Done By Law

Working with Children’s Check - 14 May 2013

Increasingly Working with Children Checks are being required for jobs where people do not work directly with children but who may work in close proximity to children, such as cleaners or gardeners. Amendments took effect in December of last year, which raise the bar even higher for people who have a criminal record. Listeners might be asking themselves, in what circumstances could my right to work be restricted by Victoria’s Working With Children Act 2005?

On the show tonight to discuss the Act and explain the recent changes is Damian Stock, a Senior Lawyer in the Social Inclusion program at Victoria Legal Aid.

Challenging Injustice: A Talk by Bryan Stevenson

With thanks to the University of Melbourne, we broadcast a talk by Professor Bryan Stevenson about the American experience of injustice and parallels that can be drawn in Australia. Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Professor Stevenson graced the TED talk stage earlier this year to receive a standing ovation for his insights into the experiences of the poor and marginalised within the American criminal justice system. His public lecture at Melbourne University Law School last month booked out but we were fortunate enough to gain permission to broadcast a recording. We highly recommend viewing the full video from the University of Melbourne website of what was a truly inspiring lecture for anyone interested in justice, equality and holding onto hope in the law as a means of achieiving a more just and equal society.

Parties, police and public order

In recent months there have been several reports of police treating parties, especially underage house parties or warehouse parties, as quasi ‘public order’ situations and responding with heavy handed and at times violent policing tactics. Last Friday a warehouse party in Clifton Hill, attended by approximately 100 party-goers, was violently shut down after the Critical Order Response Team and the dog squad from Victoria Police arrived. Tonight on Done by Law we speak to Sarah McLaren (not her real name) who witnessed and experienced police violence on Friday night about what she saw and experienced. We also speak to Anthony Kelly, CEO of the Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Service, about the specialist units in Victoria Police and trends in policing that are seeing their increased deployment.

Young people out of prisons!

The issues surrounding young people being placed in adult prisons raises a raft of human rights and legal issues. Tonight we talk to Chantelle Higgs from the Centre for the Human Rights of Imprisoned People (CHRIP) about these issues and their advocacy for the decarceration of young people.  

Australia’s obligations to eliminate racial discrimination

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was held on 21 March. Tonight on Done By Law we are talking to human rights lawyer Richard Clarke about the international law relating to the elimination of racial discrimination and Australia’s obligations under international law. Richard recently returned from Geneva where he worked for 4 years as a Human Rights Officer in the Anti-Discrimination Section of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Previous to that, he spent 7 years working in Colombia for both the High Commissioner for Human Rights and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He has also worked for the UN Peace Accord Verification Mission in Guatemala and Guatemalan human rights NGOs.

Building communities through clinical legal education: Bridges Across Borders South East Asia

Done By Law catches up with co-director of Bridges Across Borders South East Asia (BABSEA) Bruce Lasky to find out how BABSEA’s clinical legal education initiatives are assisting disadvantaged communities and building a stronger pro bono ethos across the region. To find out more about BABSEA CLE go to www.babseacle.org or head to their Australian launch on Monday 8 April 2013 at DLA Piper http://www.facebook.com/events/391727264268057/

No right to independent review for compliants of police abuses. Whither the right to silence.

In a disappointing decision handed down on Monday 25 March 2013, the Victorian Supreme Court ruled that there was no right to an independent investigation of a police complaint. Mr Nassir Bare, was a 17 year old Ethiopian Australian young man who alleged that a police officer had used excessive force against him in 2009, represented by Youthlaw, argued that Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsbilities includes an implied right to have complaints against police independently investigated. This decision from Justice Williams vindicates a scheme whereby police officers can investigate themselves and which has major problems for police accountability. Tiffany Overall, Advocacy and Human Rights Officer at Youthlaw joins us to talk about the decision and the problems caused by lack of external mechanisms for police accountability.

‘You’ve got the right to remain silent, but anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law….’ We are used to hearing this warning, in real life, TV drama and movies. In NSW recent legislative changes to the Evidence Act means that an adverse inference can be drawn in court from a defendant’s silence in a police interview in specific cases. This change represents a radical departure from the current common law and legislation which provide full recognition of a right to silence and prohibits such an inference. We talk to Dr Thalia Anthony a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law UTS about these changes and their implications.

“Law Sauce”- legal resource for the community: 19 March 2013

The law is difficult to navigate- new laws crop up all the time, and it’s hard to work out what’s current, relevant or even what laws exist in Australia and beyond.  However, a new application for smartphones has been created to make the law more accessible so that more people can find what’s relevant.

Tonight on Done By Law, we speak with Natalia Wieland, from the University of Melbourne who is the co-creator of a new smartphone application called “Law Sauce”.

We are also joined by the beautiful trio “the Jam Tarts” who sing live in the studio.

Indefinite detention without conviction - 12 March 2013

Tonight on Done By Law we discuss the disturbing practice of Aboriginal Australians with cognitive impairments being held indefinitely in prisons despite not having been convicted of any crime. Concerned advocates have instigated complaints to the Australian Human Rights Commission, and a High Court challenge to the constitutional validity of the State effectively punishing these people without due process. Patrick McGee, Coordinator of the Aboriginal Disability Justice Campaign joins us on the show to discuss why Aboriginal people with cognitive impairments are being warehoused in jails and the steps that the Campaign is taking to try to reverse the trend.

Women’s Reproductive Rights, Discrimination and CEDAW - 12 February 2013

On this week’s show we speak with Dr Ronli Sifris, a lecturer at Monash University, about recent decisions of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Dr Sifris discusses when restrictions on a woman’s reproductive fredom, specifically restrictions on abortion and involuntary sterilisation, constitute discrimination against women.