The Sentencing Database: An Interview with NSW Judicial Commission CEO Ernest Schmatt
The Judicial Commission of NSW plays a key role in the running of this state’s justice system, providing ongoing educational information to judicial officers, while investigating complaints made against them. The commission is an independent statutory corporation established that was under the Judicial...
“Don’t Do the Crime if you Can’t Do the Time”: The Conservative’s Mantra
“Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time” - it’s a catchphrase often used when someone is accused of a crime, or during discussions about bail laws or incarceration rates in Australia. But the reality is that significant...
The Slow Passage of Women’s Workplace Rights in Australia
Despite years of legislating against the gender pay gap, it remains a persistent feature of the Australian workplace. Unequal pay outcomes for women are a stark reminder that there’s an antiquated perception that a woman’s contribution in the workplace is...
Turnbull to Cut Funding to Community Legal Centres
Already in Australia, over 45,000 people per year are left to represent themselves in court - often against a well-resourced and professional prosecution. It is a situation that leaves thousands vulnerable to injustice. Now, the Commonwealth government plans to drastically...
It’s Time to Decriminalise, Regulate and Tax Drugs
The release of the Australia 21 report on drugs caused quite a stir last week. Entitled Can Australia Respond to Drugs More Effectively and Safely?, the report made a number of key recommendations aiming to decriminalise drugs use in this country. What...
It Pays to Know Your Rights
A judge in Downing Centre District Court has found in favour of a 24-year old man who sued the state of NSW for false imprisonment after police illegally detained him for four minutes and 15 seconds at a suburban train...
Democratising Science: An Interview with BioFoundry’s Meow
Biohacking is a rather recent phenomena. It’s a kind of do-it-yourself biotechnology that people are conducting in small labs outside the boundaries of universities and research institutions. A social movement where people are taking responsibility for biological breakthroughs themselves. Without the...
Are You ‘Fit and Proper’ to be a Lawyer?
Last month, we reported on the case of an 86-year-old lawyer who was ‘struck off‘ after the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal declared he was “no longer a fit and proper person to engage in legal practice.” Between July 2009 and...
It’s Official – Sydney is Australia’s Cocaine Capital
The most extensive study into illegal drug use in Australia has found that Sydney is the nation’s cocaine capital, and that the use of crystal methamphetamine, or ‘ice’, is on the rise in rural areas. The research, costing more than...
A Pioneer of Harm Reduction: An Interview with Dr Ingrid van Beek
There’s been a push from harm reduction experts to implement a system of pill testing at music festivals and nightclub precincts for years now. This evidence-based approach allows drug users to understand what they’re consuming and has been carried out in European...
