South Australia’s ‘Medicinal Cannabis Defence’ Hits a Roadblock
Independent public policy think tank Australia 21 released its latest report on drugs back in March. The document outlines thirteen key recommendations designed to minimise the harms associated with illicit substance use. Significantly, eleven of the sixteen participants who produced the report...
NSW Government Passes Thought-Crime Laws
The NSW upper house has passed a bill which will allow the Attorney General to apply to keep an inmate behind bars beyond the completion of their entire sentence if he thinks they may commit a terrorism-related offence sometime in...
When sending a ‘dick pic’ is not sexual harassment
A Coles baker who was fired for sending pictures of his penis to his manager has been cleared of ‘sexual harassment’. The story so far Brisbane man Jay Higgins was asked by his male manager via text message to provide...
Fears for the Life of the Boy Who Cannot Be Named
We previously reported that at around 4.30 pm on May 19 this year, two Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) workers, accompanied by four NSW police officers, entered Newcastle’s Church of Ubuntu, and removed a boy, who’d been residing there...
The Law Firm Without Lawyers
There’s a new law firm in Darwin calling itself the first in Australia with no lawyers. The firm has an office, but you make appointments with a computer and, when you attend, you sit at a screen and answer a...
Criminalising Sex Workers Leaves Them Vulnerable to Attack
At around 12.30 am on June 24, a security guard opened the door to an apartment in Enfield, north London, and a group of five men wielding knives entered the premises. Ms Maria Benito (not her real name) was taken...
Murder by Proxy: The Death of Charles Manson
Charles Manson, one of the most notorious murderers in modern history, passed away of natural causes last Sunday, after spending close to half a century behind bars. But what many don’t realise is that he was never convicted of killing...
Exposing Agricultural Brutality: An Interview with Chris Delforce
A bill largely aimed at curbing stock theft and illegal hunting in rural NSW passed through state parliament on November 15. NSW Greens MLC David Shoebridge unsuccessfully pushed for an amendment to the bill, due to a provision he described...
Royal Commission Rejects Punitive Approach to Juvenile Justice
The final report of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory was tabled in parliament on 17th November 2017. It represents an unequivocal rejection of the Territory’s ‘tough on crime’ approach to juvenile...
NSW Police Strip-Search Female Protesters
Two women protesting the treatment of asylum seekers on Manus Island have reported being arrested, conveyed to the police station and strip-searched before being released without charge. Susan Price and Rachel Evans were amongst around 200 people protesting Australia’s offshore...
