Done By Law

Indy and Jeremie discuss the new Identify and Disrupt laws with guests Angus Murray and Lizzie O'Shea. More info on this topic:https://melbactivistlegal.org.au/2021/08/26/identify-and-disrupt-bill/https://digitalrightswatch.org.au/2021/09/02/australias-new-mass-surveillance-mandate/https://privacy.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/110221_Submission-to-PJCIS-Identify-Disrupt-Bill.pdf

This week on Done by law, we are talking about sex work. Currently in Victoria there is a review of the sex industry laws underway. Decriminalisation is on the table. There is a really interesting history to the way sex work has been dealt with by our justice system. Tess and Su chat with Barbara Minchinton, an expert on this history. Barbara's new book, Women of Little Lon, is focussed on the sex workers of Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne during the early 20th century. Part of that history is the law that surrounded sex work. We discuss connections between the old days and the 21st century situation, including what lessons we've learnt from the past, and what decriminalisation might achieve.

Dylan and Jeremie discuss the impacts of the recent changes to NT bail laws and their impact on young people with Mililma from Uprising of the People (UP). Facebook UprisingofthepeopleInstagram @uprisingofthepeopleYou can read more about this here: SBS News Article  

Sex Work and Access to Banking Services with special guests Denis Nelthorpe AM and Dean

Imagine if nature itself could fight back, legally, for its own protection against those who seek to destroy it? Recent 'next generation' laws around the world which hold that the natural environment has legal personhood and/or legal rights aim to enable just this. We talk with water law and policy specialist Dr Erin O'Donnell and respected Wurundjeri elder Aunty Diane Kerr OAM about the Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act 2017, a similar Victorian law aiming to protect the Birrarung (Yarra river).https://www.water.vic.gov.au/waterways-and-catchments/protecting-the-yarra/yarra-river-protection-act?fbclid=IwAR2PAmLHddJgZ2OOxGtc8ojQBUfgQ6OaPcvdgvf4CbPtGHJs71Gy1zzdWvM

Su, Meg and Tess speak to Suzie Wnukowska-Mtonga and Sarah Schwartz about Movement Lawyering and Australia's first Rebellious Law Conference. For more information about the conference, visit www.reblaw.com.au. 

Hosts Indy and Dylan interview Larissa Baldwin, First Nation's Justice Campaign Director at GetUp. Larissa explains how Australia's cultural protection laws fail to protect Aboriginal sacred cultural sites and allow private companies to destroy and exploit country. Larissa discusses GetUp's campaign with traditional owners to stand together with First Nation's people and call for greater cultural protection. Find out more here: https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/first-nations-justice-campaigns/heritage-act-video/watch-and-share 

"Women and Mentoring (WAM) offers a unique, early intervention program that supports women charged with a criminal offence by matching them individually with a supportive female mentor. The volunteer mentors are trained and resourced to provide appropriate support to the program participants, to share their skills and to contribute to the wider community." - Women and Mentoring Website We delve more into this unique and inspiring volunteer lead program based in Melbourne. We get an inside look into how the mentor and mentee relationship has indelibly transfromed the life of Sammy, a woman caught up in the criminal justice system in Melbourne. To find out more and participate or donate to Women and Mentoring head to their website: http://womenandmentoring.org.au 

Su Robertson and Daniel Bavcevic dicuss the submissions made to the Australian Productivity Commission regarding the 'Right to Repair' and how to improve consumer accessiblity to enforcing this right and the social and environmental benefits this will have for the community.Our guest is Brigette Rose, Senior Policy Officer at Consumer Action Law Centre. Brigette is the author of a recent submission to the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into the Right to Repair.View the Consumer Action Law Centre submission here: https://consumeraction.org.au/right-to-repair-submission-to-productivity-commission-inquiry/  

The Australian Government, headed up by the ACCC, has conducted an indepth inquiry into the digital platforms, and has come up with a proposed media bargaining code, which was revealed earlier this year. The Code has a number of aspects to it, but has drawn most attention for the way it proposes to force the platforms to pay Australian media companies and local content in their search and on their feeds. Suffice to say the digital platforms aren't happy.Google and Facebook have come out fighting against the Australian government's news media bargaining Code, and have accused the Code of potentially 'breaking' the internet, and threatened to remove their services.The showdown is the latest example of the immense power struggles being waged between State actors and the new world superpowers; big tech. How can and should the law be used to regulate online platforms, and is Australia's Code the best way of doing it?Gemma and Daniel discuss with academic and senior lecturer Dr Jake Goldenfein from University

Sam, Gemma and Greg tackle the pressing questions - Can I return to Victoria after my from holiday? Are rent reductions still availabe? When do I need my face mask? And what about protesting? The team provides a quick update on changes to the law to date.

Su, Gemma and Daniel are joined by PhD candidate at the Australian National University and former Canberra Community Law solicitor, Radhika Chaudhri, to discuss new ways of ensuring Australian courts consider Economic Violence in a family violence context. We discuss new ways of using some old school legal ideas to get lawyers and judges thinking differently about this problem. We chat about mortgages, consumer contracts and other situations where women find themselves in crisis because of financial abuse.For the law nerds out there, the discussion is about the application of the equitable doctrine of undue influence to financial abuse cases in the Family Court and Supreme Courts. Radhika Chaudhri's research on this topic can be found published in the Australian Journal of Family Law in her article titled "Tackling financial abuse with the doctrine of undue influence".