Tag: criminal
  • Human Rights, Nicola Ellis

Still Sorry

Between 1905 and 1970, generations of First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families, under a policy of so-called ‘protection.’ The 1995 Bringing Them Home report estimated that between ten and thirty-three per cent of all First Nations children were taken from their loved ones.
  • Chris Nyst, Criminal Law, Opinion

The Means To The End

About ten years before the birth of Christ the great Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso, in his collection of epistolary poems known as The Heroides, coined the Latin phrase Exitus acta probat, which translates roughly to the often-quoted mantra ‘The end justifies the means’. It is a sentiment celebrated by the Italian Renaissance writer Niccolo Machiavelli in the 1500’s and enthusiastically embraced by a long list of authoritarian dictators throughout history. Thankfully, it has no place in the criminal justice system of any modern western democracy.
  • Chris Nyst, Criminal Law, International, Opinion

Mea Culpa

They say confession is good for the soul. That may be so, but sometimes it seems there's a whole lot of things it's not nearly so good for. Just ask Liam Neeson.
  • Alex Somers, Criminal Law, International, Litigation

Trial By Fyre

A brand new Netflix documentary doing the rounds right now has sparked a maelstrom of controversy around the ethical and legal culpability of “social media influencers” in advertising and promoting business brands for profit. The disaster-doco “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” tells the sorry story of the exploits of Billy McFarland, the mastermind behind the failed 2017 “luxury music festival” FYRE.
  • Chris Nyst, Criminal Law, Opinion, Politics

Parole On Trial

The Prime Minister’s call for an overhaul of state parole laws in the wake of this week's terrorist attack in Melbourne has the sniff of political scapegoating.
  • Criminal Law, Technology

Trolls Beware

The Australian justice system has at last stomped decisively into the 21st century, striking out at online bullying and harassment. Following the first Commonwealth criminal prosecution of its kind last week, a young man entered a plea of guilty to a charge laid against him by AFP investigators in relation to a series of offensive comments he had posted online regarding a photo of a woman’s Tinder profile that one of his friends had posted on Facebook. It has been reported the man posted some 50 disparaging attacks on the photo, including rape threats and other derogatory and threatening comments. Following his plea of guilty, he was remanded to be sentenced later this year, and could face up to 3 years imprisonment.
  • Chris Nyst, International, Opinion, Property, Travel

The Winds Of Change

What goes around comes around, I guess. My wife and I spent this week visiting our youngest daughter at her home in Brooklyn, New York City, where we rubbed shoulders with the beautiful people on the borough’s trendy Bedford Avenue. How times have changed.
  • Chris Nyst, Opinion, Sport

Ali RIP

Over the weekend, a great hero passed away. Muhammad Ali was not just a giant of the sport of boxing, he was one of the most influential characters 20th century, one whose dynamic personality was an integral part of the winds of change that swept through the post-war period.
  • Chris Nyst, Opinion, Politics

American Pie

Something crazy is happening in America right now. Crazy, and eerily familiar. As the left and right of US politics fight their perennial good fight, waging familiar and well-worn party-political warfare on the hustings, the man in middle, the average American, lays awake nights worrying it’s all going down the toilet in a hurry, praying for a messiah who will lead him from the wilderness, but fearing he will never come, because no one is listening and no one really cares. Then, just when it’s least expected, along comes a maverick with a crazy hair-do and a ton of front, who steps up onto a soap box and smashes all the taboos keeping Average John awake at night, saying the things he would have said himself except everyone kept telling him that kind of stuff was way off limits and not to be spoken of in public.
  • Employment Law, Jonathan Nyst

Fair Enough

"That’s not fair.” My client’s assessment was spot-on, and more than a little ironic, given he was referring to the Fair Work Act. Like justice, fairness can be an elusive concept. I had just finished explaining to my client a few home truths about Fair Work claims. The former employee he had dismissed for incompetence and repeated failure to show up to work was seeking damages for wrongful dismissal. In my view there was absolutely no merit in the claim, and I was confident we would win in court. But the exercise would still be an expensive one for my client. Even if you win a Fair Work claim, the Act precludes reimbursement of a litigant’s costs unless they can show the other party acted vexatiously or unreasonably. Which means claimants often have everything to gain and nothing to lose, even if their claim fails.
  • Chris Nyst, Criminal Law

Sex and the Sleepy

Life is a risky undertaking that involves an endless series of perilous decisions. Some turn out triumphant, others disastrous.
  • Family Law

Cracking The Egg – Separation and Superannuation Split

We work all our lives to create a nest-egg that will hopefully sustain us comfortably in our retirement, and in this day and age most of us jealously consider our superannuation investments to be our own precious, private nest-egg. To some extent it’s true. Superannuation funds are held in trust, and therefore they can't generally be attacked by creditors, even a bankruptcy situation. But that doesn't mean they are unassailable.