Low Range Drink Drivers to Face On-The-Spot Fines & Suspensions
Low-range drink driving is where a driver has a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 to 0.79 millilitres per 210 litres of breath. The maximum penalty when it’s the driver’s first major traffic offence within 5 years is an ‘automatic’ licence...
Government Seeks Power to Intercept Phone Communications
“The best way to take control over a people and control them severely is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way, the people...
Australia’s Dirty Secret: Indigenous Youth Incarceration
International human rights group Amnesty International is putting its global might behind a campaign to change one of Australia’s ‘dirtiest secrets’: that the vast majority of young people behind bars are Indigenous. The organisation points out that the detention of...
How to Become a Barrister in NSW
For many aspiring and admitted lawyers, the idea of wearing the wig and gown which signifies barristers at the bar when entering a higher courtroom can be enticing. Many NSW lawyers enter the Bar after practising as a solicitor for...
Supreme Court Dismisses Gordon Wood’s Malicious Prosecution Claim
Gordon Wood has failed in his bid to sue for malicious prosecution after he was acquitted of murdering his girlfriend Caroline Byrne. A prosecution without merit Mr Wood was found guilty in 2008 of throwing Ms Byrne off a cliff...
Sydney Man Faces Prison over 3D Printed Replica Firearms
A Sydney man who pleaded guilty to manufacturing replica guns with a 3D printer is facing a lengthy prison sentence. Mr Sicen Sun was arrested last year after advertising one of his replica firearms on a Facebook community ‘Buy, Swap...
Changes to NSW Sentencing Options: Community Correction Orders
The NSW Parliament assented to the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Amendment (Sentencing Options) Act 2017 (the Act) on 24 October 2017, which amends the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (the Sentencing Act) as it relates to the penalty options available to magistrates and...
New ‘Foreign Interference’ Laws Are Aimed at Stifling Dissent
Donald Trump has insisted throughout his presidency that there was “no collusion” between his election campaign and the Russian government. Just hours before his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was set to go on trial for tax and bank fraud...
Citizens’ Group to Fight Police Corruption
Many believe the culture of misconduct in the Queensland Police Force (QPS) is worse than ever before, even poorer than prior to the state’s 1987 Fitzgerald Inquiry into police corruption. Despite recommendations for better accountability mechanisms, police in Queensland -...
Police Officers Not Disciplined Despite Endangering Victims
Concerns have re-emerged about Queensland police officers escaping discipline despite illegally accessing the personal information of individuals on a restricted police database. Information released under the state’s right to information laws reveals that of 59 officers investigated internally after illegally...
