The Australian Prison Boom: Taking Care of Big Business
The number of people being detained in Australian correctional facilities is at an all-time high. As of March this year, there were 40,577 full-time adult inmates in this country, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released this month. The Australian prisoner...
Disabled Pensioners: the Government’s New Drug War Targets
The Turnbull government has hit a new low in its war against drugs. Legislation has just been tabled that proposes to deny the pension to hundreds of people who are currently deemed disabled due to their level of drug or...
Manslaughter by Text Message
A US judge has found that Michelle Carter caused the death of her boyfriend Conrad Roy, by sending him a barrage of text messages urging him to kill himself. Ms Carter faces up to 20 years in prison after being...
Prosecuting Potential Predators: Government Passes ‘Carly’s Law’
In 2007, 15-year old Carly Ryan was murdered in South Australia by 47-year old Gary Newman - who created more than 200 fake online profiles of young men to prey on underage girls. Carly’s mother, Sonya Ryan, later established the...
Turnbull Continues Assault on Civil Liberties
On Tuesday, Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull delivered his National Security Statement before parliament. During his speech, the PM focused on the threat of terrorism, declaring that his government was committed to “balancing the priority of community safety with individual liberties.”...
Prison for “Radicalised Inmates”: Protecting the Community or Increasing the Threat?
The NSW government announced last Sunday that it will be investing a further $47 million into the state’s correctional facilities in order to “future-proof” the prison system to prepare for a “new era of terrorist inmates.” The plan includes the construction...
Roll Up, Roll Up: Australia Desperately Needs Cyber Security Experts
Cyber-crime is on the rise. And we’re all at risk. In Australia, we have more mobile phones than people. About 84% of all phones are smartphones. We have a range of devices that connect to the internet – from TVs,...
Police Who Pre-Emptively Kill Suspected Terrorists Will Be Protected
The NSW government is set to introduce new laws by the end of this month which give police immunity for pre-emptively shooting a person they suspect of terrorism, even if that person does not pose an imminent threat to others....
No Overseas Travel for Child Sex Offenders
Australia is on the brink of introducing world-first legislation that will stop those convicted of child sex offenders from travelling overseas, in a bid to prevent offending abroad. Sex tourism has become big business globally, particularly developing nations such as...
NSW Lawyer Struck Off For Producing False Evidence
On 19 April 1996, Mark Ireland was admitted to practice as a solicitor in New South Wales. Seventeen years into his career, the lawyer engaged in professional misconduct and was struck off the roll of legal practitioners on 26 May this year....
