Done By Law

DBL: Social media and your rights at work: 8 June 2010

You’re home from work, you kick off your shoes, and your working day, along with your responsibilities to your employer, are over for the day.  Or so you think.  But with the advent of social media and the ‘broadcast yourself’ world of online publishing, your after-hours activities can be more easily tracked by your employer and also leave you open to public scrutiny.

What you do in your own time can get you sacked but the risks are higher in the online world, as demonstrated by the recent case of Catherine Deveny, who was terminated by the Age for her controversial twittering at the Logies.

Tonight on Done by Law we are joined by Zana Bytheway, Executive Director of Jobwatch, to remind us that being facebook friends with your boss may not be a good idea and to shed some light on exactly what you can and can’t be terminated for.

Paint it White: May 4 2010

Kyle Magee is a dude on a mission. He’s been whiting out corporate advertising and he’s prepared to go to jail to start a debate about advertising and the global corporate media.  Kyle’s been pathologised by the system, experienced incarceration and been ignored by his lawyers and Magistrates in the system.  Kyle now gives his side of the story.  To find out more, visit Kyle’s website globalliberalmediaplease.net

DBL: Compensation for Anti Uranium Protesters: 20 April 2010

DBL: Terror laws on appeal: 30 March 2010

Local Law 8 Repealed or Not?

On November 24th last year Done by Law spoke to Fitzroy Indigenous elders about Local Law 8 - a Yarra city council provision intended to ban public drinking, listen to the show here.

Last week Yarra Council repealed the law at a special council meeting addressed by a number of prominent Indigenous leaders in the area.  The following day, the council reinstated the law on a technicality.

Meghan Fitzgerald from Fitzroy Legal Service joined us to talk about whats happening with the law, and what some of the provision’s effects have been.

Police Violence and African Young People

On Thursday 18 March , a coalition of Community Legal Services  released a damning report into the police mistreatment of African young people.

The report details the experiences of African young people from three regions of Melbourne: Dandenong, Braybrook and Flemington.

The research found that across Melbourne, African young people are over-policed, including the disproportionate use of stop  and search powers and in some cases extra-legal violence.

Furthermore, the work has found that some of the ‘community policing’ oriented attempts at intervening-  such as community-police soccer games and camps- have not only failed to address the issues, but may in some cases actually be making matters worse.

Tonight we will talk to Daniel Haile Michael, one of the participants in the research and Shane Reside, one of the reports authors.

The research, funded by the Legal Services Board, was jointly managed by Springvale Monash Legal Service, Fitzroy Legal Service and the Western Suburbs Legal Service.

Gunns 20 Litigation Goes to Trial - Feb 2nd 2010

On December 13, 2004, 20 environmental activists, organisations and concerned citizens were issued a 216 page writ by the Tasmanian logging company Gunns Ltd. The woodchipping giant is suing for a combined AU$6.9 million for actions it claims has damaged their business and reputation.

This unprecedented agressive attack on environmental activists is finally making it to trial.

Done by Law speaks to Lawyers for forest Solicitor Vanessa Bleyer and former Gunns 20 defendant Lou Morriss about the trial and some of its implications for the environment movement.

Kids locked up for no good reason - NSW Young Offenders and Bail: 2 March 2010

Up until 2007 in NSW, it was usual for about 3,600 young people to be detained in custody each year.

In 2006 - 2007, this number jumped to 4,236.

In 2007 - 2008, this number rose to 5081.

Over these years there was no increase in juvenile involvement in violent and property crimes.

The vast majority of these young people in custody were on remand (that is, they were not serving a sentence after been found guilty and convicted).  In fact, only a very small proportion of these young people (between 8-16%), went on to receive a custodial sentence

Tonight, DBL speaks to Katrina Wong, co-author of the report “Bail Me Out – NSW Young Offenders and Bail” about why so many young people are being detained in the State of NSW.

DBL: International students under attack: 9 February 2010

You might be mistaken for thinking that the recent Victorian government announcement of a new Minister for the Respect Agenda is a Monty Pythonesque farce – but no! On the 20th of January, Premier Brumby announced that Justin Madden would be the inaugural Minister for Respect, stepping into this role to address social issues such as alcohol related violence and racial tolerance.

This comes at a time where the Victorian government is under intense international scrutiny regarding the spate of attacks on Indian students in Victoria. Only last week, Brumby was on the defensive once again after the Indian high commissioner Sujatha Singh accused his government of not doing enough to address attacks on Indian students.

As a result of mounting pressure regarding these attacks, the Victorian Government has also recently opened a new 24-hour support and welfare service for international students. This service is supposed to provide support and advice on a raft of issues for international students, including legal services.

Meanwhile, the Western Suburbs Legal Service are ahead of the game. Acknowledging the raft of issues facing international students, in particular given the high incidents of assault against Indian students out west, an International Student Legal Advice Clinic (ISLAC) was established by the Western Suburbs Legal Service, in collaboration with volunteers working with the international student community. This clinic began on the 1st July 2009 and deals with a raft of issues including housing and tenancy issues, student rights, police matters (including complaints), employment and discrimination/racism

We are joined tonight on Done by Law by Sanmati Verma, Coordinator of ISLAC to discuss the ongoing issues facing international students and whether the government response is adequate in addressing these issues.

Done By Law on Survival Day

- Done by Law on Survival Day -

Here at Done by Law as part of 3CRs special Survival day broadcast we’re
trying something a bit new – we’re going to broadcast a reading of Maria
Giannacopoulos’ 2006 essay - Terror Australis: White Sovereignty and the
Violence of Law as published in the Borderlands e-journal.

The central contention of this essay, is that Australian law is a regime
born of, and sustained through racial violence. The paper rejects the
notion that there is an absolute separation between the workings of
Australian law and the workings of white sovereignty. Maria uses the
federal anti-terrorism laws, and the Tampa ruling, to bring together two
distinct instances of Australian law in order to show the inextricability
of law and racial violence.

you can find the original Giannacopoulos essay at the borderlands e-journal: