Berejiklian’s Drug Depenalisation: A “Modest” Step Towards “Inevitable” Decriminalisation
At a 30 November meeting, NSW government cabinet ministers discussed a three-tiered system of depenalisation for the offence of personal drug possession. First spruiked by attorney general Mark Speakman, the step-in-the-right-direction policy gained broad, but not unanimous, support. A conservative...
World Moves Closer to Cannabis Decriminalisation
Despite the lamentable outcome of the NZ cannabis legalisation referendum that saw the usually progressive nation vote in a slight majority against making the plant legal for recreational use, the ongoing international trend towards cannabis use becoming a legal practice...
Lawyers Support Mandatory Reporting of Suspected Corruption
The Victorian judicial system is currently facing the enormous task of re-examining an estimated 1200 cases that may have been tainted because Nicola Gobbo - or ‘Lawyer X’ - informed on her own clients. Acting as a police informer between...
Government’s Plan to Criminalise Cash Payments Has Been Defeated
When the Currency (Restrictions on the Use of Cash) Bill 2019 was introduced to Parliament last year, it faced it’s fair share of media headlines, backlash and criticism. To the relief of many, the law is now officially dead after...
Sydney Criminal Lawyers® Weekly Rundown – Articles from 30 November to 6 December 2020
In case you’ve missed any of them, here’s a rundown of the past week’s articles: Sydney Criminal Lawyers® Weekly Rundown - Articles from 23 to 29 November 2020 In case you’ve missed any of them, here’s a rundown of the...
Victoria Police are Primarily Responsible for the ‘Lawyer X’ Scandal
Established in late 2018, the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants handed down its final report this week. The inquiry delved into Victoria police’s use of criminal lawyer Nicola Gobbo as a police informant and the implications this...
2020: ‘Worst Year’ for Domestic Violence Offences
When lockdowns hit around the world earlier this year, most people were concerned about their jobs, worried about how to homeschool the kids, stressed about pasta and toilet paper shortages, and the absence of friends and families, along with all...
The Brereton Report’s Detailing of Historical Australian War Crimes: Part 2
The recently released Brereton report into alleged SAS war atrocities perpetrated in Afghanistan provides an account of historical Australian war crimes committed in six different conflicts. In our first article relating to the history, we provided a rundown on the...
The Brereton Report’s Detailing of Historical Australian War Crimes: Part 1
The laws of armed conflict or international humanitarian law (IHL) are a set of rules governing what can and cannot be done during war. The four Geneva Conventions and their protocols comprise the majority of the law, with almost all...
Managing Problematic Behaviours: An Interview With Smart Recovery’s Josette Freeman
As it’s often said, the first step to recovery is admitting to yourself that you have a problem, while the second step is reaching out. And for many people, what springs to mind initially is 12 step recovery programs, such...
