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The way strip searches are conducted by the New South Wales police has repeatedly become the subject of controversy in the last few years. Today it has come to light that police in NSW routinely use body-worn cameras to film a strip search, raising concerns about privacy. The revelation comes in the wake of reports…

The Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019 has been introduced to the New South Wales parliament by independent MP Alex Greenwich and will be debated later this month. The bill seeks to decriminalise abortion procedures and to introduce provisions that would regulate terminations as a medical procedure. The bill has widespread support in the Legislative…

In May 2019, the Federal Circuit Court of Australia decided an application to exclude video recordings made in secret from evidence in a parenting matter. The secret recordings had been made by the mother in the matter when the father was attending her home for hand overs of the children. There were also two audio…

In March 2019, the Full Court of the Family Court decided an application in the parenting matter of Mahoney v Dieter. The mother in the matter sought the variation of orders made by the Family Court Division of the District Court of New Zealand on the basis that there had been a change of circumstances…

Under legislative changes proposed by the Andrews government, Victorians will be able to change the sex recorded on birth certificates without the need to undergo sexual reassignment surgery. The Labor government on Tuesday introduced a bill to allow individuals to nominate a gender to be listed on their birth certificate. This may be male, female…

On the 6th June 2019 the NT Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne delivered her independent monitoring reports on the two youth detention centres in the Territory. The reports found numerous shortcomings in the facilities and the procedures followed when dealing with youths who were at risk, separated or in lock-down. They also found the provision of…

On 19 June 2019, the High Court handed down its decision in the matter of Masson v Parsons. The case concerned whether a man engaged as a sperm donor was a parent within the meaning of the Family Law Act. Mr Masson had donated sperm to a lesbian mother on the understanding that he would…

While police and judicial officers are responsible for prosecuting and sentencing individuals for criminal offences, sometimes people in positions of authority are themselves charged with perverting the course of justice. This commonly arises in circumstances that amount to an abuse of power. A recent case from the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal dealt with a…

The Queensland government announced in March that Queensland’s two privately operated prisons will be brought back under government control. The decision came in the wake of a Crime and Corruption Commission report on corruption in corrective services facilities. The report, released in December 2018, found that corruption was rife in private prisons and that the…

Acclaimed author Fiona Wright was last week refused entry onto a Qantas flight From Sydney to Alice Springs, resulting in her missing the NT Writers’ Festival. Wright claims the decision was ‘out and out discrimination’ against her as a person who suffers from a mental illness and requires the help of an assistance dog. She…

The operation of Queensland laws around sexual assaults has come under scrutiny in recent months, with calls emerging for the state to be brought into line with other Australian jurisdictions by abolishing the defence of honest mistake. Queensland lawyer and author and Bri Lee, whose memoir Eggshell Skull documents her experience of sexual assault as…

Two men of Aboriginal descent are facing deportation from Australia, under immigration laws introduced in 2014 that allow for the deportation of non-citizens who fail the character test. Both men were born overseas, have lived in Australia since they were children but were never granted Australian citizenship. Both are challenging their deportation and the lawfulness…

On 30 April 2019, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) delivered a decision in the challenges brought by South African sprinter Caster Semenya and by Athletics South Africa (ASA). The champion runner and the ASA had challenged the validity of the IAAF’s eligibility requirements for competing in the female category. The CAS dismissed the…

In the last few years, the UK and Ireland have legislated for a new family violence offence known as ‘coercive control’ towards an intimate partner or family member. The offence involves a pattern of domination and intimidation towards a family member that may include emotional or financial abuse, isolation and other forms of abuse, but…

Early this month the federal government committed to conducting a Royal Commission into the violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disabilities. The commitment came after many years of campaigning by disability advocates for such an inquiry to take place and after serious allegations of physical and sexual abuse, neglect and exploitation in the…

On 11 April 2019, the Federal Court of Australia handed down its decision in the matter of Rush v Nationwide News Pty Ltd. The court found that publications made by the defendant about Australian actor Geoffrey Rush contained defamatory imputations and that the defence of justification did not succeed. It awarded  Rush damages for non-economic…

The Prime Minister has vowed to introduce tough new penalties for vegan activists if he is re-elected in May. The Melbourne CBD was shut down last week by a peaceful protest against the use and abuse of animals in factory farms. The protest was part of a national day of action, when protesters also targeted…

Tasmania this week became the first Australian jurisdiction to make the listing of babies’ apparent sex on birth certificates optional. The Tasmanian Senate this week passed the Justice and Related Legislation (Marriage Amendment) Bill, despite the opposition of the Liberal government. Under the new legislation, Tasmanians aged over 16 will also be able to change…

The High Court today handed down its decision in respect of two anti-abortion activists who challenged the constitutionality of laws restricting behaviour within safe access zones in Victoria and Tasmania. Kathleen Clubb of Melbourne and Graham Preston of Hobart, challenged fines they received for protesting within the no protest zones around medical clinics offering abortion…

On 13 March 2019 the High Court handed down its decision in a native title compensation matter where it considered the entitlements of the Ngaliwurru and Nungali peoples to compensation for the extinguishment of their native title rights and interests. The decision marks the first time the High Court has considered a native title compensation…