Sydney Criminal Lawyers® Weekly Rundown – Articles from 11 to 17 May 2020
In case you’ve missed any of them, here’s a rundown of the past week’s articles: Contractor Fined $100,000 Over Fatal Gas Mix-Up A newborn was killed and a child left with permanent brain damage, prompting the judge to remark, “[i]n...
Dutton’s ASIO Bill Further Erodes Legal Protections
As a reduced Australian parliament met for a series of special sitting days this week to deal with matters that couldn’t wait until after it resumes normal duties post-pandemic, home affairs minister Peter Dutton introduced some new rights-eroding laws, hoping...
Occupying the Mantra Rooftop for Refugees: An Interview With WACA’s Sam Castro
Right now, there are over 65 former offshore refugee detainees being held at the Mantra Hotel in the Melbourne suburb of Preston. Brought to Australia under the provisions of Medevac, these men with compromised health are now fearing for their...
India Cracks Down Further on Kashmir Under the Cover of COVID-19
Indian soldiers fatally shot a young Kashmiri man on Wednesday, claiming he’d ignored instructions to stop at two checkpoints in the disputed region of Kashmir. However, eyewitnesses state that the man - who was complying with security officials - was...
Post-COVID Restart Tough for Sex Workers: An Interview With SWOP’s Cameron Cox
The intimacy involved in a lot of sex industry services was always going to be problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic. But, now it seems that as the economy begins reopening, there’s confusion mounting around when the industry will be fully...
Australian ‘Church’ Fined for Selling Bleach as a Coronavirus Cure
If you thought Donald Trump spouting the potential health benefits of disinfectant to cure the coronavirus was ridiculous, a church in Australia has just been fined more than $150,000 for selling a concoction called Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS). In a...
Sydney Man Sent to Prison for Child Sexual Offences
“Police don’t have the tools or the power to catch people like me,” Kurtis Whaley boasted to a friend of one of his victims shortly before he was arrested at Sydney Airport in February 2019. In January 2020, the 24-year...
NSW Police Chief to Get 15% Pay Rise, While Many Are in Dire Straits
In a move that has caused a public backlash, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has recommended – and also painstakingly defended – a pay increase for the State’s Police Commissioner Mick Fuller worth a whopping $87,000. The Statutory and...
‘Lawyer X’ Royal Commission: More Than 1200 Cases to be Reviewed
In her closing remarks at the end of the The Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants’ public hearings, Commissioner Margaret McMurdo thanked the commission lawyers and staff who have been working to investigate and identify any tasks that...
Digital Climate Disruption: An Interview With Extinction Rebellion’s AJ Tennant
The big four Australian banks - Westpac, Commbank, ANZ and NAB - “collectively poured” around $35.4 billion dollars into the fossil fuel industry over the four years to 2019, Market Forces reported on 7 May. It added that $7.1 billion...
