Criminal Law

Australia’s counter-terror laws have expanded steadily for more than two decades, each reform justified by the urgency of crisis. From the sweeping legal response to 9/11 to the aftermath of the Lindt Café siege, successive governments have built an increasingly preventative security framework. The legislative reaction to the December Bondi attack may represent a new stage in this trajectory. Measures framed as responses to extremism now reach beyond terrorism itself, regulating protest activity and political speech. Viewed through the lens of incrementalism, these developments raise complex questions.

NSW is on the cusp of reshaping one of the most influential rules in criminal trials – the use of good character evidence. The proposed reforms are poised to recalibrate how character evidence is deployed, signalling a shift in how NSW criminal law balanced faitness to the accused with the realities of institutional and sexual abuse cases.

The recent conviction of a Knox Grammar Teacher, exposes the tension within the legal system between community concern and unlawful vigilantilism.

As Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok is rolled out through X, regulators are once again forced too confront unresoled questions about platform responsibility, AI-generated misinformation, and legal accountability.

Today, offenders are grooming children, purchasing explicit content, and laundering money through mainstream payment tools designed for simplicity, anonymity and speed. As regulators struggle to keep up, payment platforms have become a hidden highway for exploitation — one that Australia has yet to meaningfully regulate.

AI-generated child sexual abuse material may be digital but its impacts are very real – causing trauma, reputational harm and fuelling exploitation. Increasingly, the law is treating this material as seriously as recorded abuse, elucidating the urgent need for reform, accountability and victim support.

The Meredith case spotlights NSW’s controversial strip-search practices, revealing systemic misuse, legal ambiguity, and serious harms. As a catalyst for class action, it raises urgent questions about police accountability, civil liberty, and meaningful reform.

Alan Jones one of Australia’s most powerful broadcasters now faces 44 charges of indecent assault spanning nearly two decades. With nearly 11 complainants and allegations ranging from abuse of authority to repeated acts of indecency, the case raises profound questions around the criminal prosecution of historical abuse, and brings into question the liability of the institutions that platformed him.

In the wake of the Porepunkah shooting, it is important to explore the nature and extent of gun ownership in Australia and re-evaluate the regulatory frameworks.