The Suspicious Death in Custody of Tane Chatfield
Tane Chatfield was found unconscious in his cell at Tamworth Correctional Centre just after 9am on September 20. Two days later, he died in hospital. The Corrective Services investigation unit announced that the death of the 22-year-old father-of-one was “not...
The Law Treats De Facto Partners Differently to Married Couples
It is frequently claimed by opponents of same-sex marriage that homosexual couples already enjoy the same legal rights as those who are married. But that is not actually the case - there are a range of laws which clearly distinguish...
Drug Decriminalisation Is Logical: An Interview with SSDP Australia’s Penelope Hill
The tough on drugs approach has been shown to actually increase the harms associated with the use of illicit substances. However, successive Australian governments have ignored the evidence and continue to apply zero tolerance policies. Nowhere is this more apparent...
Should Ten-Year Olds Face Criminal Liability?
A leading Professor of Criminology at the University of New South Wales has renewed calls for Australia to change laws which allow children as young as ten to be locked up in juvenile detention centres, saying it sets them up...
Indigenous Nations Are Set to Become Economically Independent
There are over 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations across the continent known as Australia, and its surrounding islands. Since the British have occupied the land mass, the disparity between First Nations people and the newcomers has grown exponentially....
The US Warns It Will Once Again “Totally Destroy” North Korea
Tensions continue to mount on the North Korean peninsula, as the Trump administration and the regime of Kim Jong-un continue threats to carry out pre-emptive military strikes against each other. On September 25, North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong-ho warned...
Mobile Phone Use While Driving – Statistics, Research and the Law
Using our mobile phones use has become so integrated into our lives, we may not even know how often we’re using them. We use our phones to email, check bank balances, pay bills, listen to music, take notes, scroll social...
Surveillance Cameras in the Neighbourhood
Ben moved into a rental property in July. He didn’t realise until a few weeks later that his neighbours had installed security cameras which capture not only their own property, but also Ben’s backyard. The cameras are small and hard...
The Push for Mandatory Consideration of Aboriginality During Sentencing
In the 2013 case of Bugmy versus the Queen, the High Court of Australia found that social disadvantage should be taken into account during the sentencing process. The court ruled that Aboriginal man William Bugmy’s deprived background should have been...
Drug Driving Laws Are Not About Road Safety
In December 2015, the NSW government announced it was tripling the number of mobile drug tests carried out annually to 97,000 tests by this year. As might be expected, the number of motorists being charged with drug driving offences has also skyrocketed....
