Should ‘Dowry Abuse’ be Criminalised?
A Senate Inquiry into ‘dowry abuse’ has heard that a disturbing number of women in Australia are being subjected to mental and physical abuse by their fiances or husbands with a view to having them elicit gifts from their families...
Calls to Stop Baseless Ban on Amyl Nitrite
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has just released an interim decision that would see amyl nitrite and other nitrite inhalants banned across Australia. The proposal would move these drugs into schedule 9 of the Poisons Standard along with substances such...
Should Employers be Allowed to Discriminate based on a Criminal Record?
The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has delivered its long-awaited report on the case of BE v Suncorp Group Ltd [2018] AusHRC 121, which raised important questions regarding discrimination against employment applicants based on their criminal records. Human rights law...
Government Careless with the Private Data of Citizens
The South Australian Government has been forced to shut down guest access to its online land titles registry, after an unidentified overseas ‘guest user’ was able to download the personal details of more than a million Australian home owners. The...
Legalising Personal Cannabis Use: An Interview With ACT Labor MP Michael Pettersson
ACT Labor MLA Michael Pettersson introduced a draft of a private member’s bill into the territory’s Legislative Assembly on 19 September that would effectively legalise the personal use and possession of cannabis. The Drugs of Dependence (Personal Cannabis Use) Amendment Bill...
Food Contamination Laws to be Strengthened
The federal government is proposing to increase the maximum prison term for anyone found guilty of contaminating food from 10 to 15 years. It is also seeking to broaden the scope of existing laws, in order to make it easier...
Politician Charged with Forgery, Fraud and Lying Under Oath
Former Western Australian MP Barry Urban has been charged with a dozen dishonesty offences including forgery, giving false evidence and fraud offences following his resignation from parliament. The story so far Former Labor MP, Barry Urban, quit Western Australian Parliament...
Dr Katelaris Spent Four Months in Prison for Possessing Massage Oil
Renowned medicinal cannabis practitioner Dr Andrew Katelaris was arrested in April after being pulled over by police on the Central Coast. The doctor was charged with supply of a prohibited drug, as an officer found two small bottles of what...
China to Rate Citizens and Regulate All Aspects of Their Lives
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is aiming to roll out its social credit system nationally by 2020. This is a mass surveillance system that relies on big data analysis the scope of which is so vast and invasive that it...
Australia’s First Free Trans Legal Service: An Interview with ICLC’s Hilary Kincaid
Sydney’s Inner City Legal Centre (ICLC) launched Australia’s first pro bono transgender and gender diverse legal service on 10 September. The pilot Trans and Gender Diverse Legal Service will be operating once a fortnight in Kings Cross. The ICLC has partnered...
