http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/courts/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/average-aussie-actor-seeks-part-in-csi-miami/ Ok, let’s get to the bottom of this Matthew Newton thing. We know he’s Bert’s son. We know he’s had recurring issues with the law. We know he’s been banged up in Miami Dade lockup overnight. And we know he’s said to be bipolar and probably needs some help. We also know he’s an actor in Florida. Put it together, people. This thing is so stupidly obvious it’s straight out of an episode of CSI: Dumbsville. What’s Newton doing in Florida? Easy. He’s auditioning for the part of a perp in a Florida cop drama. Think about it. After playing the bad guy in Underbelly, he has a taste for playing crims. And so, this decent, hard-working artiste who takes his craft incredibly seriously is sending a clever message to talent scouts everywhere that he is ready and available should a role come up. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/average-aussie-actor-seeks-part-in-csi-miami/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/average-aussie-actor-seeks-part-in-csi-miami/#item8321 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 The biggest slap in my five months of house arrest came not at the start when the magistrate said he wanted to make it “as much like jail” as he could. It came only days from the end, at the hands of an elderly hospital volunteer, on one of my rare excursions into the real world. As I walked into the foyer of the Austin Hospital for a check-up to see how my newly transplanted liver was behaving, the beaming, bespectacled old-timer asked how I was doing. I said: “I feel great. Only 12 more days and I’m out of jail.” His mocking, condescending reply: “You weren’t in jail.” I felt like saying: “You try it, sunshine.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-human-headline-ungagged-and-unbowed/ The biggest slap in my five months of house arrest came not at the start when the magistrate said he wanted to make it “as much like jail” as he could. It came only days from the end, at the hands of an elderly hospital volunteer, on one of my rare excursions into the real world. As I walked into the foyer of the Austin Hospital for a check-up to see how my newly transplanted liver was behaving, the beaming, bespectacled old-timer asked how I was doing. I said: “I feel great. Only 12 more days and I’m out of jail.” His mocking, condescending reply: “You weren’t in jail.” I felt like saying: “You try it, sunshine.” penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-human-headline-ungagged-and-unbowed/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-human-headline-ungagged-and-unbowed/#item7431 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 The biggest slap in my five months of house arrest came not at the start when the magistrate said he wanted to make it “as much like jail” as he could. It came only days from the end, at the hands of an elderly hospital volunteer, on one of my rare excursions into the real world. As I walked into the foyer of the Austin Hospital for a check-up to see how my newly transplanted liver was behaving, the beaming, bespectacled old-timer asked how I was doing. I said: “I feel great. Only 12 more days and I’m out of jail.” His mocking, condescending reply: “You weren’t in jail.” I felt like saying: “You try it, sunshine.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/reserving-the-right-to-protect-our-genetic-code/ It is encouraging to see that a spirit of bipartisanship is being brought to the issue of patenting human genes. However, it will take more than a recent House of Representatives motion calling for an end to the patenting of isolated human DNA to achieve change. Despite the US Federal Court finding patents for the BRCA1 and 2 genes invalid, the weight of precedent is against the finding being upheld. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/reserving-the-right-to-protect-our-genetic-code/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/reserving-the-right-to-protect-our-genetic-code/#item4428 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 The biggest slap in my five months of house arrest came not at the start when the magistrate said he wanted to make it “as much like jail” as he could. It came only days from the end, at the hands of an elderly hospital volunteer, on one of my rare excursions into the real world. As I walked into the foyer of the Austin Hospital for a check-up to see how my newly transplanted liver was behaving, the beaming, bespectacled old-timer asked how I was doing. I said: “I feel great. Only 12 more days and I’m out of jail.” His mocking, condescending reply: “You weren’t in jail.” I felt like saying: “You try it, sunshine.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/kirsty-taught-us-something-its-just-not-clear-what/ Room 22B of the Federal Court of NSW grew pretty crowded as Kristy Fraser-Kirk’s $37 million sexual harassment lawsuit against David Jones, its directors and ex-CEO Mark McInnes came to a head.  But if you went to the public gallery expecting to see any of the high-profile players you’d be sorely disappointed. While the case itself had enough salacious and emotive elements to see it dramatically splashed across print, TV and online as a top-rating story, the scene in court was one carefully cloaked in the cool, passive-aggressive language of the legal profession.  penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/kirsty-taught-us-something-its-just-not-clear-what/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/kirsty-taught-us-something-its-just-not-clear-what/#item4285 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 The biggest slap in my five months of house arrest came not at the start when the magistrate said he wanted to make it “as much like jail” as he could. It came only days from the end, at the hands of an elderly hospital volunteer, on one of my rare excursions into the real world. As I walked into the foyer of the Austin Hospital for a check-up to see how my newly transplanted liver was behaving, the beaming, bespectacled old-timer asked how I was doing. I said: “I feel great. Only 12 more days and I’m out of jail.” His mocking, condescending reply: “You weren’t in jail.” I felt like saying: “You try it, sunshine.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-we-had-an-exit-strategy-from-the-war-on-drugs/ When it comes to illicit drugs and how our society should best deal with its impact, Ken Crispin is one man to whom it is worth listening. Crispin has been practicing law since 1972, but more relevantly, he was the Director of Public Prosecutions in the ACT from 1991 to 1994 and a judge in that jurisdiction until 2007.  So this is why Crispin has made a bit of a splash over the past week by arguing that the US lead ‘War on Drugs’ which was debated and passed by Congress forty years this month, is failing our community. Crispin, in his recently published book The Quest for Justice, has dared to say what many Australian judges and magistrates think privately to be the case.  That treating illicit drug use as a criminal justice problem has not worked and will never work. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-we-had-an-exit-strategy-from-the-war-on-drugs/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-we-had-an-exit-strategy-from-the-war-on-drugs/#item3266 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 The biggest slap in my five months of house arrest came not at the start when the magistrate said he wanted to make it “as much like jail” as he could. It came only days from the end, at the hands of an elderly hospital volunteer, on one of my rare excursions into the real world. As I walked into the foyer of the Austin Hospital for a check-up to see how my newly transplanted liver was behaving, the beaming, bespectacled old-timer asked how I was doing. I said: “I feel great. Only 12 more days and I’m out of jail.” His mocking, condescending reply: “You weren’t in jail.” I felt like saying: “You try it, sunshine.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/five-years-in-jail-is-a-hell-of-a-time-and-a-fitting-sentence/ The death of 24 year old Matthew McEvoy outside a night club in Melbourne in 2008 was as a result of acts of senseless violence by two young men, Andriyas Tello and Lauren Sako. But as tragic as Matthew McEvoy’s death is, it is important to remember that the justice system in a democratic society is not there as a tool of revenge or bloodlust, but exists rather as a means of both protecting society and hoping that these young men do not offend in this serious way again. David Penberthy on this site last Thursday took issue with Victorian Supreme Court Justice Paul Coghlan’s sentencing of Tello, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, to a period of 5 years imprisonment (Sako has already been sent to jail for 6 years with a 3 year minimum term). penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/five-years-in-jail-is-a-hell-of-a-time-and-a-fitting-sentence/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/five-years-in-jail-is-a-hell-of-a-time-and-a-fitting-sentence/#item3190 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 The biggest slap in my five months of house arrest came not at the start when the magistrate said he wanted to make it “as much like jail” as he could. It came only days from the end, at the hands of an elderly hospital volunteer, on one of my rare excursions into the real world. As I walked into the foyer of the Austin Hospital for a check-up to see how my newly transplanted liver was behaving, the beaming, bespectacled old-timer asked how I was doing. I said: “I feel great. Only 12 more days and I’m out of jail.” His mocking, condescending reply: “You weren’t in jail.” I felt like saying: “You try it, sunshine.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/two-courts-two-sentences-two-types-of-justice/ In two courts yesterday, two very different sentences were handed down, for two stomach-turning crimes which epitomise public disgust at random, life-destroying violence. Did the courts reflect that public disgust in their sentences? Did they do their job in reflecting community standards? In one case, probably. In the other, most definitely not. Both cases involved indiscriminate and unprompted violence, the kind of blink-of-an-eye brain-snaps which terrify every parent, where an innocent young man was jumped, king-hit and left for dead. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/two-courts-two-sentences-two-types-of-justice/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/two-courts-two-sentences-two-types-of-justice/#item3171 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 The biggest slap in my five months of house arrest came not at the start when the magistrate said he wanted to make it “as much like jail” as he could. It came only days from the end, at the hands of an elderly hospital volunteer, on one of my rare excursions into the real world. As I walked into the foyer of the Austin Hospital for a check-up to see how my newly transplanted liver was behaving, the beaming, bespectacled old-timer asked how I was doing. I said: “I feel great. Only 12 more days and I’m out of jail.” His mocking, condescending reply: “You weren’t in jail.” I felt like saying: “You try it, sunshine.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sometimes-the-evidence-people-isnt-there/ About 100 nautical miles off the Australian coast on the first night of a cruise, Dianne Brimble accepted a dose of the illicit drug Fantasy from a man she barely knew. Mark Wilhelm gave her the drug, that he admits - but the offer of a drug alone does not amount to manslaughter. This was the personal assessment of a Supreme Court of NSW judge Roderick Howie yesterday, as he took a guilty plea from Mark Robin Wilhelm to the supply of Fantasy to Ms Brimble - and he’s right. As much as her bereaved family and others may have looked to a manslaughter conviction for vindication, the NSW DPP rightly revealed today they would no longer prosecute him for manslaughter. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sometimes-the-evidence-people-isnt-there/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sometimes-the-evidence-people-isnt-there/#item2900 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 The biggest slap in my five months of house arrest came not at the start when the magistrate said he wanted to make it “as much like jail” as he could. It came only days from the end, at the hands of an elderly hospital volunteer, on one of my rare excursions into the real world. As I walked into the foyer of the Austin Hospital for a check-up to see how my newly transplanted liver was behaving, the beaming, bespectacled old-timer asked how I was doing. I said: “I feel great. Only 12 more days and I’m out of jail.” His mocking, condescending reply: “You weren’t in jail.” I felt like saying: “You try it, sunshine.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/soft-sentences-a-king-hit-for-justice/ I don’t know Luke Adams. Chances are I never will. But when I viewed the graphic, and much-publicised, video of the promising footballer (and his friend) getting bashed at a Prahran Hungry Jack’s last July, my heart skipped a beat. It was incredibly disturbing footage. On Friday, two of Adams’ attackers were sentenced in the County Court. Mark Bogtstra, 22, received intensive corrections order, requiring community work for nine months. The man who put Adams in a headlock and let him fall to the ground, bouncer Nathan Karazisis, 24, was sentenced to two years and four months in jail, and made to serve at least a year. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/soft-sentences-a-king-hit-for-justice/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/soft-sentences-a-king-hit-for-justice/#item2809 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 The biggest slap in my five months of house arrest came not at the start when the magistrate said he wanted to make it “as much like jail” as he could. It came only days from the end, at the hands of an elderly hospital volunteer, on one of my rare excursions into the real world. As I walked into the foyer of the Austin Hospital for a check-up to see how my newly transplanted liver was behaving, the beaming, bespectacled old-timer asked how I was doing. I said: “I feel great. Only 12 more days and I’m out of jail.” His mocking, condescending reply: “You weren’t in jail.” I felt like saying: “You try it, sunshine.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sometimes-principle-is-just-stupid/ Are there any men out there who feel genuinely aggrieved at the idea that a travel company might offer packages specifically for women? And no, I’m not talking about those of you who wish you could significantly increase your strike rate by being the only bloke on the Contiki bus. I mean men who really feel your human rights are violated by a group of women planning a chicks-only trip. In general most people are in favour of legal protection against discrimination - if it’s the kind of discrimination that prevents someone having the same opportunities as everyone else because of some arbitrary barrier such as sex, race, or a disability. But sometimes the application of that principle is more arbitrary than the discrimination it’s trying to address. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sometimes-principle-is-just-stupid/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sometimes-principle-is-just-stupid/#item1768 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 The biggest slap in my five months of house arrest came not at the start when the magistrate said he wanted to make it “as much like jail” as he could. It came only days from the end, at the hands of an elderly hospital volunteer, on one of my rare excursions into the real world. As I walked into the foyer of the Austin Hospital for a check-up to see how my newly transplanted liver was behaving, the beaming, bespectacled old-timer asked how I was doing. I said: “I feel great. Only 12 more days and I’m out of jail.” His mocking, condescending reply: “You weren’t in jail.” I felt like saying: “You try it, sunshine.”