Harmonising laws throughout Australia – even including New Zealand – will be a focus for next year. As part of the move, CLA’s campaign for matched medical directive regimes may well come to fruition. Queensland’s Public Interest Monitor could be copied in other states, and federally, now that the Australain Government has agreed to share telephone tap intelligence with Queensland Police. New whistelblowing and privacy laws seem likely in the new year, but it appears the campaign for removing seditions provisions still has time to run. Meanwhile, in WA, a police detective is alleged to have used his easy access to car registration details to track down women and their phone numbers.
In international news, the UK’s huge problem with losing data continues, and people’s privacy and security of personal and passport information is increasingly at risk.
Some other items featuring in this month’s CLArion include:
* Move to decriminalise abortion;
* Justice Kirby honoured for championing privacy;
* Australia rejoins world’s good guys;
* Video evidence: police can’t make up their minds;
* Former drugs supremo calls for legalisation;
* Ticketek suffers major privacy breach;
* Cards come up trumps for retail giants;
* Concerns increase for Baha’i in Yemen;
* Pakistani women buried alive over marriage;
* Lords to vote on secret inquests;
* Man gets $1.5m after police entrapment; and
* Irish bus pass may be ID card by stealth.
Previous CLArions (pdf files) are also available: