Could NSW Police Officers Be Getting Off on Strip Searches?
It’s commonplace these days to hear the ever-increasing practice of strip searching the public likened to a form of state-sponsored sexual assault. And the thing with this sort of violation is perpetrators get off on it. State police watchdog the...
Officers Who Report Police Misconduct Must Be Protected, Court Rules
In late February 2010, the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) received a public interest disclosure letter relating to the conduct of two police officers that then Queensland police sergeant Rick Flori asserted had been involved in official misconduct. The letter...
Activists Imprisoned Over Nonviolent Civil Disobedience
Rising climate crisis awareness has been evidenced of late by the increasing numbers turning up on the streets demanding change. And it’s been fairly obvious from the start, that fossil-fuel addled politicians were going to respond with harsher penalties, rather...
The Violence of the Frontier Wars Has Never Really Ended
Two police officers entered the home of a First Nations family in the remote NT community of Yuendumu in early November. One of them allegedly shot an unarmed 19-year-old Warlpiri man. This incident is now classed as one of the...
Suspicious Circumstances: Detained Eddie Murray Was Not in a State to Hang Himself
Eddie Murray was found dead, hanging in a cell at Wee Waa police station at around 3.00 pm on 12 June 1981. The 21-year-old Gamilaraay man had been detained by officers about an hour earlier for public drunkenness, under now...
It’s Time to Get Your Priorities Right, Scott Morrison
Imagine, it’s 1912, and you’re a passenger on the cruise liner the Titanic, heading towards New York. It’s evident something’s amiss, as the ship seems to be going down. People are freaking out, but then the captain appears before them,...
George Pell’s High Court Appeal: Last Throw of the Dice
The High Court of Australia will hear George Pell’s application for ‘special leave’ (permission) to appeal, which if granted will provide him with the last throw of the dice to have his convictions for historical child sexual offences overturned. High...
Honest Cop Wins Appeal
Many Australians are cheering today, with the news that honest cop Rick Flori has won his appeal in Brisbane Supreme Court. It’s one of many battles the former Queensland police officer has fought, as he took and maintained a stance...
NSW Justice Amendment Package Part 1: Expanded Police Powers and More Criminal Offences
The state’s chief law officer, attorney-general Mark Speakman, has been busy thinking of ways to strengthen and expand laws which criminalise citizens and empower police officers. As a result, our state parliament recently passed what might be described as a...
Drug Rehabilitation Programmes Reduce Reoffending Rates
The ACT will begin a new trial for drug and alcohol sentencing this week, favouring rehabilitation over prison time. The alternative sentencing arrangement will accept 35 people when it begins, giving these offenders the opportunity to spend time in rehabilitation...
