The CNS Prevents Indigenous Deaths in Custody: An Interview with Gerry Georgatos
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody delivered its final report on April 15 1991. The commissioners made 339 recommendations concerning custody procedures, liaison with Indigenous groups and the education of police. The 223rd recommendation was that police, Aboriginal...
Stop Testing Drivers for Minute Traces of Cannabis
Most Australian states and territories currently carry out mobile drug testing (MDT) operations that only test for three illicit substances: amphetamines, MDMA and cannabis. In Tasmania and the Northern Territory, police test for longer lists of illegal drugs. In NSW, authorities have...
Intensive Correction Orders Reduce Re-Offending Rates
The NSW inmate population is at an all-time high. In June this year, there were 13,092 inmates being held in our state’s correctional facilities, according to NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) figures. 4,309 of these full-time adult...
Recent Report Triggers Debate About Gun Control Laws
Date published: 16 October 2017 Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and injured close to 500, when he opened fire on a crowd at a country music festival in Las Vegas on October 1. The gunman had a huge arsenal of high-power...
High Court Dismisses Appeal Against Attempted Murder Charge
On 28 April 2012, ex-Bandido biker club member Jacques Teamo walked into a Sony store in the Gold Coast’s Robina Town Centre mall accompanied by his two sons. Mark James Graham from rival club, the Mongols, was walking by and noticed...
NSW Government Continues to Remove Legal Safeguards and Protections
The NSW Coalition government is continuing its ongoing assault on civil liberties under the guise of combating terrorism. On October 4, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announced her government will be introducing the “nation’s toughest terror laws.” Set to be introduced in November, the...
Biometric Surveillance: An Interview with Electronic Frontiers Australia’s Jon Lawrence
Date first published: 14 October 2017 The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on October 5 marked a new era of mass surveillance in this country, as the leaders of all states and territories signed on to the Turnbull government’s proposal...
Sydney Council Plans to Designate 54 More Alcohol Free Zones
As a general rule, it is not an offence for adults in NSW to drink alcohol in public. But over the years, various councils across the state have introduced alcohol free zones - where the consumption of alcohol is prohibited....
Protecting Online Privacy: An Interview with Digital Rights Watch’s Tim Singleton Norton
The Australian government has been steadily tightening laws regarding the digital environment over the last few decades, frequently in the name of counterterrorism. However, many of these laws have been impacting the civil liberties of all individuals – none more...
Can Police Demand the Password to My Phone or Computer?
Many will recall last year’s battle between the United States Justice Department and technology giant Apple, whereby the former spent millions of dollars trying to force the latter to unlock the IPhone of a gunman allegedly involved in the San...
