Monthly Archives: July 2021

Compensation – the higgledy-piggledy method

Andrew L. Urban.  Consistency in the administration of the law is absolutely paramount – yet compensation for mistakes (or malpractice) that convict the innocent is applied higgledy-piggledy by politicians throughout Australia. 

Posted in General articles | 13 Comments

Talking to Strangers – why we (and police and judges) mostly get it wrong

Andrew L. Urban. The full title of Malcolm Gladwell’s book is Talking to Strangers: what we should know about the people we don’t know. For someone who did in fact talk to many, many strangers on the streets of Australia … Continue reading

Posted in General articles | 16 Comments

Fool proofing the Attorney General

The Attorney General’s Transparency Branch has a fool proof tactic, straight out of Yes, Minister, to shut down anything it doesn’t want to address. 

Posted in CCRC, General articles | 14 Comments

Judicial Impartiality – needs work; report

Andrew L. Urban. The majority of Australians (82%) don’t trust judges’ impartiality, according to the Menzies Research Centre’s (MRC) submission on Judicial Impartiality to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), which was tasked with examining the subject by former Attorney … Continue reading

Posted in General articles | 11 Comments

Can justice be seen to be done in the Territory?

Andrew L. Urban A young white policeman in the Northern Territory, Zachary Rolfe, is facing trial this week (July 19, 2021) charged with the murder of a young Aboriginal man, Kumanjayi Walker. These words alone trigger preconceptions that will cloud … Continue reading

Posted in General articles | 9 Comments

A sealed envelope, a secret instruction? Or just indifference?

A sealed envelope on the desk of every incoming Federal Attorney-General contains a short, unsigned, cryptic instruction: “Avoid CCRC”. How do we know this? It’s elementary, my dear Whatsyourname; it’s like this … ANDREW L. URBAN tells a tale you … Continue reading

Posted in CCRC, General articles | 11 Comments

Sara Jane Parkinson’s crooked cop husband evades justice again

BETTINA ARNDT’s update on the infamous Sarah Jane Parkinson case of false rape accusations, and its ongoing damage. 

Posted in General articles | 89 Comments

What if … continued: how another appeal by Sue Neill-Fraser could get to court

Prompted by a reader’s question to our previous What if … story, Flinders University legal academic Dr BOB MOLES lays out how any new appeal could navigate the rules to arrive in court. 

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 2 Comments

What if … a worst case scenario for Sue Neill-Fraser

While waiting for the judges’ decision on her March 2021 appeal, ‘What if the appeal is dismissed,’ ask readers whose confidence in Tasmania’s criminal justice system has been utterly destroyed by the prosecution of Sue Neill-Fraser, convicted in 2010 of … Continue reading

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 9 Comments