political monitoring
- May 2018: New campaign for parliament to vote when Australian forces get involved in conflicts
- CLArion April 2018: Religious freedom inquiry delayed, new CLA initiatives
- March 2018 newsletter: FOI, privacy in turmoil as boss resigns out of the blue
- Feb 2018 newsletter: Aged care inquiry is priority; danger lurks in police state laws
- Jan 2018 newsletter: OPCAT to help change attitudes as liberties decline
2018 CLArions
- Dec 2017 newsletter: Prioritising needed for range of issues to be tackled in 2018
- Nov 2017 newsletter: CLA calls for total overhaul in ‘Rebirth of the Nation’
- Oct 2017 CLArion: Govt living in fear is newly afraid of fictitious bodies threat
- Sep 2017 CLArion: Bid for a Bill of Rights to help counter creeping control by ASIS and spooks
- Aug 17 CLArion -Immigration: policy bias treats arrivals differently depending on transport
- Jul 17 CLArion – Miscarriages and genes research likely to spark campaigns for major change
- Jun 17 CLArion -Indigenous leaders show way as calls for change ripple through impatient society
- May 17 CLArion – As tension increases, Parliament must be empowered to decide if we go into wars
- April 2017 CLArion: Parliament at last aware of extradition treaty dangers
- Mar 2017 CLArion: Ratifying convention would open jails to external inspection
- Feb 2017 CLArion: Justice-legal ‘industry’ needs national structural reform inquiry
- Jan 2017 CLArion: Age, genes, drugs and terrorism likely to dominate this year
2017 CLArions
- Dec 2016 CLArion: Mega-fails by govt show how balance has been abandoned
- Nov 2016 CLArion: Fears that govt will use tick-flick to bypass full TPP review
- Oct 2016 CLArion: CLA outlines how to confirm marriage result with prior ‘law’
- Sept 2016 CLArion: Push for Turnbull to ratify OPCAT, to save kids in detention
- August 2016 CLArion: Justice is sought over stolen wages, juvenile detention
- July 2016 CLArion: As Ministers change, the battle for the nation’s soul goes on
- June 2016 CLArion: Pollies must spell out where they stand on liberties, freedoms
- May 2016 newsletter: Members decide priorities for quizzing MPs pre-election
- April 2016 newsletter: Election looming call for priority issues to focus efforts
- March 2016 newsletter: Electoral fiddling set to benefit established parties more
- Feb 2016 newsletter: CLA letters call for Royal Commission and Assange pardon
- Jan 2016 newsletter: Pollies are taking Oz increasingly towards police state
2016 CLArions
- Dec 2015 newsletter: the ‘Better Justice’ push starts with letters to PM, AGs
- Nov 2015 newsletter: CLA prepares strategic plan seeking Better Justice
- Oct 2015 newsletter: Ministerial changes create opportunity to reframe the debate
- Sept 2015 newsletter: List of issues shows how our liberties, rights are under attack
- Aug 2015 newsletter: National mood starts to swing towards correcting ‘terror’ excesses
- July 2015 newsletter: Campaign to improve citizenship bill needed for our democracy
- June 2015 newsletter: Urgent need to define rights and responsibilities of citizenship
- May 2015 newsletter: ASIO should be told: ‘You must keep your own secrets’
- Apr 2015 CLArion newsletter: Call to rewrite terror laws from scratch
- Newsletter March 2015: Government turns security into political theatre
- Newsletter Feb 2015: CLA asks for rechecking of AFP’s ‘Bali 9’ rules
- CLArion newsletter Jan 2015: Vote is possible on euthanasia, but beware ID
2015 CLArions
- Dec 2014 newsletter: Groups coalesce to mount national justice campaign
- Nov 2014 newsletter: Elite spook committee seeks supremo powers
- Oct 2014 CLArion newsletter: What can we do when MPs won’t listen to sense?
- Sept 2014 CLArion newsletter: Terror laws tilt the balance between state and citizen
- August 2104 CLArion newsletter: Civil liberties bodies to mount joint campaign
- July 2014 CLArion newsletter: Rights bill turns 10, but freedoms under threat
- June 2014 CLArion newsletter: Spying on Australians reaches into Parl House
- Past CLArions
- May 2014 CLArion newsletter: Spooks continue to access our private data
- April 2014: CLArion newsletter: Monitor abolished – is surveillance to expand?
- March 2014: CLArion newsletter: Trade agreement rally aims to lift awareness
- Feb 2014: CLArion newsletter – TPP trade agreement to re-tilt balance between rule of law and corporate greed
- Jan 2014: CLArion newsletter – Liberties in danger of right turn as new AG mounts a militant personal battle to repel the tide
2014 CLArions
- Dec 2013: CLArion newsletter: Turning 10: highlights of CLA’s first decade as national campaigner for liberties, rights
- Nov 2013 CLArion newsletter: How colluding ‘Five Eyes’ have stolen your rights and liberties
- Oct 2013 CLArion newsletter: Will Abbott govt and AG Brandis rise to the challenge on liberties?
- Sept 2013 CLArion newsletter:
Govt has chance to opt for
moral stance on PRISM - August 2013 CLArion newsletter:
‘Shadow of Doubt’ doco will launch new focus on miscarriage of justice - July 2013 CLArion newsletter:
Hush-hush ‘Quintet’ is meant to control world surveillance, under orders made in the USA - June 2013 CLArion newsletter: Five civil liberties campaign issues identified; sneaky govt censors ‘net
- May 2013 CLArion newsletter: Mood of social change and regaining people power sweeps in before the federal election
- April 2013 CLArion newsletter:
‘Right to Appeal’ Act passed in SA needs to be mirrored throughout Australia - March 2013 CLArion newsletter:
Drugs in sport and gene patents bring liberties and rights issues into focus - Feb 13 CLArion newsletter:
CLA eAGM begins…and why is Emergency Minister on holidays over disaster season? - January 2013 CLArion newsletter:
Government spins rehash of old activities and pretends it supports human rights
2013 CLArions
- December 2012 – CLArion newsletter: Sexual
abuse inquiries to hear voices of victims as parallel election demands Year of Speaking Out - November 2012 – CLArion newsletter:
CLA to develop performance measures for
police, crime bodies to report effectiveness - October 2012 – CLArion newsletter:
Journos get shields, but citizens suffer as
politicians choose police over people - September 2012 – CLArion newsletter
CLA asks Human Rights Committee to define Aussie rights from Conventions - August 2012 CLArion newsletter
Save our genes: CLA leads a new
campaign to rescue patent rights - July 2012 Newsletter
Airport scanners operate revealingly
as government kowtows to USA - June 2012 Newsletter
It’s official: Justice Minister does exactly
what the police tell him to do…always! - May 2012 Newsletter:
Government to use entrapment on
the workers…but not for politicians - April 2012 Newsletter:
Lack of choice over see-through scanners
is part of mixed bag of liberties/freedoms - March 2012 Newsletter:
CLA warns that giving Crime Commission
chief unbridled powers is risky move - February 2012 Newsletter:
Compulsory health survey asks intimate
questions; ABS asked to justify stance - January 2012 Newsletter:
AG admits Australia’s counter-terrorism
priorities have been unclear for a decade
2012 CLArions
- December 2012 – CLArion newsletter: Sexual
- December 2011 Newsletter:
Australia gets its own Liberty Tree as the
pollies dissemble, spin and tell porkies - November 2011 Newsletter:
Your patient health records, along
with security issues, rise to fore - October 2011 Newsletter:
Cyber crime and censorship issues to be
subjected to consultation, focus groups - September 2011 Newsletter:
Govt prevents debate on secret
store of people’s email/net data - August 2011 Newsletter:
Australia to get National Liberty Tree
in December as initiative of CLA - July 2011 Newsletter:
Vulnerable are falling behind,
especially Indigenous youth - June 2011 Newsletter:
A-G McClelland says clear no to
adoption of Sharia law here - May 2011 Newsletter:
Leaks back up torture claims;
Hicks justice campaign launches - Apr 2011 Newsletter
Attorney-General’s eye off ball as disasters dominate - Mar 2011 – Newsletter
SCAG takes obfuscation to
a higher level of density - Feb 2011 – Newsletter:
Review of spooks may slash
overblown staffing, budgets - Jan 2011 – Newsletter:
Gillard chooses faulty COAG
structure to boost standing
2011 CLArions
- December 2011 Newsletter:
- Dec 2010 – Newsletter:
Censorship looks likely to
be centre stage next year - Nov 2010 – Newsletter
Parliament has chance to
give Territorians equality - Oct 2010 – Newsletter
Here’s a rundown of the
ways we could improve - Sept 2010 – Newsletter
Uncertainty brings chance of
major change for the good - Aug 2010 – Newsletter
Sorry election is a choice
between Tweedledums - July 2010 Newsletter:
New PM means rights
may make a comeback - June ’10 Newsletter:
Fearful Rudd government
spends big on security - May ’10 Newsletter:
Tasmania holds fresh
hope for human rights - Apr ’10 Newsletter:
Concern rises for the
rights of older people - Mar ’10 Newsletter
– No Human Rights Bill, but blessed election? - Feb 10 Newsletter – War Powers,
Veto emerge as election issues - Jan 10 Newsletter – Year’s priorities to include censorship and elections
2010 CLArions
- Dec 2010 – Newsletter:
- Dec 09 Newsletter – Nine little words chalk up win for common sense
- Nov 09 Newsletter – Greens betray trust over internet censorship
- Oct 09 Newsletter – Submissions range from children to war
- Sept 09 Newsletter – Liberties awareness on the rise
- August 09 Newsletter – CLA helps change extradition law
- July 09 Newsletter – Model litigant behaviour questioned
- June 09 Newsletter – Senators poor form under scrutiny
- May 09 Newsletter – SCAG plans major change to Australian law
- April 09 Newsletter – CLA to decide strategy on liberties/rights charter
- March 09 Newsletter – CLA helps launch rights consultation
- Feb 09 Newsletter – CLA asks for Human Rights Committee
- Jan 09 Newsletter – Sedition to go, at last
2009 CLArions
- Dec 2008 Newsletter – CLA launches anti-filtering campaign
- Nov 2008 Newsletter – Internet censorship – initiatives on terror laws
- October 2008 Newsletter – Rights charter debate launches 10 Dec
- September 2008 Newsletter – Harmonising laws is major focus for 2009
- August 2008 CLArion Newsletter
- July 2008 CLArion Newsletter
- June CLArion now available
- May 2008 Newsletter – NGOs gather to develop
- April 2008 Newsletter – Focus falls on liberties as Australian
- March 2008 Newsletter – Rudd refuses to review how Australia
- February 2008 Newsletter – Protesting death sentence and mental
- January 2008 Newsletter – Members prepare for diverse ’08 activities
2008 CLArions
2003 CLArions