NSW Police with Drug Dogs Saturate Global Mardi Gras: An Interview With Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann
The Australian prime minister marching in the Sydney Mardi Gras this year marked a stark shift in societal values as compared with the first time the event was staged in 1978, which saw the NSW police violently set upon the...
Evolution of Contempt of Court Charges
Contempt of court charges have existed as far back as the 12th century, when it was called, ‘Contempt of the King’ under Anglo Saxon Laws. During the reign of King Edward the Confessor and King William the Conqueror, the offence...
Queensland Set to Introduce Pill Testing
Queensland has been criticised in recent years for its increasingly punitive approach to crime - policies such as suppressing divergent thinking and prosecuting young alleged offenders rather than seeking to embrace free thought, address the underlying causing of crime and...
Free Speech versus Censorship: Where Should the Line be Drawn?
At the beginning of this year, a small independent magazine was pulled from bookstore and news agency shelves in New Zealand over claims it had published sensitive information about the Christchurch Mosque massacre in 2019. The accusation, which appeared in...
Sydney Criminal Lawyers® Weekly Rundown – Articles from 20 to 26 February 2023
In case you’ve missed any of them, here’s a rundown of the past week’s articles: Queensland Police Target Divergent Thought Considered as Dangerous The state’s police have been directed to report all matters involving sovereign citizens, religious extremists and conspiracy...
Government’s Press Freedom Roundtable is Futile if Assange’s Persecution is Ignored
The “elephant in the room” at attorney general Mark Dreyfus’ press freedoms roundtable this Monday is going to be Julian Assange, as any discussion on countering the erosion of local media protections will be left wanting without addressing his plight, the Assange...
UN Detainee Torture Prevention Committee Cancels Recalcitrant Australia
The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) announced on Monday that it’s terminated its trip to Australia, which it already attempted and had to pull out of midway last October, after NSW and Queensland had refused the delegation access to...
“We’re Seeing No Substantial Change”: School Strike 4 Climate’s Ethan Lyons on a Viable Future
Students across NSW, across the continent and further, across the planet are walking out of their classrooms next Friday, 3 March 2023, to take part in a global strike, calling on governments worldwide to take the action drastically needed to...
Sydney Solicitor Cleared of Sexual Assault Allegations
A solicitor employed with a criminal law firm in Sydney’s west has been cleared of all sexual assault allegations made against him. 29-year old criminal defence lawyer Steven Mercael was charged with aggravated sexual assault as well as the lesser...
Royal Commission into Robodebt: Too Little, Too Late for Many Australians
Blame shifting, vague responses and unreliable memories have characterised the Royal Commission into the Federal Government’s Robodebt scheme which operated between 2015 and 2019, illegally extorting $750 million from 380,000 social security recipients, leading several to take their own lives...