NSW Police Watchdog: No Teeth and Underfunded
The NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (or LECC) is already considered to be a largely ineffective police watchdog, without sufficient funds or human resources to investigate complaints. The body has no power to discipline officers, and can only recommend that...
Sparked by the Cronulla Riots: NSW Police Emergency Public Disorder Powers
Groups of young Anglo Australians began congregating along southern Sydney’s North Cronulla Beach at around 8 am on Sunday, 11 December 2005. Drinking heavily, cooking barbeques and draped in Union Jacks, the crowd had grown to around 5,000 strong by...
Another Catholic Priest Guilty of Sexually Abusing Children
Another priest is behind bars as a result of complaints received in the lead up to the 2014 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. James Joseph Cunneen has been found guilty in Parramatta District Court of 10...
Dutton Broadens ID-Checking and Move-On Powers at Airports
The Morrison government was busy last month, doing what it does best: stripping away at the rights of Australians. On 14 October, the Senate quietly passed legislation that has broadened the powers of Australian federal police officers at airports. Another...
Suspicious Circumstances: Eric Whittaker Shackled, While on Life Support
Eric Whittaker died in hospital, after being shackled to a bed for several days. This followed his suffering a ruptured brain aneurysm, which a prison guard ignored repeated distress calls about. The 35-year-old Gamilaraay man - who was on remand...
Police Are Strip Searching Protesters to Intimidate
Brisbane continues to be a major flashpoint of rising Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests. Of late, some Extinction Rebellion Southeast Queensland (XR SEQ) activists have even become familiar faces in the press, due to the amount of times they’ve been arrested....
Abusive Aged Care Workers May be Criminally Prosecuted
Elderly residents in Australia have been robbed, assaulted, drugged and force-fed by aged care workers, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has heard. Revelations made by Queensland Health Ombudsman, Andrew Brown, have come just a week after...
When Can Police Arrest a Person, and How Much Force Can be Applied?
Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) is investigating an incident during which police officers broke a man’s neck when they came to his house to tell him to turn his stereo down. The story of 47-year old Chris Karadaglis is...
Water Demands of Companies Trump the Needs of Local Communities
The ecological collapse that climate activists are warning the globe is in the grips of was laid bare along the Barwon-Darling river system last summer with the deaths of millions of fish. These included the Murray Cod, which is a...
NSW Police May be Bugging the Phones of Criminal Defence Lawyers
The New South Wales Police Commissioner has avoided answering questions raised in Parliament about whether the New South Wales police force is using spyware to infiltrate the mobile phones and computers of criminal defence lawyers, regardless of laws which protect...
