Writer
Andrew Fraser
Andrew Fraser is the principal of Fraser Criminal Law and has worked in criminal law in the Canberra region for more than 15 years. Before beginning legal practice, Andrew was a journalist for close to 30 years with the <i>Canberra Times</i> and the <i>Sydney Morning Herald</i>, including stints in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery. He is also a former news editor, chief of staff and political correspondent of the <em>Canberra Times</em>.
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ACT legal eagles hit out at Chief Justice
The upper echelons of Canberra’s criminal bar are on a collision course with Chief Justice Lucy McCallum over the conduct of sexual-assault trials in the ACT. Continue reading »
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How the ACT Govt is making more people vulnerable
The ACT Labor-Greens coalition is widely seen as the most permissive and truly liberal government in the country. Continue reading »
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Can music conquer all? You bet
“It’s a bit silly in this day and age but that’s how it is.” Continue reading »
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No, Minister. It’s you who should be in court
Even good minds can get criminal justice wrong, but usually for only so long. Continue reading »
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Departure of Justice Richard Refshauge: end of an era
It was a particularly technical legal point. The colleague was an experienced trial advocate with a case in which he felt there was a slim plot of fertile ground on which he might be able to appeal. But he just couldn’t quite work out how all the pieces might come together. Continue reading »
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Labor not tribal enough for three of its own
The ACT Labor-led Government might lead the nation in many worthy ways and it might, too, you might think, especially six months out from an election, be vigilant to avoid what many might see as an embarrassing own goal. But no… Continue reading »
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ACT law reform to be still-born?
ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury might get the feeling that the new Law Reform and Sentencing Advisory Council he established in November last year is channeling Freddie Mercury: they want it all, and they want it now. Continue reading »
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Police chief hits out – with compassion
ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan has expressed alarm at the severe constraints on front-line policing in Canberra while showing great sympathy for principles of drug decriminalisation and raising the age of criminal responsibility. Continue reading »
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Indigenous incarceration
More than a quarter of Canberra’s daily average prison population is Indigenous but only 2 per cent of people in the ACT identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. Continue reading »
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Giving science clout at court, and beyond
Juries seem either to love forensic scientists or just be baffled by them (or by the spin put on their findings by cunning counsel). Some judicial officers have been somewhat slower to embrace them – with potentially disastrous consequences, not just in judge-alone trials, but when evidence is ruled inadmissible and does not go to Continue reading »
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The High Court and the search for a Labor leader
It is more than 20 years since Labor Leader Simon Crean addressed Australian troops leaving to fight in the Bush-Blair-Howard war on Iraq. Continue reading »
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The Rabbi and Corporal Hijack
I met Rabbi Kurt Stone on a bus trip in Europe in 1985, when I was immediately struck by his journalistic pedigree – he covered the Patty Hearst arrests live on radio from underneath a car as bullets flew above. Continue reading »
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Rolls Royce ACT law reform council given Mini Minor resources
The terms of reference for the ACT Law Reform and Sentence Advisory Council are Rolls Royce, but the resources – three public servants – are Mini Minor. While the council is well constructed and will certainly be well led, it needs more horsepower. Continue reading »
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The AFL had the power to turn the tide
My mates and I, growing up in our happy, homogenous and very white suburbia in the 1960s and 70s, would probably not have met an indigenous Australian but for playing footy. Without our great game, we might, at least as kids and teenagers, have remained stuck in the fearful ignorance that was pretty common at Continue reading »
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The Greatest: Vale Ron Barassi
Of the proposition that he was the greatest there can be no doubt. Continue reading »
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Crossing the William Barak Bridge
The woman with the Yes pamphlets outside the MCG on Saturday was unwavering. Continue reading »
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The quiet champions of pill testing preventing “harrowing” deaths
You have only to walk into Canberra’s fixed-site pill testing site to have one of the chief criticisms of such schemes palpably refuted. Continue reading »
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The AWM, from behind the Pool of Reflection
As one of the pipers for the Australian War Memorial, I get a unique view of the crowds around the Pool of Reflection during the daily ritual that is the Last Post Ceremony. Continue reading »
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Pillar of ACT judiciary proves our exceptionalism
The ACT’s judiciary will henceforth be lacking a meticulous pillar of consistency, but the resignation of Magistrate Beth Campbell allows also pause for reflection on the exceptional criminal courts the Territory has grown across Campbell’s quarter-century on the bench and indeed across the 34 years since self-government. Continue reading »
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Calvary hospital unresponsive? Yes, Chief Minister
Canberra’s Calvary Hospital is to be compulsorily acquired by the ACT Government, charged by Chief Minister Andrew Barr with being, amongst other things, unresponsive. Continue reading »
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Scotland a shining example in youth justice
As 2022 closed, WA’s main juvenile detention centre, Banksia Hill, grabbed national attention when one of its buildings was burned to the ground by rioting inmates, who scaled the fences in a stand-off with the riot squad. Continue reading »
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Guaranteed protection of home and hearth for next to nothing?
There is a simple, relatively costless government move that should give about half a million Australians confidence in homeland security. Continue reading »
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Lehrmann case: pointing finger at police blows smoke over manifold incongruities
Over 14 years as a criminal defender in Canberra and the region, I’ve had hundreds of clients, perhaps a couple of thousand. I’m still waiting for the first one who will get the decided benefit of having the police “run dead” in his or her matter. Continue reading »
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Why the ACT is miles in front
You might not immediately see the correlation between the average Australian politician and the sportspeople who advertise the products of Nike, but the ACT Government is very much living the “Just Do It” mantra. Continue reading »
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David Pocock’s a nice bloke, but …
Independent Senator David Pocock fronted his first “quarterly town hall” meeting at the grand old Albert Hall in Canberra with a welter of kindness and concern – but there’s a bit more to his new job than being nice. Continue reading »
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Pardoning Witness K a no-brainer, but then what?
In this week of fiery church politics, perhaps Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is doing as the Good Lord himself does – moving in mysterious ways. Continue reading »
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What might our new Attorney do with Bernard Collaery?
A 22-year-old speech by the late, long-serving federal and ACT Judge John Gallop provides all that Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus needs to consider in the case of Bernard Collaery and Witness K. Continue reading »
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Presumption of innocence under threat
A citizen’s inalienable right to her or his day in court has increasingly become seen as a quaint frivolity by some and a waste of time by many more – but the presumption of innocence is coming under some threat in Australia. Continue reading »
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The cavalcade of the cretinous in Canberra
“You’ve had your say …NOW GO HOME.” Continue reading »
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The counter-revolution that AFL needs
This weekend’s AFL Grand Final is only the seventh time that the finals series hasn’t included one of the great four: Carlton, Collingwood Richmond and Hawthorn since 1925. Continue reading »
