Police Powers to Deal With Intoxicated Persons in New South Wales
Victoria says it will formally decriminalise public drunkenness on the 7th of November 2023, which would leave Queensland as the only jurisdiction in Australia where public intoxication remains a criminal offence. New South Wales formally decriminalised public drunkenness way back...
Can Obtaining Another’s Consent Be Used as a Murder Defence?
Just a few weeks short of Halloween in 1996, 35-year-old Sharon Lopatka left her home in Maryland USA, leaving her husband a note which simply read: If my body is never retrieved, don’t worry: know that I’m at peace Lopatka...
Outrage Grows Over NSW Government’s Backflip on Drug Law Reform
NSW premier Chris Minns last week shattered the drug law reform agenda he’d been spruiking pre-election. The Labor leader has pushed his drug summit back to the end of the term and said he has “no mandate” for decriminalising drugs...
‘Sextortion’ Can Amount to a Criminal Offence Across Australia
According to recent media reports, there has been a rise of attempts as Australia at ‘sexual extortion’, abbreviated to ‘sextortion’, with social media sites being used to target and blackmail victims, many of whom are young men concerned about compromising...
NSW Parliament Inquires into Alternatives in Dealing with Mental Health Episodes
Since a NSW police officer tasered a 95-year-old woman suffering dementia, who was holding a knife and slowly moving towards him using a walking frame in May, the issue of law enforcement dealing with people having a mental health episode has been...
AFP Says AI Image Database Will Help Catch Predators, But Many are Skeptical
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) are appealing to members of the public to donate their childhood photos to a project being undertaken jointly with Monash University. The agency says the photos will be used to programme and train an Artificial...
William Tyrell’s Foster Parents in Court Over Alleged Child Abuse
The foster parents of the young boy whose disappearance in 2014 has captivated the nation, exposed the shady operations of senior police officers, ruined the lives of innocent people through false accusations and cost the public millions in compensation and...
The Law, Defences and Penalties for Tax Fraud and Tax Evasion in Australia
The terms tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance or minimisation are often used interchangeably, but it is important to be aware there are important differences which can impact on the way enforcement agencies such as the Australian Taxation Office...
“We Won the Battle But the War Continues”: Opera House Cannabis Activists Zammitt and Stolk on Their Day in Court
For almost a decade now, cannabis activists Alec Zammitt and Will Stolk have been brightening the Sydney scene with their elaborate protest actions that employ guerilla theatre tactics to agitate for the legalisation and regulation of cannabis in this country....
Spain’s ‘MeToo Moment”: Sexual Touching or Blown Out of Proportion?
Unless you’re not into the world sport of football, or as we call in here in Australia, soccer, you’ll know Spain’s 1:0 win over England in the FIFA Women’s World Cup final was marred by controversy after the president of...
