e-Waste

Electronic waste, more generally known as e-waste, is one of the fastest growing waste streams in Australia and throughout the world.  Computers, televisions, printers, photocopiers and mobile phones that have reached end-of-life through being obsolete or broken are all examples of e-waste. 

To date, there has been little recycling of e-waste in Australia so most ends up in landfill where toxins in the e-waste, such as arsenic, cadmium and mercury, may leach out and contaminate the surrounding soil or groundwater and potentially cause health problems.

Many countries, including Australia, the United States, Japan and parts of Canada and Europe, have chosen to address the problem of e-waste through product stewardship. 

Recreational Diving and Snorkelling Industry Safety

The recreational diving and snorkelling sector contributes around $1.4 billion to the Queensland economy annually and is an important part of State tourism.  Most recreational diving and snorkelling occurs in far north Queensland and the Whitsundays and attracts mostly people under 35 years old.  The majority have not participated in the activity before. 

While the rate of incidents involving participants in recreational diving and snorkelling in Queensland is said to be low, fatalities have occurred.  Diving and snorkelling carry risks like drowning and pressure injuries.  Medical conditions and lack of fitness and inexperience may contribute to these outcomes.  There were 81 fatalities during operator organised activities between 1998 and 2010.  Work Health Safety Queensland (WHSQ) data indicates that most deaths are caused by a cardiac event or an event associated with an underlying heart condition – mainly in men over 50 undertaking snorkelling activities.  Two well publicised incidents in Queensland were the 1998 disappearance of a US couple who were left behind by a dive operator during a dive near Port Douglas and the stranding of a tourist near Cairns in 2011 who swam to another boat for help.  In 2004, a US resort diver died snorkelling alone back to the boat.

Kilojoule Counts on Menu Boards

In 2011, the Bligh Government proposed that Queensland follow the lead of New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) to legislate for the display of the energy content of food and drinks on the menu boards of certain fast food outlets. 

A key impetus for Australian governments to legislate the display of kilojoule counts is the growing level of obesity in the population (see for example, comments by the Queensland Health Minister, Hon Geoff Wilson MP, and former New South Wales Premier, Hon Kristina Keneally MP).  It is hoped that consumers will make healthier food choices if provided with information about the energy content of fast food and a typical person’s energy needs.

Sentencing double jeopardy

In very broad terms, the principle of double jeopardy is said to protect a person from being twice placed in jeopardy of conviction or punishment for the same matter.  When applied in the context of sentencing, it refers to the anxiety and stress presumed to be involved in being re-sentenced.

The origin of the use of the phrase “double jeopardy” to describe the situation faced by a defendant when the Crown appeals against sentence is usually ascribed to the 1979 Federal Court decision in R v Tait (1979) 46 FLR 386 while the development of the common law principle in the Australian context is said to owe much to sentencing jurisprudence developed by the High Court: for an historical overview, see Director of Public Prosecutions v Karazisis [2010] VSCA 350.