Placeholder Content Image

Fury over black market for disabled parking permits

<p>An investigation has uncovered a rise in the black market for disabled and mobility permits on online classified sites.</p> <p>According to motoring news outlet <a href="https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/outrage-after-disabled-parking-permits-spotted-for-sale-online/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Drive</em></a>, some users around Australia are using Facebook and other social media outlets to sell their unused mobility parking permits to give other drivers unauthorised access to disabled parking spots.</p> <p>The publication unearthed one permit for sale in Sydney was priced at $500 and valid until 2028.</p> <p>The permit was equipped with the holder, photo ID, and a description stating the buyer will get free unmetered parking and that the permit is valid Australia-wide.</p> <p>A spokesperson for Transport NSW told <em>Drive</em> this practice is illegal and carries large fines for both the purchaser and seller, adding that the permit holder is subject to cancellation for misuse.</p> <p>“The sale of mobility parking permits online is illegal, and Transport for NSW urges anyone who is aware of this happening to report it to NSW Police," the spokesperson said. “These permits are reserved only for people with permanent or temporary mobility challenges as assessed by a medical professional."</p> <p>“The regulatory penalty for misuse of a permit is currently a penalty notice of $818 or a maximum court-imposed penalty of $2200 under the Road Transport (General) Regulation 2021. This includes ‘permitting another person to have possession of it’.”</p> <p>A spokesperson for the Department of Social Services Australia went on to stress the importance of not buying a mobility parking permit if you are not legally entitled to one.</p> <p>“Australia’s Disability Strategy recognises that people with disability should be supported to live more accessible and connected lives within their communities, including being able to fully participate in social, recreational, and cultural events," the spokesperson said.</p> <p>“The inappropriate use of accessible parking spaces can negatively impact people with disability.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Drive / Facebook</em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Terminally ill teacher convicted of child abuse granted end-of-life permit

<p>A convicted child abuser from Adelaide, who was imprisoned for his acts of paedophilia against students during his tenure as a music teacher, has been authorised to pursue assisted dying, according to an exclusive report by <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/exclusive-adelaide-news-jailed-paedophile-teacher-malcolm-day-given-end-of-life-permit-voluntary-assisted-dying/cab7e95c-f3b1-4dbd-ae0d-cc8dbfee22c0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9News</a>.</p> <p>Malcolm Day, aged 81, has emerged as the first incarcerated individual in Australia to receive approval for voluntary assisted dying following a terminal illness diagnosis, reportedly linked to cancer.</p> <p>Having received a 20-year prison sentence last June, Day's remaining term spans 17 years.</p> <p>Navigating the 11-step process required for accessing voluntary assisted dying in South Australia, Day's application is reported to be in its concluding stages, potentially reaching completion within the next few days.</p> <p>Dr Philip Nitschke, the director of the pro-euthanasia organisation Exit International, acknowledged that an incarcerated individual availing themselves of this scheme was an inevitable eventuality.</p> <p>"By the sounds of it, he satisfies all the conditions of the South Australian assisted dying legislation," Dr Nitschke told 9News. "So there should be no impediment… he should be given the option that any other person would have if they were terminally ill."</p> <p>During the 1980s, Day, while serving as a music teacher in South Australia, inflicted profound and lasting harm upon two of his students. After grooming and exploiting his victims, he vehemently refuted all allegations when investigated by educational authorities.</p> <p>When Day was sentenced, his legal representative, Stephen Ey, acknowledged the real possibility of his client passing away behind bars, saying at the time that it was "a real prospect... given his age."</p> <p>According to the latest data from SA Health, since the initiation of voluntary assisted dying in January of this year, 39 terminally ill residents of South Australia have opted to peacefully conclude their lives after being granted the necessary permits.</p> <p><em>Image: Nine News</em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Is possessing pornography permitted in prison?

<p>According to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27419739">some estimates</a>, around three quarters of men (76%) and over one-third of women (41%) regularly view pornographic material.</p> <p>However, there remains one place where consumption of porn is strictly prohibited: prison.</p> <p>Pornography is currently banned across <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/prisons-we-attend/">Australian prisons</a>, but there are many who believe that allowing the material could go someway towards easing tensions and aggression behind bars.</p> <p><strong>Pornography as Contraband</strong></p> <p>All prisons across Australia have a long list of items consider contraband, for which hefty penalties apply.</p> <p>In NSW <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/dont-visit-a-prison-before-reading-this/">a range of items are banned</a> including drugs, alcohol, tobacco, syringes, mobile phones, computers and various other goods.</p> <p>The NSW Justice <a href="https://www.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Corrective%20Services/families-handbook_chapter%202.pdf">Families Handbook</a> explains that pornographic magazines are not allowed to be possessed in prison, nor brought in or sent to inmates.</p> <p>A maximum penalty of 2 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $2,200 applies to those who deliver or bring illegal items into prisons, or who attempt to smuggle items out of prisons.</p> <p>Visitors caught trying to bring illegal items into prisons can also be banned from visiting their loved ones for up to two years.</p> <p>Watching pornography online via a contraband phone also carrier a serious risk.</p> <p>Any inmate found in possession or a mobile phone, or any part of a mobile phone, including a SIM card or charger, faces a maximum penalty of 2 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $5,500 under <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/soa1988189/s27da.html">section 27DA of the Summary Offences Act 1988</a>.</p> <p><strong>A Question of Human Rights?</strong></p> <p>As surprising as it sounds, the question of prisoner access to pornography has been subject to a number of legal challenges internationally.</p> <p>In 2001, UK serial killer Dennis Nilsen sought to challenge a decision of the Prison Governor denying him access to Vulcan, a gay porn magazine as well as a number of other LGBT publications, through an application to the European Court of Human Rights.</p> <p>The claim was made on the basis of two Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights:</p> <ul> <li>Article 3 which protects against inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners; and</li> <li>Article 14 which protects against discrimination.</li> </ul> <p>Nilsen’s application was refused by a single judge concluded that his lawyers had failed to establish that a breach of human rights had occurred or that the prohibition on pornography was applied in a discriminatory way.</p> <p>The idea that Nilsen was successful in his bid has become something of a ‘human rights myth’, widely reported in the media by those critical of human rights courts. However, Nilsen failed at the very first hurdle and was denied access to pornographic material. He died in 2018.</p> <p>The quest for access to pornography certainly isn’t limited to the UK.</p> <p>Last year, an Iowan judge <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/iowa-inmates-granted-access-to-nudity-not-porn/">partially upheld</a> a claim by a number of inmates that a broadly worded prison porn ban infringed upon their First Amendment rights under the US Constitution.</p> <p>The judge didn’t set aside the ban in its entirety, but did allow for ‘non-sexually explicit depictions of nudity’ to be accessed by prisoners.</p> <p>This has followed a series of failed attempts by prisoners in other US states to fight prison porn bans, which claims recently rejected in Connecticut and Michigan.</p> <p><strong>The case for porn in prisons</strong></p> <p>There is a case to be made for prisoners to have access to pornography.</p> <p>In a <a href="https://theconversation.com/give-prisoners-internet-access-for-a-safer-and-more-humane-community-68543">2016 article</a> advocating for inmates to be given access to the internet, Dean of Swinburne Law School Professors Dan Hunter and Mirko Bagaric responded to concerns that inmates would use access pornography over the internet by remarking:</p> <p><em>Prisoners in some jurisdictions already have (limited) conjugal visits. Logically, and emotively, if prisoners can have sex, it is illogical to deny them the capacity to watch sex.</em></p> <p>Indeed, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/bjbmga/australian-prisoners-talk-about-their-secret-porn-collections">anecdotal</a> reports suggests that a thriving underground market of contraband pornography already exists in Australian prisons. This calls into question any claimed ‘success’ of current policies.</p> <p>Access to pornography by inmates is allowed in some parts of the world. For example, inmates in Antwerp have access to the internet in their cells via a system called <a href="https://www.ebo-enterprises.com/prisoncloud">PrisonCloud</a>, which allows adults films to be purchased and streamed.</p> <p>The system allows for officials to control of the kind of adult content inmates are permitted to access.</p> <p>And there is research to suggest that providing access to pornography could reduce aggression and even the <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/sexual-assault-in-prison/">sexual assaults within prison</a>.</p> <p>Indeed, recognising that inmates have the same needs and desires as members of the general population, and accommodating for those needs, could leave them feeling less stigmatised, alienated and suppressed, and ultimately promote rehabilitation.</p> <p><em>Written by Jarryd Bartle. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/is-possessing-pornography-permitted-in-prison/">Sydney Criminal Lawyers.</a> </em></p> <p><em> </em></p>

Movies

Placeholder Content Image

Mother with blind child denied parking permit, receives abusive windscreen notes from angry parents

<p>The mother of a blind girl in Townsville, Queensland says that she will continue to park in disabled spots despite being denied a permit and being yelled at by other parents.</p> <p>Taylor Blennerhassett’s six-year-old daughter Mackenna Murray is blind due to septo-optic dysplasia, which means that she has to use a cane to get around.</p> <p>Depsite her daughter’s severe condition, Taylor was denied a permit to use disabled parking spots in Queensland.</p> <p>Taylor told<span> </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7578639/Townsville-mother-receives-abusive-notes-car-parking-disabled-spot-blind-daughter.html" target="_blank">Daily Mail Australia</a></em><span> </span>that when picking her daughter up from school, she has been subjected to abuse in the form of notes from other parents left on her windscreen.</p> <p>“Mackenna is completely blind but we are unable to get a parking permit, so I arranged with the school to get permission to park in the disabled spots,” she explained.</p> <p>“I get messages that I'm not supposed to park there, it's rude of me to park there and I don't deserve to park there.</p> <p>“I've had people say I'm lazy and I'm taking spots away from families that actually need them.”</p> <p>Taylor said that as she often picks up Mackenna from school, she is subjected to at least one letter a week from angry parents.</p> <p>“It was quite hurtful considering no one left names or numbers for me to explain myself or the situation,” she said.</p> <p>“There's not much I can do about it as all I've been handed is a piece of paper.”</p> <p>As Taylor has worked out a solution with Mackenna’s school, the school ended up giving Taylor a laminated sign saying that she had formal permission to park in the disabled spots.</p> <p>Taylor said it was a “kick in the guts” when they were denied an official disability pass from the state, as she often fears that Mackenna could walk into traffic if parked in a spot far away.</p> <p>“It is absolute bull***, I have to tell her when there's a step, I have to tell her when there's a ditch or any obstacle in her way, if I don't do that she'll trip and hurt herself,” she said.</p> <p>“I'm trying to get awareness out there that vision impaired people need the parking even for the safety side of things.”</p> <p>Due to the backlash of being denied a disability permit, a Transport and Main Roads Minister told the<span> </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7578639/Townsville-mother-receives-abusive-notes-car-parking-disabled-spot-blind-daughter.html" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a></em><span> </span>that they’re looking into it.</p> <p>“Following community feedback, Transport and Main Roads is currently assessing the feasibility of expanding the Australian Disability Parking Permit Scheme criteria to include people with vision impairment.</p> <p>“We commissioned an independent consultant to undertake the review, which has involved consultation with community, government and disability sector stakeholders.”</p> <p><em>Photo credit:<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157195952372489&amp;set=a.10150744009212489&amp;type=3&amp;theater" target="_blank">Taylor Blennerhassett Facebook</a></em></p>

Travel Trouble

Our Partners