Victoria Police: A Law Unto Themselves
Kyle Stewart was due to appear before Sunshine Magistrates Court on March 8 to face a charge of unlicensed driving. He had been arrested and held in police custody, but officers neglected to take him to court that morning despite being required to...
Should Publishing ‘Fake News’ be a Crime?
The Australian Constitution explicitly guarantees just five rights: The right to vote (Section 41), Protection against acquisition of property on unjust terms (Section 51 (xxxi)), The right to a trial by jury for criminal cases in the higher courts (Section 80), Freedom...
Brisbane Grandmother to be Deported After 50 Years in Australia
Fifty-two year old Maryanne Caric has not left Australia since she arrived as a two-year old from the former Republic of Yugoslavia – not even for a holiday. She does not speak her native language of Croatian, only English, and...
Australia Should Follow Portugal’s Drug Decriminalisation Model
Portugal decriminalised the possession of all illicit drugs for personal use in 2001. If an individual is found with a permitted amount of cannabis, methamphetamine or heroin on them, they are not sent to court where they face the prospect...
Belle Gibson Guilty, But Not Deterred
The federal court delivered its judgment on disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson this week, finding she broke the law in “most but not all” of the allegations brought against her. In handing down the decision, Justice Mortimer found that Ms Gibson...
Less Cash for Centrelink Recipients: Government Hails Debit Card Trial a Success
The federal government has declared its twelve-month trial of ‘cashless’ welfare cards a huge success, after an evaluation found it has contributed to a reduction in alcohol consumption and gambling in rural communities. The government is so pleased with the...
The Prison Industrial Complex – Exerting Social Control and Producing Cheap Labour
Prison industrial complex (PIC) is a term used to describe systems where the government uses incarceration as a way to deal with people labelled as undesirable, while helping private industry to turn a profit. Such models are heavily focused on...
Terrorism by the United States Goes Unpunished
During his election campaign, much of Donald Trump’s rhetoric hearkened back to the United States’ isolationist policy of the early to mid-twentieth century. Today, it’s hard to believe that the world’s reigning superpower once tried to avoid getting involved in the globe’s...
Sniffer Dog Operations – Ineffective, Intrusive and Dangerous
Once again, figures obtained under the Government Information (Public Access) Act NSW 2009 suggest that the enormous amount of taxpayer funds and police resources invested into drug dog detection programs are not delivering dividends when it comes to addressing the illegal...
Uber-Driving Lawyer Challenges Bully Cop
A criminal defence lawyer who was moonlighting as an Uber driver has filmed police trying to intimidate him and falsely claiming he was not allowed to film their encounter. North Carolina lawyer Jesse Bright was pulled over by police on...
