COVID-19 Social Controls: ‘An Authoritarian Wet Dream In Progress’
In the past several weeks, the government has pushed through legislation with unprecedented speed, ostensibly to slow the spread of COVID-19 by enforcing physical distancing and restricting travel. Amongst these laws are those which severely restrict our freedom of movement...
Judges Call For Oversight of Police Powers During COVID-19
A number of prominent former Australian judges are calling for a bi-partisan parliamentary oversight committee to ensure adequate scrutiny of Australia’s COVID-19 response. A similar body has already been established in New Zealand, with many local legal scholars sounding the...
Man Fined for Eating a Kebab Alone on a Bench
When New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian shut down Parliament House last week, she essentially left the NSW Police Force in charge of the health and wellbeing of the state. New laws had already been rushed through Parliament giving police...
The Offence of Failing to Comply With a Public Health Order
It has been reported that at around 9.20am on Wednesday, 1 April 2020, a 41-year old woman from Queanbeyan in south eastern New South Wales was walking along a street in Cooma when she allegedly “stepped in front of another...
COVID-19: The New Restrictions on Gatherings and Movement
In recent weeks, several pieces of rights-eroding legislation have been rushed through state and federal parliaments, and orders made under broad powers contained in existing legislation, which are ostensibly to promote public safety but at the same time give unprecedented...
COVID-19: Sweeping Changes to Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) Procedures
As COVID-19 continues to impact on the community, the Chief Magistrate of the Local Court NSW, Judge Graeme Henson continues to make new arrangements to protect court users. The latest arrangements relate to Apprehended Violence Orders (AVOs) and will start...
Defendant Granted Bail Due to Coronavirus Concerns
As the COVID-19 epidemic unfolds, it’s having a substantial impact on the Australian criminal justice system, from the Local Court all the way up to the High Court of Australia. NSW District Court Chief Judge Derek Price announced on 30...
Should Politicians Take Pay Cuts?
Hundreds of thousands of Australians are out of work or working from home due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of businesses have shut their doors, many never to reopen. A large number of these have been built by ordinary Australians...
What is the Defence of Necessity?
Police have reported that just after 5pm on Friday, 27 March 2020, police sought to pull over an Audi case that was being driven on Greenacre Road in Greenacre, south-western Sydney. According to police, the vehicle accelerated to at least...
The New Police Powers to Deal With COVID-19
The NSW Police Force will have thousands of additional officers deployed on the streets enforcing new coronavirus social distancing rules and self-isolating requirements in an attempt, as NSW police minister David Elliot put it, “to kill this virus before it...
