NSW Police Strip-Search Female Protesters
Two women protesting the treatment of asylum seekers on Manus Island have reported being arrested, conveyed to the police station and strip-searched before being released without charge. Susan Price and Rachel Evans were amongst around 200 people protesting Australia’s offshore...
Serco-Run Facilities: Fraud, Failures and Fatal Errors
Australian governments pay the Serco group tens of millions of dollars every year to manage sensitive public services such as correctional and detention centres, and a range of defence contracts. The UK-based company is even making a bid to run our...
Criminal Lawyers Charged with Fraud
Criminal defence lawyer Michael Bosscher and two employees of law firm Bosscher Lawyers in Brisbane, have been charged with fraud offences after a joint investigation by the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) and Queensland Police Service (QPS) into suspected criminal...
Report Recommends Increasing Penalties for White Collar Offences
A review of Australian corporations law has stated that punishments for many white collar crimes and regulatory breaches are too weak to act as a deterrent. The Financial System Inquiry was established by Financial Services Minister, Kelly O’Dwyer, who suggested that...
Sydney Man Appeals Conviction for Swearing
A Sydney man was arrested for swearing at a NSW police officer, and is now fighting his Local Court conviction for using offensive language. When 29-year-old Filip Black was stopped by police, they asked him what he was doing in...
‘No’ Campaigners Fear Being Forced to Service Gay Weddings
Opponents of same-sex marriage are pushing for exemptions from discrimination laws which would require businesses to carry out services for gay weddings. The Coalition for Marriage claims that service providers such as bakers, caterers, florists and photographers are concerned about...
Queensland to Finally Expunge Homosexuality Convictions
Queensland has passed laws which allow people who were convicted of homosexuality offences to have those entries deleted. Homosexual intercourse was a crime in Queensland until 1991. Anyone can now apply to have records of eligible offences charged or convicted...
Government Refuses to Pay Victims of Police Brutality
The Western Australian government has been criticised for appealing a District Court decision to award $1.1 million in damages to a couple who were illegally Tasered, wrongfully arrested, unlawfully detained and maliciously prosecuted by police after they stopped to help...
WA Government Defensive Over DNA Fiasco
An inquiry into government pathology service, PathWest, has found 11 anomalies in the forensic testing of samples relating to six of the 19 criminal cases examined. The revelations have put the state government on the back foot, with health minister Roger Cook...
Simply Punishing Violent Criminals Does Not Reduce Reoffending
Research into violent offenders suggests they are less deterred by punishment than others, and that a strictly punitive approach to punishment does nothing to reduce their likelihood of reoffending. MRI scans Researchers from Canada and the UK scanned the brains...
