ICAC Requests New Anti-Corruption Laws
According to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), current laws are not enough to prosecute public figures who are accused of protecting their own financial interests. The head of the ICAC, Megan Latham, recently requested that the Crimes Act be...
Sydney Crime Rates Impacted by Parole, Study Suggests
Figures released recently by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) suggest that NSW crime rates, including Sydney crime rates, can be affected by whether or not those who have served their time in prison are granted parole....
Changes to Crash Reporting Requirements in NSW
The laws surrounding how and when traffic accidents should be reported have been changed, with the amended laws due to come into force on October 15. These changes, which are intended to streamline crash-reporting processes and alleviate time spent by...
Several NSW Speed Cameras will be Removed
Most of us have been guilty of speeding a little at some point through our driving lifetime, and judging by the $150 million in revenue raised by speeding fines across NSW in the last financial year, drivers fork out a...
Legalisation of Cannabis Moves Closer
The campaign to legalise cannabis for medical purposes has taken an unexpected leap forward with support from the prime minister, and a clinical trial to go ahead in NSW. Prime Minister Tony Abbott wrote a letter to well known talkback...
Navy Officer Falsely Claims that ‘Men of Middle Eastern Appearance’ Assaulted and Threatened to Behead Him
A 41-year-old member of the Australian Navy claimed that he was attacked outside his home in Bella Vista, North-West Sydney, while wearing his navy uniform. He claimed his attackers were two men of middle-eastern appearance and that he suffered bruising...
Should ASIO be Trusted with even More Power?
The ASIO officer drew a ‘Y’ in the sand with a stick. He looked across at the 21-year-old university student and pointed to the intersection of the Y. He said: “We’ve got two choices. We can go down the difficult...
Suppression Orders – How Do They Work?
The ICAC suppressed the emails between Peta Credlin, Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s chief of staff, and Paul Nicolaou, the former chief fundraiser for the NSW Liberal Party, earlier this month after lawyers raised concerns that the information contained within them...
Fact or Fiction? Errors, Evidence and the Neill-Fraser Case
In Neill-Fraser v Tasmania [2012] TASCCA 2, the island state’s Court of Criminal Appeal expressed its certainty that, while Susan Neill-Fraser’s sentence might be altered, an appeal against conviction would certainly not succeed. The Court was at pains to remind us...
Has the NSW Government Lost the Plot on Bail?
The NSW Bail Amendment Bill 2014 appears to showcase the sort of messy governmental decision-making that comes from populist knee-jerk reactions. Within just weeks of the existing Bail Act 2013 coming into operation on May 20 this year, the Baird...
