Welcome to HSC Legal Studies: News Watch

The Federal Government will develop legislation to ban the importation of unauthorised psychoactive substances or "synthetic drugs".  The legislation will implement a “reverse onus of proof” scheme.

At the moment, synthetic drugs need to be banned in legislation to be illegal. If they are not banned, their importation, sale and manufacture is still legal.

A reversal of the onus of proof will flip this assumption - it will mean that new drugs coming onto the market are presumed to be illegal until the authorities know what they are and clear them as safe and legal.

There are a range of synthetic drugs being sold, including through the internet, that mimic the effects of illegal drugs like cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamine.

New synthetic drugs, such as synthetic cannabis, are being marketed to the community as a legal alternative to illicit drugs.

A reverse onus of proof in relation to new synthetic drugs is operating in Ireland and is due to begin in New Zealand on the 1st of August 2013.

See the media release for more details of this new legislation.

Media reports about this announcement:

• 19 synthetic drugs banned nationally, SMH, 16 June 2013
• Federal Government to introduce short-term ban on synthetic drugs, ABC Online, 17 June 2013

There is a mixed response to this ban from academics

Some examples:

• Drug laws amount to scientific censorship by David Nutt, The Guardian, 12 June 2013
• Synthetic cannabis: even regular drug users don't trust it by Sarah Macgregor, The Conversation, 18 June 2013

See our earlier blog post for more information on this topic.

Last week a year 12 boy jumped to his death after taking a synthetic drug.  The drug mimics LSD and made him “want to fly”.  This is the not the first death from taking a synthetic drug.  Last October, a man died after taking the synthetic drug “bath salts”.

Media reports about both these incidents

• “He wanted to fly”: father says son made a fatal mistake by Nick Ralston and Lisa Davies, SMH, 7 June 2013
• Naked and psychotic: legal cocaine substitute offers a deadly high by Rachel Olding, SMH, 3 November 2012

Response by the Government

An interim ban was made under section 109(1)(a)(ii) of the Australian Consumer Law (NSW) of 19 goods from 9 June 2013.  See interim ban.  This is an interesting approach by the Government to use a product safety ban under the Australian Consumer Laws to ban synthetic drugs.  See the announcement by the Fair Trading, 9 June 2013.  The Minister, Mr Roberts said:

“These synthetic drugs have caused significant harmful and in some instances fatal side effects, The NSW Government toughened regulation of these drugs in 2011 by prohibiting a number of identified synthetic cannabinoids from sale. They are now treated in the same manner as cannabis, heroin and cocaine.
 
New and different substances regularly appear on the drug market and it is challenging for governments to deal with this constantly changing environment, with it requiring action at both State and Federal levels – but we are determined to do all we can.

The time to act is now, any delay compromises community safety and that is why we have determined this interim ban be immediately put in place.”

Responses to this ban 

•  Banned drugs ‘channeled to black market’ by Rachel Olding, SMH, 11 June 2013
• White revolver, Ash Inferno: wide range of synthetic drugs banned by Lisa Davies, SMH, 9 June 2013

About synthetic drugs

• Synthetic cannabinoids – factsheet produced by NSW Health, 28 June 2011
• New and emerging drugs by Stephen Bright, Australian Drug Foundation, April 2013
• Synthetic cannabis: prevalence of use among offenders's perception of risk and negative side effects experienced by Sarah Macgregor and Jason Payne, AIC, Criminal Justice Bulletin Series 11, March 2013, Australian

Reforming the laws

• Law reform issues regarding synthetic drugs, Legal Affairs Committee, Report 1/55, May 2013, NSW Parliament
• Legal highs: what should we do about synthetic cannabis? By Monica Barratt and Stephen Bright, The Conversation, 15 November 2012
• Illicit Drug Data Report 2011-2012 – Australian Crime Commission, released May 2013, makes reference to synthetic cannabinoids

More information about drugs and the law

• Drugs and the law - Research Guide HSC Legal Studies: Preliminary Part I
• Drugs statistics trends and policies - State Library Research Guide
• Drug info at your library

Two new resources are now available online which will be helpful for teachers and students doing Family:

Families, Hot Topics 82, 2012 - topics covered include:

• government and family
• fundamental concepts - family, parents, children
• courts dealing with family issues
• family law and divorce
• property and money matters
• social security benefits
• family violence

Family law handbook 3rd edition by Maree Livermore 2013

• the family law system - chapter 1
• marriage, de facto relationships, separation and divorce - chapter 2

We have added links to these resources throughout our Research Guide HSC Legal Studies: Family. 

We have updated the pages on this guide relating to adoptions, family violence and marriage - to include polygamous relationships.

A recent NSW Court of Appeal decision gave formal legal recognition to people who do not identify as male or female.  It has been a long road for “Norrie” who does not identify with being either male nor female.  This is a victory for androgynous people and also provides an option for others who are born with ambiguous genitalia.

Timeline of Norrie’s fight to be recognised as “sex not specified” by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages

11 February 2010 – Registry uses words “sex not specified”

Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages provided Norrie with a certificate using the words “sex not specified”.  See Sexless in the city: a gender revolution, by Joel Gibson, SMH, 12 March 2010

16 March 2010  – Registry reviews this decision

Registry wrote to Norrie saying that this change was invalid and had been issued “in error”.

August 2010 - Appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal

Norrie v Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages [2011] NSWADT 102, 13 May 2011 – affirms the decision of the Registry made on 16 March 2010, that it does not have the power under section 32DC of the Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 (NSW) to register a change of sex by a person to “non-specific” or “not specified”. (par 99)

August 2011 – Appeal to Administrative Decisions Tribunal Appeal Panel of New South Wales

Norrie v Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages (GD) [2011] NSWADTAP 52, 29 November 2011 – affirms the earlier Tribunal’s decision.

November 2011- Appeal to New South Wales Court of Appeal

Norrie v NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages [2013] NSWCA 145, 31 May 2013 – ordered that the decision of the Tribunal be set aside, and that the matter be returned to the Tribunal to make factual findings on the appropriate classification of Norrie’s sex to be registered under s32DC of the Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 (NSW).

For a helpful summary of this decision see Please just call me Norrie, this is a whole new agenda by Paul Bibby, SMH, 1 June 2013.   If you are interested in exploring this issue, there is an extensive reading list in this decision and there is a helpful table of contents referring the reader to the relevant paragraphs.

If you are interested in exploring the rights of people with difficulties with their sexual orientation see transgender discrimination – produced by the Anti-discrimination Board. This case study could be used in for HSC Legal Studies: Preliminary Part III - Law in Practice

The Australian Institute of Family Studies report Working Out Relationships reveals an increase in the number of couples divorcing after long periods of marriage.

AIFS' Director, Professor Alan Hayes said that the proportion of divorces ending after twenty years had increased from 13 per cent in 1990 to 28 per cent in 2011.

"Divorce trends have been heavily influenced by changing social norms about remaining in unhappy marriages. There is far less social stigma today about ending a marriage and women are less reliant on men for their financial stability," Professor Hayes said.

"The increased proportion of all divorces that entail longer term marriages also suggests that increasing numbers of parents will delay divorce until all of their children are at least 18 years old. It is not surprising that the proportion of divorces involving children under 18 years has declined over the last few decades."

AIFS' Senior Research Fellow, Lixia Qu said divorce after fewer than ten years of marriage remained the most common time for separation.

"We are also seeing partnership rates falling among middle aged people, reflecting both the decline in the marriage rate and the increase in divorce rates for middle age men and women. The fall in partnership rates was particularly evident among men aged in their late 40s to early 60s and for women in their early 40s through to their late 50s."

These findings are in the chapter dissolving relationships of this report.

You will also find useful Family Facts and Figures with statistics about:

• Marriage
• Divorce
• Australian Households
• Australian Families

More information about family is available on our research guide HSC Legal Studies: Family