Australian government agencies have ignored mandatory Model Litigant Rules (MLR), which was highlighted in the Vance case, settled recently by Defence after 15 years and a reputed cost of $15m. The MLR project is a major undertaking for CLA in 09 and 10.
In better news, the Treaties Committee has proposed linking human rights and trade deals in places like Burma, and excessive secrecy may be exposed by a new Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry. Other items feature health ID, bikie law challenges, a new coronial act, increasing violence by women, and excessive phone tpping in Australia.
Internationally, there’s new twists on DNA evidence, how whistleblowing can bring big bucks, the British Prime Minister promising to ‘hand power back to parliament’ and even a national police chief who wants to make human rights the core of all policing activities!
Other issues covered include:
- Privacy and FOI roles to be combined;
- Prisoner van death causes massive shake-up;
- Police to get master image control database;
- Indigenous jail rates double;
- Cyberdefence will impinge on privacy;
- Inquiry to look at violence towards children;
- Retired lawyers may be called back into service;
- Government moves to curb legal profession;
- US prisoners denied right to DNA testing;
- Is economic crisis causing social fracture?;
- Law Lords stand up for fair trials; and
- Police take DNA samples from kids ‘in case’.
Read this month’s CLArion here.