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Articles on Law

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Gerard Baden-Clay’s murder of his wife Allison has helped put the spectre of domestic violence firmly back in the national spotlight. How prevalent is it? AAP/Dan Peled

Out of the shadows: the rise of domestic violence in Australia

Once a hidden crime, domestic violence has in recent years emerged as a mainstream criminal justice issue in Australia. Cases such as Queensland man Gerard Baden-Clay’s murder of his wife Allison and the…
Whatever else motivates Julian Assange’s Wikileaks to use online media to break a court suppression order, it isn’t a respect for justice. AAP/Joe Castro

Not mad, bad or unusual: WikiLeaks and suppression orders

Contrary to twittering by the digerati, the Victorian Supreme Court suppression order revealed by WikiLeaks this week isn’t unprecedented. It isn’t futile, dangerous or an egregious restriction on a supposedly…
If Senator Richard di Natale were to win the federal parliament’s support for his bill to legalise euthanasia, it would probably override state bans. AAP/Lukas Coch

Explainer: could federal law end the state bans on euthanasia?

Greens senator Richard Di Natale is circulating a bill to legalise euthanasia throughout Australia, the Medical Services (Dying with Dignity) Exposure Draft Bill. The key provision permits – subject to…
The process of delivering the justice that foreign minister Julie Bishop demanded for MH17 victims will be neither simple nor swift. EPA/Andrew Gombert

Achieving elusive justice for flight MH17 victims will be a challenge

Addressing the United Nations Security Council, Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop condemned the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 as “barbaric” and “an absolute outrage”. She demanded justice…
Tabloid media invite readers to ‘be the judge’ but when acquainted with all the facts of a case the public actually leans towards lighter sentences than the judges impose. Herald Sun

Tabloid-driven sentencing policies waste public money and lives

There are fault lines in all forms of government. Democracies are as vulnerable as any other to one of them: the charm of the easy and emotionally attractive answer to multi-faceted problems. This is not…
The 18-month jail sentence imposed on Andy Coulson in the UK phone hacking trial raises questions about the value attached to people’s personal information. EPA/Will oliver

Crime and punishment must keep up with the Information Economy

If someone breaks into your home and steals your possessions, it’s a crime you can easily understand. Most crimes are offences against property or the person. Even crimes such as defamation are attacks…
Could politicians and scientists in the future be charged with “climate negligence”? Julie G/Flickr

Will the climate debate end up being fought in court?

Society generally has a clear idea of what constitutes a crime, and those in positions of power are usually held to very high standards. Politicians charged with making decisions on the needs of society…
Being arrested does not make a person guilty and deserving of punishment; that’s what a trial determines. AAP/NSW Police

Not for punishment: we need to understand bail, not review it

Courts make hundreds of bail decisions every week but we rarely hear about them. In the past month in New South Wales, however, we have heard much about three high-profile decisions granting bail to: Steven…
Victims of crime may feel offenders get off too lightly, but being represented at sentencing isn’t necessarily the solution. AAP/Dan Peled

Lawyers for victims of crime won’t guarantee better results

The South Australian Commissioner for Victims’ Rights, Michael O’Connell, recently called for victims of crime to have their own lawyers at the time that criminal defendants are sentenced. O’Connell’s…
You can hide for now but maybe not forever. shutterstock man with hat over face

Tough times ahead for the right to be forgotten

As Viviane Reding, vice-president of the European Commission, congratulates herself for forcing Google to comply with the right to be forgotten, she might want to take a moment to think about some issues…
Couple risk getting caught by the tide. Vicki & Chuck Rogers

Common-law marriage myth highlights desperate need for reform

Your common-law wife and husband do not exist. Next month will see the latest stage in the latest attempt to improve the legal standing for people that live together but choose not to marry. With nearly…
We should continue to agitate for fairer, cheaper and more just legal systems, after a Productivity Commission draft report noted the difficulties for many in accessing justice. AAP/Dave Hunt

‘Slow, expensive, complicated’ legal system must be improved

Half of all Australians will experience a legal problem this year. Most won’t get legal assistance or come into contact with our courts or other legal institutions. In part, this is because Australia’s…
Progress on fair gender representation in judicial appointments has been slow. AAP/Michael Milnes

‘Missing’ female judges all but invisible in Queensland row

Queenslanders have been subjected to a barrage of media coverage of state attorney-general Jarrod Bleijie going public with a private conversation he had with the President of the Court of Appeal, Margaret…
George Pell explained his actions in the landmark Ellis sex abuse case to the Royal Commission by saying he was relying on legal advice. AAP/Dan Himbrechts

Pell was wrong to blame the lawyers, but they aren’t blameless

When counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse put it to Cardinal George Pell last week that his lawyers weren’t his moral advisors, she was implying that he…
There hasn’t been a radical increase in violent acts on public transport, despite growing public concern. AAP/Dan Peled

Tranquil travel: violence on our public transport networks

Last month, a video of an elderly man’s alleged assault on a Gold Coast bus went viral on social media after a passenger filmed the confrontation. The incident put the sometimes-ignored issue of violence…

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