‘Lawyer X’ Royal Commission Makes Recommendations for Change
After 129 days of testimony from more than 80 witnesses, the Royal Commission into the use of Nicola Gobbo (Lawyer X) as a police informant has delivered its final report. The report ultimately makes 111 recommendations, including that: The Victorian...
Man Acquitted of Murder Due to Evidence of Police Stitch-Up
After 13 years and two jury trials, Scott Austic has been found not guilty of murdering his pregnant lover and released from prison. Stacy Thorne was murdered in 2007, while 22 weeks pregnant. She was stabbed 21 times at her...
Johnny Depp Vows to Appeal Findings of Domestic Violence
In the weeks after Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of sexual assault charges, Hollywood vowed to change its misogynistic culture. Now, it would seem that a significant shift, supported at the highest levels of the industry, is beginning to occur....
Calls for Reform Around Police Body-Worn Cameras: An Interview With ALA’s Jeremy King
A recent Victoria County Court decision has renewed calls in that state to have the laws governing body-worn cameras overhauled. Last month, Judge Sandra Davis found there’s nothing in the law that requires footage from such cameras to be produced...
Court Enables Child Sexual Abuse Victims to Sue Catholic Church
The Supreme Court of Victoria has overturned a deed of release signed by a victim of child sexual abuse, who was paid $32,500 by the Catholic Church in 1996 in exchange for his silence and no further legal action. The...
Can I Secretly Record a Conversation in New South Wales?
Former New South Wales homicide detective Gary Jubelin has lost his appeal against his conviction for illegally recording conversations with a person of interest in the William Tyrrell investigation. Earlier this year, the former detective was found guilty of four...
Journalists Can’t Be Forced to Reveal Their Sources, or Can They?
Press Freedoms and whistleblower protections have rightly been of concern of late. In June last year, the AFP conducted press raids on ABC and News Corp journalists. While Bernard Collaery and David McBride are both facing prosecution in closed courts...
The Law, Defences and Penalties for Stealing from a Person in NSW
A magistrate in Liverpool Local Court has sentenced a man in relation to an incident during which he stole $100 from a man in a wheelchair who had just withdrawn his disability pension from an ATM. 20-year old Jarrod Elphick...
The Law, Defences and Penalties for Carjacking in New South Wales
It has been alleged that shortly after 4pm on Monday, 14 September 2020, a man armed with a knife approached a silver Volkswagen which was parked in a carpark between Yambil Street and Canal Street, Griffith in the north-western Riverina...
Queensland to Force Priests to Report Child Sexual Abuse
Queensland has just passed news law which makes it a crime for priests to fail to report incidents of child sexual abuse. Under the new laws, religious institutions and their members are no longer able to use the sanctity of...
