COVID-19: Is Sweden’s Strategy Sensible?
It has faced a great deal of criticism from around the world, particularly from its neighbours Norway, Finland and Denmark, but Sweden is refusing to consider a total lockdown in the face of the coronavirus. The nation’s Prime Minister Stefan...
The COVID-19 ‘Bonk Ban’: The Rules for Visiting Partners
In the final days of March, in address to the nation, Prime Minister Scott Morrison acknowledged the fear and uncertainty being experienced by many Australians during the current coronavirus pandemic, and said compassionately: “No Australian should have to go through...
COVID-19 Highlights the Need for an Australian Bill of Rights
Around the world, legal proceedings are being commenced against governments over social control measures implemented during COVID-19, but this presents a legal conundrum which must weigh the reduction of freedoms and legal safeguards against the need to stop the spread...
Should Pope Francis Have Made Comments After Pell’s Acquittal?
‘Empty streets and eerie silence greet George Pell’s final verdict,’ read the headline from the Guardian’s coverage of George Pell’s High Court acquittal this week. And how telling those words are. If we weren’t all preoccupied with the immediate and...
Police to Use Cameras to Enforce COVID-19 Restrictions
They told us the technology would be used to catch serious criminals, to protect us from potential terrorists and to keep our roads safe. But this weekend, police will use number plate recognition and cameras to ensure that we all...
COVID-19 Powers: Police Need to Use Common Sense When Exercising Their Discretion
Under NSW’s strict lockdown laws, it is an offence to leave home unless it is for work, school, to get groceries or for a limited number of other essential trips. Gatherings of more than two people are not permitted. And...
Should the Government Rescue Australians Stranded Overseas?
The plight of a young South Australian family trapped in the Philippines made headlines this week, as President Duterte gave police, military officials and barangay officials ‘shoot to kill’ orders for anyone disobeying rules, protesting against the country’s strict Coronavirus...
George Pell Not Guilty, High Court Finds
Cardinal George Pell will walk free today after the High Court of Australia granted special leave for him to appeal against his convictions in the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria for child sexual offences, allowed his...
The Offence of Criminal Negligence in New South Wales
The same day that The New South Wales Government ordered the closure of Bondi Beach, slamming beachgoers for being careless and flouting COVID-19 social distancing regulations, the Ruby Princess was given the go-ahead to dock in Sydney, bringing with her...
COVID-19 Social Controls: ‘An Authoritarian Wet Dream In Progress’
In the past several weeks, the government has pushed through legislation with unprecedented speed, ostensibly to slow the spread of COVID-19 by enforcing physical distancing and restricting travel. Amongst these laws are those which severely restrict our freedom of movement...
