F-Troop's Sgt O’Rourke and Cpl Agarn under defence!I’ve heard from colleagues that in some summary case conferences at court or contest-mentions they’re facing declarations that the courts won't permit defence by ambush, and that their accused client is required to disclose any defence they wish to advance.I guess this might arise from the provisions dealing …
Continue reading Circle the wagons! They say they’re not guilty!
Following the Court of Appeal’s decision in Chaouk — discussed here — Victoria Legal Aid last week announced that it was restoring funding for solicitors when required in criminal trials.It’s certainly welcome news, and will prevent what looked like an impending logjam in quite a few trials.But it hasn’t really addressed the chronic underfunding by the …
Continue reading Criminal trial funding restored, but Legal Aid still needs help
Recent events in Afghanistan and Iraq brought the intelligence communities' phrase 'blowback' to public consciousness.At its most basic, it's about unintended consequences; often ones that the actor actual intended to avoid, and yet by their actions, brought about.Recent legal aid cuts in Victoria might be a case in point.The UK has also recently gone through …
The value of a penalty unit and fee unit was decided a few years ago, then attached to a fixed rate of indexation. The value of each unit is usually published in the Government Gazette.The most recent Gazetted increase was on 29 March 2012 in G13 of 2012 at page 655. The values from 1 July were going …
The value of a penalty unit increases tomorrow, 1 July 2011.The value of a penalty unit for the coming financial year will be $122.14, up from $119.45. This was published in Victoria Government Gazette S 158 on 26 May 2011.The value of a fee unit will also go up to $12.22, up from $11.95.PENALTY UNITSUnitsDollars1$122.142$244.283$366.424$488.565$610.706$732.847$854.988$977.129$1099.26A …