The Attorney-General’s Department received $2.8 million in one line item in the 2008 Budget to run a Charter of Rights and Responsibilities debate throughout Australia in 2008-9. A formal consultation process is expected, with possibly a panel of experts appointed. CLA believes the process will start in late June or early July with release of a discussion paper prepared by the department. There’s a major meeting of NGOs in Sydney early this month to discuss strategy.
Click for the June CLArion
It’s a busy time for CLA members: we report on one member going to the USA to consult on major international issues (and then travelling to Samoa to help indigenous lawyers); another CLA member will hold down a key post at a critical time in Alice Springs; and a third has just developed the world’s first FOI index that can make comparisons, country to country, in real time.
The Australian Government is starting to implement international treaties and protocols, and we report on the latest. However, there is still no movement on fixing the sedition legislation mess created when the previous government refused to adopt the Australian Law Reform Commission’s recommendations. CLA members need to keep up the pressure on Attorney-General Robert McClelland to act.
Other highlights featured in this month’s CLArion include:
- Faulkner moves to tighten election funding;
- Women to get the right to complain;
- New rules protect pro bono lawyers;
- Severe doubts, locally and in UK, over CCTV;
- Law professor outlines changes needed;
- Police to decide when parents ‘unreasonable’;
- CLA campaigns for Afghan student on death row;
- Cluster bombs: Australia bets each-way:
- Report on CLA’s main activities for June;
- Canadian Supreme Court votes 9-0 for Khadr;
- Indonesia raises child charge age; and
- US judge produces stunning ruling on Tasers.