Governments Criminalise Protest to Silence Dissent: An Interview With Dr Piero Moraro
The right to protest is under threat in this country, as government has been conducting an all-out assault on mobilising and assembling over recent years. And as this nation remains the only western democracy without a federal bill of rights,...
‘Any Extent’ of Injury Can Amount to Female Genital Mutilation, High Court finds
In a majority decision released today, the High Court of Australia found that a female’s genitals do not need to be ‘render[ed] imperfect or irreparably damaged in some fashion’ for the offence of female genital mutilation to be established. The...
Inmates Help Farmers by Nurturing Livestock Back to Health
It started as an idea to help severely drought-affected farmers, but it’s a programme that’s proving to have even greater benefits for inmates at the Cooma Correctional Centre in southern New South Wales. Caring for the lambs A number of...
Police Officer Who Endangered Domestic Violence Victim Avoids Prison
A police officer has received a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to illegally accessing and using information from a police database. Senior Constable Neil Punchard was apparently joking around when he committed the crime of accessing the Queensland Police Service...
The Law on Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm
A 22-year old Western Australian man accused of burning a toddler with a cigarette lighter and boiling water has told Perth Magistrates Court the little girl tripped over and poured a pot of boiling noodles on herself. Jaycob Yarran, a...
NSW Police Strip Search Toddler
A 16-month old baby and his 17-year old aunt are taking civil proceedings against the New South Wales Government after police allegedly unlawfully strip searched them last year on a visit to see the toddler’s father in a correctional centre....
Police Are Now Arresting Our Elderly for Protesting
In recent years, both our federal government and state and territory governments have passed sweeping laws to ensure those who speak against them or protest about their activities are silenced and criminalised. These laws come in many forms, imposing lengthy...
Bring Jock Palfreeman Home
Sydney man Jock Palfreeman should be on his way home to Australia, instead he will remain in a Bulgarian immigration detention for at least another two months, awaiting a legal decision on his fate. Parole granted and then suspended Jock...
Who Does Scott Morrison Represent, Anyway?
Around 350,000 Australians took to the streets in the nation’s major cities and centres on 20 September, as part of the global School Strike for Climate, to demand that the Morrison government take action on the climate emergency and begin...
CBA Faces Criminal Charges for ‘Hawking’
The Commonwealth Bank is facing 87 criminal charges relating to the sale of life insurance policies through its insurance arm, CommInsure. The charges relate to practices and sale techniques used in 2014, and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)...
