Priests Should be Prosecuted for Failing to Report Child Sexual Assault
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has recommended that clergy who fail to report child sexual assaults disclosed during religious confessions should face criminal charges. The Commissioners heard evidence that confessions of child sexual abuse were...
Woman Convicted for Attempting an Abortion in NSW
A Sydney woman has been convicted of self-administering a drug in an attempt to terminate her 28 week pregnancy. Cue outrage – and let the chant of ‘her body, her choice’ ring loud and clear. But the important thing to...
Nimbin Locals Imprisoned for Selling Cannabis
Jurisdictions around the world are legalising cannabis. One in five US citizens now lives in a state where the recreational use of the plant is permitted. Uruguay changed its laws to allow marijuana use nationwide back in 2013. And Canada...
False Domestic Violence Complaints Ruin Lives
Domestic violence has reached epidemic levels in Australia. The figures show that on average, one person is killed every week at the hands of their current or former partner. Shelters, crisis services, and frontline community legal centres are stretched to...
Is Trump Tweeting Us Into War with North Korea?
It seems that in the age of Trump, tweeting threats of war has become part and parcel of US foreign diplomacy. On Friday, the US president wrote on the social media platform that “Military solutions are now in place, locked...
Man Charged with Making False Emergency Calls
A Canberra man charged with making a series of allegedly false complaints to emergency services has pleaded not guilty, contending that it is “not a crime” to call triple-0. The allegations 61-year old Henryk Jozwik allegedly called emergency services a...
Public Servants Gagged by New Social Media Rules
New social media rules released by the Australian Public Service Commission seek to prohibit public sector employees from criticising government policies on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. The rules The new rules were published on 7 August 2017 under...
The High Price of Australia’s Flawed Criminal Justice System
Incarceration rates in Australia are at an all-time high. The sharp increase in the number of people being imprisoned in this country began back in the 1970s. In June last year, there were 38,845 adults being held in Australian correctional facilities,...
Changes Brought In by the New National Firearms Agreement
First published: 10 August 2017 Last week, we featured a piece on the mass shootings that led to tighter gun controls in Australia, such as the Hoddle Street and Strathfield massacres. There were others. Frank Vitkovic killed eight people and then himself...
Police Caught Planting Evidence
Two different groups of Baltimore police officers have been accused of planting evidence at supposed crime scenes, after incriminatory body camera footage came to light. The videos have forced Baltimore prosecutors to drop dozens of cases involving one of the...
