Promoting people's rights and civil liberties. It is non-party political and independent of other organisations.
March 2012 Newsletter:  CLA warns that giving Crime Commission chief unbridled powers is risky  move

March 2012 Newsletter: CLA warns that giving Crime Commission chief unbridled powers is risky move

The CEO of the Australian Crime Commission would potentially become a J. Edgar Hoover figure, with almost limitless power to pry and to dispense information as he saw fit, under proposed legislation before parliament. CLA has warned of the dangers of giving anyone such unbridled powers: in the USA, Hoover became a despot, playing politicians like puppets. CLA has asked a parliamentary committee to put proper restraints in place in the new legislation. In other news, CLA’s eAGM voting gets under way this month – details in this issue – and there’s a report of our submission to the government’s human rights “action” planning.

The federal government is digging in to its brown paper bag (the Proceeds of Crime money) to hand out $3m on buckets and brooms to clean up graffiti and buy CCTV cameras – never has so much money been wasted on technology that supposedly “prevents” crime, but does nothing of the sort. Elsewhere, there’s news of a two-year extension for the “Integrity Commissioner” and a mixed bag of reports from around the nation about how well, or poorly, our “justice” system is operating. Plus see a photo of a new Liberty Tree shooting.

Other items in this issue include: 
• State plans new life sentence for killing child in womb;
• Police pay $5m for locking people away by mistake;
• State should protect young girls from being stripped by police;
• SA gets back on the bikie bike with new legislation;
• Success rate 0.07%, error rate 80% – this is random drug testing;
• Australian choppers to help in PNG election;
• Israeli civil rights group accuses AusAID of helping terrorists;
• Eu plans to let people swim in the river of forgetfulness;
• Spanish activist guilty on one count, innocent on another; and
• FBI finds itself lost over GPS tracking.

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