Law & order

In November 2022 the NT Government passed legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 years old. This legislation will now come into effect from 1 August 2023. If a child 11 years or under engages in concerning behaviour, they will be dealt with by NT Police and Territory Families through referring the child and their family to the On The Right Track program.

Strangulation of women has emerged as a new trend among perpetrators of domestic violence in Naracoorte and its surrounding towns. The revelation was made by the Limestone Coast Domestic Violence Service (LCDVS), which noted an increase in reports of women being strangled by their intimate partners in the last six months.

The reporting time for the Covid-19 Vaccination Status (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill 2022 and the Fair Work Amendment (Prohibiting Covid-19 Vaccine Discrimination) Bill 2023 has been extended to August 25, 2023. On February 9, 2023, the Senate referred to the committee with the bill’s intention to prohibit the commonwealth, states and territories and other government and non-government entities from discriminating on the basis of whether a person has had a Covid-19 vaccination in the provision of goods, services and facilities and also in employment, education, accommodation and sport, and amend the Fair Work Act 2009 by adding Covid-19 vaccination status as an attribute protected from discrimination.

Farmers beware! Come midnight tonight [30 June 2023], don’t think you can crank up your bulldozer, grader or continue building that new hay shed and not have to worry about the new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws ... While some may think that the Premier's light touch and soft start might sound appealing, by law nothing has changed, and you could well find yourself prosecuted for any heritage damage you do in the coming months with no legal recourse despite the Premier's spin.

Police from the Darling Downs District have launched the Community Camera Alliance at the Denise Kable Youth Services Centre in the Toowoomba suburb of Centenary Heights. Community Camera Alliance is an opportunity for members of the community across the region to register their closed circuit television (CCTV) system with the Queensland Police Service (QPS).

The government regulator, ACMA, could soon have more powers under a proposed misinformation and disinformation bill put forth by the Albanese Government ... According to the bill, misinformation is defined as information that is false, misleading or deceptive. The devil will be in the detail and how the new laws, if passed, are enacted. During the recent Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world conspired with tech giants to remove, suppress and even deplatform the accounts of experts whose views differed from the government line.