Australia: Criminal Law

Understanding self-defence laws in Australia is crucial when facing criminal charges after defending yourself or your property. This comprehensive guide examines the strict legal tests that determine whether self-defence is lawful, including recent cases that challenge common assumptions about protecting your home.

Trust accounts hold significant funds on behalf of clients across legal, real estate, and strata management sectors, yet weak controls and high transaction volumes create...

Two young men face criminal charges after allegedly accessing confidential Commonwealth Bank customer records without authorisation, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's banking details. The case highlights how everyday employees with legitimate system access can face serious criminal penalties under NSW privacy laws, even when sophisticated hacking tools aren't involved.

There are laws in place to ensure that Police do not abuse the arrest powers they have been granted.

This article explains what constitutes illicit tobacco, how it is treated under Victorian and Federal law, and what legal consequences individuals and businesses may face if charged.

Scammers often seek to confer legitimacy by impersonating reputable law firms or IP practitioners.

Understanding self-defence laws in Australia is crucial when facing criminal charges after defending yourself or your property. This comprehensive guide examines the strict legal tests that determine whether self-defence is lawful, including recent cases that challenge common assumptions about protecting your home.

The second phase of New South Wales' most expansive overhaul of firearms regulation recently took place, marking the biggest leap in firearms and gun licence laws since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. The reforms are enshrined in the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (NSW), and were passed in an emergency sitting just days after the Bondi Beach terror attack in December 2025.

Australia strengthens its response to counterfeit goods importation through new legislation that creates strict liability offences and enables infringement notices at the border. The amendments aim to make counterfeit importing unprofitable by ensuring penalties and seized goods exceed potential profits. How will these changes impact intellectual property rights holders and importers operating in Australia?

New South Wales has introduced permanent legislation allowing police to use metal detector wands to scan people for knives in designated public areas, following successful trial operations that seized 380 weapons. The reforms expand police powers while raising concerns about civil liberties, racial profiling, and the potential for these scans to become stepping-stones for more invasive searches, despite knife crime being at an all-time low in NSW.

The NSW Court of Appeal has struck down sweeping anti-protest laws enacted after the Bondi Beach terror attack, ruling that police powers to ban public assemblies across broad geographic areas violated constitutional protections for political communication. The landmark decision examines whether governments can impose blanket restrictions on peaceful protests during times of heightened security concerns, and what constitutional limits exist on such powers.

Jaywalking is seen to present a danger to both pedestrians and traffic which has led to its criminalisation in many jurisdictions.