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  • Chris Nyst, Criminal Law

Policy or Politics?

Last week the Supreme Court ordered the Queensland Parole Board to pay convicted bank robber Brenden Abbott’s legal costs because it failed to make a timely decision on his parole application. The Board had sat on Abbott’s application for 389 days, unable to decide whether or not it should release the so-called ‘Postcard Bandit’. Why? What was the problem? The only answer I have is “It’s complicated.”
  • Chris Nyst, Criminal Law, Opinion

CSI Washington DC

So you think that all CSI stuff is pretty impressive, huh? Think again. On February 24, 1981, a young woman was raped in her Washington DC home by an armed intruder. She saw the perpetrator only fleetingly as he climbed in through her window, before tying her up and blindfolding her, so she could give only limited details of his description. But five weeks later, when 18-year old African American man Kirk Odom was being questioned on an unrelated matter, a policeman thought he fitted the limited description. So police showed a photograph of Odom to the victim, who tentatively identified him as the culprit.
  • Chris Nyst, Hollywood, Litigation, Opinion, Politics

The Bloody Insult

Not everything's about money. One of my favourite Australian films of all time is Ken Hannan’s classic 1975 drama Sunday Too Far Away. It tells the tale of knock-about shearers working the sheds on an outback sheep station in 1955 Australia. Their tough existence is summed up in the title, paraphrasing what’s known as The Shearers Wife’s Lament – “Friday night too tired, Saturday night too drunk, Sunday too far away.” Jack Thompson plays Foley, a hard-drinking gun shearer who leads his workmates in a strike over their substandard working conditions. When their employer brings in non-union labour in a bid to break the strike, Foley and his mates dig in. It’s a great line, and a great way to end the film.
  • Chris Nyst, Criminal Law, Human Rights, Opinion

A Very Big Call

I was surprised to read this week former Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock's comment that it is unlikely proposed anti-terror laws would see an Australian deported before their appeal is heard. Some years back a client of mine was deported to the UK by ministerial direction pursuant to section 501 of the Immigration Act. He had come to Australia with his family as a child, and was in his 20s when he was convicted of a criminal offence.
  • Chris Nyst, International, Sport

The Rumble Of Turbulent Times

Well, the final figures are in, and it's official - the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. prize-fight last month was the most lucrative bout in boxing history. It racked up a record 4.4 million pay-per-view buys, which produced more than $US400 million in TV revenue alone. Ticket sales of around $US72 million, international sales of $US35 million, closed-circuit broadcasts of $US13 million, $US12 million worth of sponsorships and another $US1 million in merchandise,  pushed up the overall take to well over $US500 million. Mayweather took home $US210 million and Pacquiao’s a relatively paltry $US142 million.
  • Property

Party Time – Regulating The Party House

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the suburbs… Earlier this year, eight years after he made national headlines when the party he threw at his parents’ suburban home was overrun by hundreds of gatecrashers who responded to a MySpace invitation, Corey Worthington, now 23 and all grown up, has launched his latest business venture — an online party planning service, would you believe.
  • Chris Nyst, Entertainment

Vernon’s Music Award

Nyst Legal trainee lawyer Jonny Nyst, did the Gold Coast proud last night with a first-place gong at the Queensland Music Awards. Jonny’s band, The Vernons, have been making a name for themselves locally supporting big names like Wolfmother and The Rubens, and recently their single Shake ‘n’ Roll was picked up by US telco TMobile to back its national advertising campaign in North America.
  • Family Law

Dalliance Discounts – De Facto Provisions Of The Family Law Act

If you're thinking of sharing your bed with someone sometime soon, it might be best to stop and think about precisely what you may be signing up for. Since 1 March 2009 the Family Law Act has applied not only to married couples, but also to people living together in a de facto relationship. That means you don't have to be legally married to someone in order to become entitled to a share of their assets if and when the relationship breaks down. If a court interprets the union between two people to be in the nature of a de facto relationship, the property of both parties will be up for grabs when the final curtain falls. And that can sometimes lead to somewhat unexpected consequences.
  • Chris Nyst, Opinion, Politics

Ruffled Eagle Feathers

A clash of Queensland judicial personalities flared earlier this week, with the Courier Mail newspaper reporting on Wednesday a serious difference of opinion between retired District Court Chief Judge Patsy Wolfe and current President of the Court of Appeal Margaret McMurdo. When Judge Wolfe retired in September last year, Justice McMurdo gave a speech at an Australian Association of Women Judges luncheon, held in Judge Wolfe’s honour, in which she lamented what she perceived to be the deepening state of gender inequality on the Queensland bench. The following day Judge Wolfe reportedly wrote a private letter to the Newman government, distancing herself from Justice McMurdo's comments, and claiming no one at the luncheon agreed with her remarks.
  • Chris Nyst, Criminal Law, International, Opinion, Politics

A Crisis Of Credibility

Sadly, there is a growing sense of inevitability surrounding impending execution of Bali Nine members Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. The political rhetoric continues, but most Australians sense the Indonesians just aren't listening.
  • Criminal Law, Domestic Violence, Family Law

A Call To All Good Men – Stop Domestic Violence

It’s high time for good men to stand up and do something about domestic violence. Last year domestic violence was the leading cause of death and injury in women under 45 in this country. It reportedly accounted for 40 per cent of police time, and cost the economy $13.6 billion. The Easter period alone marked the death of six women and children in a single week. This year, which is not yet two months old, we have already seen 14 Australian women allegedly killed by domestic violence. If that figure runs true, we are online for the shocking statistic of two domestic violence related deaths per week in 2015. That represents a 100% increase in such crimes since last year. It underscores what campaigners have long warned, that domestic violence is at risk of reaching epidemic proportions in Australia.
  • Chris Nyst, International, Opinion

Vive l’humanité

As distressing as last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris proved to be, they were not the first, and certainly not the worst, acts of terrorism the French people have endured in living memory. During the German occupation of France in the early 1940s, Christian soldiers scoured the streets and homes of France arresting, gaoling, and murdering thousands of Jewish citizens. In that terrible time, the French people demonstrated their capacity to endure and overcome racism, terrorism, and inhumanity.

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