Successful Drug Regulation: An Interview with Dr Julian Buchanan
The call for drug law reform is getting stronger, both globally and domestically. There is a growing acknowledgement amongst communities and former holders of positions of authority that the century-old drug prohibition model has failed. The 2011 Global Commission on Drug...
Government Bans Alleged Drug Suppliers from Inner City Public Housing
The Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) issued a letter to inner city public housing applicants on February 28, explaining that they’ll be banned from certain housing estates if they were convicted of, or even charged with, drug supply or...
NSW Lawyer Struck Off and Prosecuted For Fraud
When applying to be admitted into the Australian legal profession, law graduates are required to undergo a character test to determine whether they are a “fit and proper person” to engage in legal practise. However, there are lawyers who -...
Politicians Should be Allowed to Criticise Judges, Argues Former High Court Justice
Former High Court Justice Dyson Heydon has written a searing critique of a hearing last year in the Victorian Court of Appeal (VCA), which determined whether to prosecute three federal ministers for contempt of court after they criticised the Victorian...
New Police Watchdog Lacks the Funding to Investigate Complaints
The new NSW police watchdog has revealed that due to a lack of funding it’s had to forego monitoring a large number of already active critical incident investigations, as well as disregard more than fifty police integrity complaints. In a...
Dutton’s White Australia Policy
Home affairs minister Peter Dutton has once again sparked a furore over his refugee policies. On March 14, the minister revealed to the Daily Telegraph that he’s instructed his department to look into fast-tracking humanitarian visas for “persecuted” white South...
The Homelessness Crisis Is Growing
The 2016 Census homelessness data was finally released on March 14. It confirms what many already knew, that the number of people experiencing homeless in this country is on a steep increase. Indeed, 50 out of every 10,000 Australians is now...
Stop Sniffer Dog Operations: An Interview With the Sniff Off Campaign’s Xiaoran Shi
The campaign against the warrantless use of sniffer dogs in public places by NSW police is moving North. The Sniff Off campaign, which is a collaboration between Greens MLC David Shoebridge and the NSW Young Greens, launched in Newcastle on...
Court Security Screening of Lawyers is Unwarranted
In late February, NSW Bar Association president Arthur Moses SC called a meeting with the head of the Office of the Sheriff of New South Wales, Tracey Hall, to discuss the ongoing frustrations of lawyers who are subjected to time-consuming...
China and NSW Are Increasingly Targeting ‘Future Criminals’
So, what does the far western province of Xinjiang in China have in common with the state of New South Wales? Answer: authorities in both regions are cracking down on future crime, in so far as both are employing policies...
