Concerns for the Mental Health of Magistrates
There are calls for a review of the workplace health and safety of members of the judiciary, with the recent deaths of two Victorian magistrates raising concerns about their mental wellbeing. The sudden passing of magistrate Stephen Myall just weeks...
Tough New Laws Proposed for Corporate Crime
With revelations of systemic corporate misconduct surfacing during the current Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (‘the Banking Royal Commission’), the federal government is proposing to increase penalties for criminal offences under the Corporations...
AMP May Face Criminal Charges
Senior Council Rowena Orr QC says financial services provider AMP could face criminal charges for making misleading statements to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Misconduct findings The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry...
Australian Pensioners Living in Poverty
A Darwin rental property manager won social media hearts recently when she successfully crowdfunded her client’s rental arrears after his pension was cut off. Centrelink debacle Derek Holbrook lives alone in Darwin. His pension recently came up for review under...
No More ‘Section 10 Bonds’ in NSW
On 24 October 2017, the NSW Parliament assented to the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Amendment (Sentencing Options) Act 2017 (the Act) which, as the name suggests, amends the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (the Sentencing Act) in respect of the sentencing options...
Government Wants Crime Commission to Lose Its Ability to Investigate
The New South Wales Crime Commission is a statutory body established by the state government in 1986 to, as its motto says, ‘Analyse. Investigate. Confiscate’; that is, to analyse and investigate serious criminal activity, and confiscate proceeds of crime. The...
Wrongly Convicted Man Awarded $1.5 Million
A cognitively-impaired Indigenous man who spent nearly five years in a Western Australian prison for a crime he didn’t commit has received compensation. The Western Australian government has provided a cognitively-impaired Indigenous man with an ex gratia payment of $1.5...
Client Legal Privilege in New South Wales
Donald Trump is fighting attempts by US prosecutors to obtain approval to review communications seized from the home and offices of his lawyer, Michael Cohen. It is reported that Trump is concerned, among other things, about the exposure of his...
Greens Push to Legalise Cannabis
The Greens have highlight the fact that drug prohibition has proven to be a “dismal failure” and are pushing to legalise marijuana across Australia. It is the first party with seats in parliament to call for the legalisation of recreational...
When is a Defendant Unfit for Trial?
Fitness for trial relates to the defendant’s ability to comprehend and fairly participate in the trial process. It is a procedural question which is reserved for the higher courts, such as the District or Supreme Court, and is separate from...
