Section 32 Mental Health Applications: A Psychiatrist’s Report is Not Necessary
Joseph Perdicaro was charged with two criminal offences on 6 April 2018. The first was stalking or intimidation with intent to cause physical or mental harm under section 13 of the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW). This...
When Can Police Arrest a Person, and How Much Force Can be Applied?
Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) is investigating an incident during which police officers broke a man’s neck when they came to his house to tell him to turn his stereo down. The story of 47-year old Chris Karadaglis is...
NSW Police May be Bugging the Phones of Criminal Defence Lawyers
The New South Wales Police Commissioner has avoided answering questions raised in Parliament about whether the New South Wales police force is using spyware to infiltrate the mobile phones and computers of criminal defence lawyers, regardless of laws which protect...
NSW Police Are Illegally Strip-Searching Children
She was sixteen years old and ready to enjoy the time of her life. Moments later she was naked, crying and alone with a police officer who demanded she lift up the panty liner of her underwear as part of...
Can Police Search Through Your Mobile Phone?
Despite it being a commonly held belief, police don’t actually have the power to simply walk up to someone on the street, demand they hand over their phone and then trawl through it. Rather, there are certain laws that officers...
Assaulting a Police Officer in Potts Point Case Study
Two men and two women are facing court charged with assaulting police, after fight in Potts Point led to five police officers being injured. The brawl started after a man and a woman allegedly refused to leave the Flamingo Lounge...
Mainstream Media Finally Stands Up!
After being targeted by the recent AFP press raids, journalists and media organisations are finally standing up against years of laws which - while passed under the guise of protecting against terrorism - are actually being used to silence critics...
Is It Illegal to Refuse a Strip Search in NSW?
In case you’ve been living under a rock over the last 12 months, the use of strip searches by New South Wales police has skyrocketed in recent years. NSW Greens MLC David Shoebridge released figures last December showing that the...
‘Any Extent’ of Injury Can Amount to Female Genital Mutilation, High Court finds
In a majority decision released today, the High Court of Australia found that a female’s genitals do not need to be ‘render[ed] imperfect or irreparably damaged in some fashion’ for the offence of female genital mutilation to be established. The...
The Crime of Poisoning in New South Wales
After one of the biggest medical disasters in our nation’s history, Australia’s ‘Thalidomide babies’ are still waiting for an apology and promised compensation. Who are Australia’s Thalidomide babies? Thalidomide babies were born in the late 1950s and early 1960s., when...
