Australia should enact a world-leading law to apply targeted sanctions to perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption. Tabling the new Australian Parliament report report, Chair of the Human Rights Sub-committee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs,
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Law Council says PJCIS recommendations on media freedom “a positive beginning.” By Pauline Wright, President, Law Council of Australia. The Law Council has long called for meaningful reforms to the legal framework for media freedoms in Australia. The government’s acceptance
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NSW police strip-searched 96 children despite controversy. NSW police are still conducting strip searches on children, according to Dr Vicki Sentas. New data obtained by Redfern Legal Centre has revealed that Indigenous Australians are subjected to increased strip searches by
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Free legal clinic supports vulnerable older people. Newcastle Law School now has a free legal service for aged people in Newcastle and Gosford. The Older Persons Legal Clinic, awarded a three-year $696,000 State Government grant, will focus on increasing access
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Press freedom report calls for reform and transparency. A parliamentary inquiry into the impact of the exercise of law enforcement and intelligence powers on the freedom of the press has recommended measures to improve public interest protections and transparency. Chair
Read more...Commonwealth government will release draft legislation this year.on proposed reforms to simplify and update Australia’s copyright laws. Announcing changes, the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety, and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said copyright arrangements must evolve to support
Read more...On Friday (19 June 2020) the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) launched a landmark legal case against Clive Palmer’s Galilee Coal Project. Bimblebox Alliance’s Sheena Gillmand and Youth Verdict’s Melanie McAliffe outside court hearing against Waratah Coal. EDO was representing young
Read more...Appeal on Kleenex flushable wipes claim dismissed. The Full Federal Court has dismissed an appeal by the ACCC and found that Kimberly-Clark Australia Pty Ltd (Kimberly-Clark) did not make false and misleading claims that its Kleenex Cottonelle toilet wipes were
Read more...NBN Co misled Canberra consumers about needing to move to the NBN . NBN Co has admitted in a court-enforceable undertaking to the ACCC that it misled Canberra consumers who lived in areas where the NBN was operating into thinking
Read more...Could housing cooperatives be an affordable solution to Australia’s growing housing crisis? A project investigating the benefits of housing cooperatives in Australia will receive a boost, with the help of an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage project worth over $590,000.
Read more...National recognition for young Port of Newcastle leader. One of the region’s young leaders has been recognised in the preeminent Lawyers Weekly magazine’s 30 under 30 awards. Port of Newcastle Deputy General Counsel Gabriella Sainsbury was shortlisted in the Corporate
Read more...Court orders $6m in penalties against Bupa and compensation for consumers. The Federal Court has ordered that Bupa Aged Care Australia Pty Ltd (Bupa) pay $6 million in penalties for making misleading representations and wrongly accepting payments for extra services
Read more...Mr Geoffrey Robertson OAM, Queens Counsel and Ms Amal Clooney are among experts to address an inquiry on whether to impose sanctions upon individuals who commit human rights abuses. The public hearing will be held on Friday 15th May at
Read more...The public release of the government’s exposure draft Bill underpinning the COVIDSafe app proposes to replace the Determination made under the Biosecurity Act 2015 (Cth) with primary legislation, by inserting a new provision in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This
Read more...The Federal Court has ordered that Panthera Finance Pty Ltd pay $500,000 in penalties for unduly harassing three consumers over debts they did not owe and for misleading one of the three consumers. The Court held that Panthera harassed three
Read more...Ninth wastewater report reveals Australians spend over $11.3 billion a year on drugs. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) today released the ninth report of the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program (NWDMP) providing longer-term insights into drug consumption as the
Read more...Drivers caught on camera using a mobile phone will be issued fines and demerit points from 1st March 2020. The NSW Government’s mobile phone detection cameras have been operating in warning mode since 1 December 2019, but drivers will now
Read more...NSW Government Response to Ice Inquiry ‘Disappointing.’ The NSW Government has missed an opportunity to reform the state’s response to drugs based on evidence, according to the Director of the Drug Policy Modelling Program (DPMP) at UNSW Social Policy Research
Read more...The ACCC will not oppose the proposed acquisition of Direct Paper by Spicers Limited. The commission ruled that finding that alternative suppliers of commercial printing paper and direct supply arrangements between printers and paper mills will continue to provide strong
Read more...Aboriginal Australians are not “aliens” under the Constitution and can no longer be deported from Australia, following a landmark decision handed down in the High Court today. The test case was brought by two Aboriginal Australian men Daniel Love and
Read more...Yang Ming ship arrested for pollution debt. Yang Ming container vessel Unanimity- sister to Efficiency and Eternity. Image ~ Buonasera The sister ship of the YM Efficiency, which lost 81 shipping containers off the coast of Newcastle and Port Stephens
Read more...The Law Society of NSW has repeatedly raised concerns on behalf of the state’s solicitors in relation to the swelling numbers in the state’s prisons, and the justice system as a whole. Figures released today by the NSW Bureau of
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Local artist Helen Hopcroft has been busy making herself at home in Central Maitland, setting up shop as part of a successful Create Maitland partnership with a local property owner, in conjunction with Maitland City Council. The Create Maitland project
Read more...Consumers will be able to direct major banks to share their credit and debit card, deposit account and transaction account data with accredited service providers from 1 July 2020. Image ~ Dominic Smith Consumers’ mortgage and personal loan data will
Read more...Mobile phone detection cameras are operational. Drivers caught using a mobile phone will face penalties. The penalty for offending drivers is five demerit points and a $344 fine ($457 in a school zone). The penalty will increase to 10 demerit
Read more...NSW cemetery costs and prices under review: interim report. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) is seeking feedback on the costs of and pricing for interment services in NSW cemeteries. Interment services (burial of a body or cremated remains)
Read more...Coles to pay Norco dairy farmers around $5.25 million following ACCC investigation. Coles Group Limited (Coles) will pay Norco Co-operative Limited (Norco) around $5.25 million for distribution to its dairy farmer members. The payments follow an ACCC investigation into whether
Read more...Optus to pay $6.4 million for misleading NBN disconnection claims. Optus Internet Pty Limited and Optus Mobile Pty Limited (Optus) have been ordered by the Federal Court to pay $6.4 million in penalties for making misleading claims about home internet
Read more...Lenders are reluctant to lend and buyers don’t want to buy when it comes to high-rise developments. That’s according to analysis of the construction industry by which has been hit hard over recent months following the high-profile cases of the
Read more...Research shows an almost twentyfold increase in invasive strip searches in the last decade, with calls for amendments to NSW strip-search laws The Rethinking Strip Searches by NSW Police report was commissioned by RLC, and prepared by UNSW Law academics
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