Appeal Court Finds GBH Sentence Inadequate, But Does Not Resentence
At 6.43 pm on 6 February 2015, Craig Lulham sent a text message to Bill, the husband of his friend Allison’s mother. It stated, “Bring the cops. I don’t care. It won’t stop me from smashing you are [sic] face...
Police Body Cameras Rarely Used
In November 2015, Queensland Police hosted a large-scale media launch for the first stage of a $6 million state-wide rollout of body cameras. At the time, the initiative was hailed as a “VERY. BIG. DEAL”, with hopes the devices would...
The Massacres That Led to Tighter Gun Control in Australia
The National Firearms Agreement (NFA) established tighter firearm control laws back in 1996. This led Australian gun laws to become the envy many other countries. But over the following twenty years, these laws have slowly been eroded. And this has much...
Text Message Killer Sentenced
As previously reported, the case of an American woman who sent several text messages urging her boyfriend to commit suicide made legal history in the US, after she was found guilty of manslaughter. Michelle Carter now 20, was 17 when...
Government’s Ban on ‘Stop Smoking Aid’ Makes No Sense
Over three million Australians continue to partake in one of the most deadly habits around. Although smoking rates have fallen dramatically in recent decades, the last national survey found that 15.6 percent of the adult population are still lighting up. Two...
Changing Attitudes: An Interview with Domestic Violence NSW CEO Moo Baulch
Last Saturday, NSW Labor committed to introducing 10 days’ paid domestic and family violence leave. The move follows a campaign launched in July by the Australian Council of Trade Unions to have the leave enshrined in the national employment standards...
Premier Demands that Council Moves-On Martin Place Rough Sleepers
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters this week that the Martin Place rough sleepers make her feel “completely uncomfortable.” But that’s to be expected. As NSW MPs are confronted with the state’s homelessness crisis directly across the road from Parliament House, it’s...
The Dangers of a Blanket Ban on Synthetic Drugs
“The global war on drugs has failed,” the Global Commission on Drug Policy declared on June 2 2011. The panel of world leaders and intellectuals outlined in its report that prohibition has led to increased drug consumption, fostered powerful crime networks...
Sexual Assault: ‘Part of University Life’
Recommendations have been made for an independent investigation into the problem of sexual assaults at Australian universities, after a survey found that students are suffering “unacceptable” rates of victimisation. The findings arise from a landmark survey of 31,000 Australian students,...
Police Back Down on Sniffer Dogs: An Interview with MLC David Shoebridge
NSW police have begun to back off with their drug detection dog operations. The latest figures suggest that the number of searches carried out by police after a positive indication from a sniffer dog has almost halved over the last six years....
