Criminal Laws Only Deter When They Are Seen as Just
Politicians often invoke tough-on-crime rhetoric to win votes - playing to popular perceptions that penalties are too weak and that, when dealing with defendants, magistrates and judges should ‘lock’em up and throw away the key’. There is also a popular...
SA Liberals Intensify War Against Cannabis Users
Recreational cannabis will be legalised nationwide in Canada on 17 October. In the US, smoking pot is now permitted in nine states. And back in April, Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale launched a campaign calling for the plant to be legalised...
Australian Government is Causing Humanitarian Crisis
The Turnbull government recently began cutting off financial support to a new cohort of people seeking asylum, leading refugee advocacy groups to warn that this cruel policy has the potential to cause a humanitarian crisis on Australian streets. On 27 June,...
Calls for Convicted Catholic Archbishop to be Sacked
Adelaide Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson’s lawyers have said their client intends to appeal his conviction for concealing child sexual abuse. The 67-year old is believed to be the highest ranking Catholic in the world to be convicted of concealing child sex...
Should We Be Allowed to Carry ‘Prohibited Weapons’ for Self-Defence?
A Queensland senator recently called upon the Federal Government to allow Australians to import and buy pepper spray and Tasers for self-defence. Katter Australia Party’s Fraser Anning, who moved the motion in the upper house, argued it is the government’s...
Beware! Police are Accessing Commercial DNA Databases
Aussies are being warned about the risks of providing DNA to map their family histories, after it recently emerged that genealogy companies are increasingly providing police with access to their DNA databases. Tens of thousands of Australians have already provided...
Medically Supervised Injecting Centre to Open in Melbourne
In the wake of 34 deaths by overdose in the North Richmond local council area in 2015 alone, the Victorian state government responded to community calls for a safe injecting room late last year by approving a two-year trial. Victoria’s...
Indigenous Child Removals Linked to Incarceration: An Interview With GMAR’s Helen Eason
During a recent NT Estimates Committee hearing, it was revealed that 100 percent of children being held in youth detention in the Territory are Aboriginal. This figure is even more staggering when you consider that First Nations peoples account for...
NSW Police Criticised for Targeting ‘Absurd’ Offence
Residents in the Illawarra region, north of Wollongong, are angry about being targeted for an offence which has been described as ‘obscure’, ‘trivial’ and even ‘absurd’. The offence Regulation 213 of the Road Rules 2014 (NSW) is titled ‘making a...
New Laws Passed Against ‘Modern Slavery’
New South Wales has become the first Australian jurisdiction to introduce legislation against what has come to be known as ‘modern slavery’. The new law The Modern Slavery Bill 2018 (NSW) was introduced into parliament by Paul Green, who was the...
