Changes to NSW Sentencing Options: Broadened Intensive Correction Orders
The NSW Parliament assented to the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Amendment (Sentencing Options) Act 2017 (the Act) on 24 October 2017, which amends the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (the Sentencing Act) as it relates to the sentencing options available to...
Calls for New Offence of ‘Industrial Manslaughter’
Families of deceased Victorian workers are leading the campaign for a new offence of industrial manslaughter to make corporate bosses responsible for deaths resulting from workplace negligence. 21-year old Jack Brownlee and 34-year old Charlie Howkins were laying pipes at...
Concerns for the Mental Health of Magistrates
There are calls for a review of the workplace health and safety of members of the judiciary, with the recent deaths of two Victorian magistrates raising concerns about their mental wellbeing. The sudden passing of magistrate Stephen Myall just weeks...
Australia’s First Sanctioned Pill Testing Trial Is Just the Beginning
The resounding success of Australia’s first government-sanctioned pill testing trial at the Groovin the Moo festival in Canberra last Sunday drew a line in the sand of this nation’s harm reduction landscape. Before it took place, the voices of those...
Ford Fined a Fiesta
The Federal Court has ordered car manufacturer Ford to pay a $10 million fine after finding the way it responded to consumer complaints about PowerShift transmission systems (PST) was “unconscionable”. It has been reported that around 10,000 complaints were made...
Pell to Stand Trial over Child Sexual Assault Allegations
The Melbourne Magistrates Court has committed Cardinal George Pell to stand trial over multiple historical child sexual assault allegations. Magistrate Belinda Wallington found there is enough evidence for Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric to stand trial. However, the court discharged...
Tough New Laws Proposed for Corporate Crime
With revelations of systemic corporate misconduct surfacing during the current Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (‘the Banking Royal Commission’), the federal government is proposing to increase penalties for criminal offences under the Corporations...
AMP May Face Criminal Charges
Senior Council Rowena Orr QC says financial services provider AMP could face criminal charges for making misleading statements to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Misconduct findings The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry...
Australian Pensioners Living in Poverty
A Darwin rental property manager won social media hearts recently when she successfully crowdfunded her client’s rental arrears after his pension was cut off. Centrelink debacle Derek Holbrook lives alone in Darwin. His pension recently came up for review under...
No More ‘Section 10 Bonds’ in NSW
On 24 October 2017, the NSW Parliament assented to the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Amendment (Sentencing Options) Act 2017 (the Act) which, as the name suggests, amends the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (the Sentencing Act) in respect of the sentencing options...