Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVOs) Are Now Enforceable Nationwide
As of 25 November 2017, ‘Persons in Need of Protection’ (PINOPs) – or complainants – who are the subject of domestic violence orders (DVOs) in any Australian state or territory are automatically protected nationwide. The National Domestic Violence Order Scheme...
Woman Imprisoned for Consuming Soft Drink in Store
An Indigenous woman has been sentenced to 3 months in prison for consuming a soft drink inside a rural grocery store. It’s just one example of the harsh and unfair punishments which are regularly handed-down to Indigenous Australians, contributing to...
NT to Deploy Anti-Terrorist Police to Deal with Young People
Last Friday, Northern Territory police announced it will be deploying the Territory Response Group (TRG) to patrol Darwin and Alice Springs over the Christmas period. The group is part of the Australian government’s National Counter Terrorism Task Force. The operation...
Prison Sentences Can Now Be Extended for Possible Future Crimes
On November 22, the Berejiklian government passed one of the most draconian pieces of legislation the western world has ever seen. The laws enable authorities to further penalise inmates for crimes they haven’t committed or even planned, but rather, for...
White Nationalism on the Rise in Australia?
On November 8, Australian Labor senator Sam Dastyari was buying drinks at the VU bar in Melbourne’s Footscray, when he was accosted by a group of men who surrounded him and started hurling racist abuse. And like it was a...
Dying with Dignity Laws Passed in Victoria
Historic voluntary euthanasia laws passed Victoria’s upper house after a 28-hour marathon sitting, and the state is expected to become the first to legalise assisted dying for the terminally ill. The second reading resulted in 22 votes being registered in...
South Australia’s ‘Medicinal Cannabis Defence’ Hits a Roadblock
Independent public policy think tank Australia 21 released its latest report on drugs back in March. The document outlines thirteen key recommendations designed to minimise the harms associated with illicit substance use. Significantly, eleven of the sixteen participants who produced the report...
NSW Government Passes Thought-Crime Laws
The NSW upper house has passed a bill which will allow the Attorney General to apply to keep an inmate behind bars beyond the completion of their entire sentence if he thinks they may commit a terrorism-related offence sometime in...
Royal Commission Rejects Punitive Approach to Juvenile Justice
The final report of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory was tabled in parliament on 17th November 2017. It represents an unequivocal rejection of the Territory’s ‘tough on crime’ approach to juvenile...
NSW Police Strip-Search Female Protesters
Two women protesting the treatment of asylum seekers on Manus Island have reported being arrested, conveyed to the police station and strip-searched before being released without charge. Susan Price and Rachel Evans were amongst around 200 people protesting Australia’s offshore...
