Decriminalise Drug Possession: An Interview With Former AFP Commissioner Mick Palmer
Calls for reforms to the approach Australian governments take to illicit drugs are growing stronger. The idea that personal drug use and possession should be treated primarily as a health and social issue, and not a criminal offence, is starting...
High Price User-Pays Policing: The New Tactic to Shut Down Music Festivals
Despite a court ruling last week that the northern NSW music festival Bohemian Beatfreaks could go ahead, the NSW Police Force (NSWPF) was able to push the event interstate by charging the organisers exorbitant user pays policing fees that had the...
Warning! Providing Your DNA to Ancestry Sites Could Make You a Suspect
Australians are once again being warned that law enforcement agencies are increasingly accessing genealogy databases such as Ancestry.com and My Heritage DNA in an attempt to generate suspects. These genealogy companies use forensic material which is voluntarily provided by paying...
Countering Street Harassment: An Interview with Sexism in the City Guest Dr Bianca Fileborn
Crime rates in NSW are at a forty year low. According to NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures, over the 24 month period ending in March this year, only two of the seventeen major crime categories were on the rise....
Penalties Increase for Illegal Mobile Phone Use
In just few hours this morning, a month’s worth of rain fell across Sydney, causing traffic congestion, flooding and property damage. From 5.30am to 9.00am, more than a 100mm of rain poured over the Sydney metropolitan are, creating transport delays...
Removing Criminal Sanctions for Drug Use: An Interview With Australia21’s Dr Alex Wodak
“We call on Australia’s federal, state and territory governments to treat drug use primarily as a health and social issue and to remove criminal sanctions for personal use and possession,” begins think tank Australia21’s recently released fourth report on illicit...
Taxpayers Foot the Bill for Police Misconduct
We have reported on several cases where taxpayers have been left to foot the bill for the misconduct of police officers, from the costs of legal representation to damages awards for police brutality and other forms of criminal conduct. Taxpayers...
Sydney Man Sentenced to Death in Iraq
An Australian man has asked the Australian Government for assistance after being found guilty of terrorism offences in Iraq and sentenced to death by hanging. Former labourer Ahmed Merhi travelled to Syria in 2015 where, he says, he engaged in...
Teacher Pleads Guilty to Persistent Sexual Abuse of Student
We recently reported on the female school teacher in Armidale, New South Wales who avoided a prison sentence despite pleading guilty to 3 counts of aggravated sexual assault and 6 of sexual intercourse with child under her care while employed at the...
Fighting Police Corruption: An Interview With Former Queensland Sergeant Rick Flori
In January 2012, a pair of Queensland police officers arrested Noa Begic on the street in the Gold Coast. Charged with public nuisance, the 21-year-old chef was handcuffed and then taken to the basement of the Surfers Paradise police station. With...
