Compensation – the higgledy-piggledy method

Posted on July 29, 2021 by andrew

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.  Continue reading →

Posted in General articles | 15 Comments

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

Posted on July 26, 2021 by andrew

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 with a TV camera for my prime time SBS program, Front Up in the 90s, the subject matter is irresistible. And the book proved to be unputdownable … plus highly relevant to the subject of wrongful convictions.  Continue reading →

Posted in General articles | 16 Comments

Fool proofing the Attorney General

Posted on July 23, 2021 by andrew

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.  Continue reading →

Posted in CCRC, General articles | 14 Comments

Judicial Impartiality – needs work; report

Posted on July 22, 2021 by andrew

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 General Christian Porter; the ALRC will lodge its report by September 31, 2021.  Continue reading →

Posted in General articles | 11 Comments

Can justice be seen to be done in the Territory?

Posted on July 18, 2021 by andrew

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 any and all facts of the case that will emerge – and will be tested, torn to shreds or confirmed …. and incompletely reported in the media. Can you see the problem?  Continue reading →

Posted in General articles | 9 Comments

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

Posted on July 7, 2021 by andrew

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 may find hard to believe. Continue reading →

Posted in CCRC, General articles | 11 Comments

Sara Jane Parkinson’s crooked cop husband evades justice again

Posted on July 4, 2021 by andrew

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

Posted in General articles | 94 Comments

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

Posted on July 1, 2021 by andrew

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.  Continue reading →

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 2 Comments

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

Posted on July 1, 2021 by andrew

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 the 2009 Australia Day murder of her partner, Bob Chappell? We sought to find out ….  Continue reading →

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 9 Comments

Miscarriages of justice in Australia: unfinished business

Posted on June 30, 2021 by andrew

Former High Court judge THE HON. MICHAEL KIRBY AC CMG argues that there is a need in Australia for greater concern and vigilance about the risk of miscarriages of justice – and that the Criminal Cases Review Commission model is the way to put that vigilance into effect . . .”without delay”. Continue reading →

Posted in General articles | 18 Comments