Many people are unaware of their rights and options if they receive a penalty notice, especially if they think they’ve done nothing wrong.
- Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Technology Sydney
Similar laws in the US have actually led to increasing the risk of fatal drug overdoses.
A barrister may report confidential client communications to police where their client has threatened the safety of another person, but going beyond such discrete instances is ethically fraught.
Fines for minor infringements and offensive language crimes are among laws that create a cycle of poverty and disadvantage for Indigenous Australians.
Australia has a reputation for swearing. Yet this sits at odds with laws that criminalise offensive words.
The pervasiveness of profanity in popular culture underscores the absurdity of punishing people for using words broadcast on our screens and heard in our music.
The “Fuck Fred Nile” case highlights the absurdity of criminalising “fleeting expletives” while allowing speech that depicts homosexuality as abnormal, unnatural and sinful.
Parental concerns that Minions given as toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals have been dropping the F-bomb raises an issue: how far – if at all – should we go to prevent children from exposure to “bad” language?
Recently, it was reported that asylum seekers are “staying indoors”, fearful of breaching the Asylum Seeker Code of Behaviour. All unauthorised maritime arrivals (UMAs) who are granted bridging visas are…
Karen Bailey pleaded guilty at Downing Centre Local Court last Thursday to the crime of using offensive language. Bailey received a 12-month good behaviour bond for the offence, with no conviction recorded…
It is remarkable that the Abbott government has singled out one law, Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, as stifling free expression, but has remained silent on other more draconian laws that…
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