Mobile Phone Use While Driving – Statistics, Research and the Law
Using our mobile phones use has become so integrated into our lives, we may not even know how often we’re using them. We use our phones to email, check bank balances, pay bills, listen to music, take notes, scroll social...
Surveillance Cameras in the Neighbourhood
Ben moved into a rental property in July. He didn’t realise until a few weeks later that his neighbours had installed security cameras which capture not only their own property, but also Ben’s backyard. The cameras are small and hard...
The Push for Mandatory Consideration of Aboriginality During Sentencing
In the 2013 case of Bugmy versus the Queen, the High Court of Australia found that social disadvantage should be taken into account during the sentencing process. The court ruled that Aboriginal man William Bugmy’s deprived background should have been...
Drug Driving Laws Are Not About Road Safety
In December 2015, the NSW government announced it was tripling the number of mobile drug tests carried out annually to 97,000 tests by this year. As might be expected, the number of motorists being charged with drug driving offences has also skyrocketed....
‘Sugar Slaves’: Australia’s History of Blackbirding
The Queensland sugar industry currently generates $2 billion annually. But, it’s a little-known fact that the industry was built upon the backs of Pacific Island people, who were coerced, deceived and even kidnapped from their islands of origin to work...
New Laws to Protect Against Illegal Exploitation of Workers
The Victorian government is set to introduce new laws to crack down on the exploitation of workers – especially those on working holiday visas – by labour hire syndicates and businesses such as farms who hire from them. As part...
NSW Government’s Anti-Terrorism Hotline a “Dismal Failure”
A multi-million-dollar NSW government hotline which encourages the reporting of radicalisation and violent extremism, and provides advice and counselling, has been called a “dismal failure”. Despite costing millions to set up, NSW Minister for Counter Terrorism, David Elliot, says the...
Drug Possession Charge Quashed Due to Illegal Search
A man was recently acquitted of a conviction of drug possession in the NSW District Court, when he appealed his conviction by the Local Court on the ground that a police officer’s search was unlawful. The case reiterates that police...
Pill Testing Approved for Aussie Music Festival
Finally, after years of calls from health professionals and members of the public, Australia is about to see its first government-sanctioned pill testing trial at a music festival, with the aim, of course, of reducing the dangers associated with drug...
Cashless Welfare Card – National Rollout Set to Begin
Thousands of Queenslanders and Western Australians will be the next to have their Centrelink payments quarantined, as the federal government continues its rollout of the cashless welfare card. The Turnbull-led government announced plans to implement the card next year in...
