Australia’s own National Liberty Tree, an initiative of CLA, will be planted this month. But as a new tree brings hope, there’s despair as the government trundles down the path of a national e-health system putting safety and privacy at risk; health authorities are also extending their NT Intervention mentality to all Australian parents of children at vaccination age. A new arson database will flag ‘suspected’, unconvicted people for extra police attention, and federal ministers continue to ratchet up fear in the name of ‘cybercrime’ to be able to further infringe on our freedoms. Happy festivities – let’s hope the bewhiskered gentleman, arriving in Australia by air on his sleigh, is not apprehended by Immigration and taken to the eponymously-named island in the Indian Ocean…and two years of detention.
SCAG (Attorneys General) has morphed into SCLJ (Standing Council on Law and Justice), but it still meets secretly by not publishing an agenda or any minutes…there’s a strong hint the new body is going to the dogs. In one state, a judge has ruled it’s OK to bolt from the police, while elsewhere and federally the police themselves are under suspicion for alleged pornography, cocaine use and ‘black cash’. There’s yet another push for draconian anti-bikie laws, and the two Territories are gearing up for what looks like ‘law and order’ elections in late-2012. Some items you might enjoy include:
- For the Queen and the Nile…not necessarily in that order;
- Queensland ‘court out’ when it comes to judges;
- Great press freedom claimed under new laws;
- Parole Board costing state extra $42m a year;
- Trafficking Rapporteur visits Australia;
- Report on CLA activities for November;
- Europe constrains airport scanners;
- US law says their authorities can access your Twitter account;
- Drive-by cameras put you in the frame; and
- Police investigating police is not working.