One of the CCC’s reasons for failing to investigate these matters was cost.
Articles by Greg Barns 
Judge slams Crime & Corruption Commission over inaction on police abuse
Crikey / Greg Barns / Monday, 12 September 2011
Trial by media: pre-trial evidence should be suppressed
Crikey / Greg Barns / Thursday, 28 July 2011
Former St Kilda footballer Andrew Lovett, acquitted of r-pe charges in Melbourne on Monday, faced not just judgment by a judge and jury but a trial by media.
Barns: why a suppression order ensures a fair trial
Crikey / Greg Barns / Thursday, 14 July 2011
Suppression orders are a necessary antidote to media sensationalism and bias, and vigilantism, of the online and physical form.
The Snow White test helps overturn violent video games law
Crikey / Greg Barns / Wednesday, 29 June 2011
A US judge observed that children’s and teenage literature is full of examples of violence and it is not banned. Snow White’s story is as bloody as any violent video game
Mandatory jail terms for young to cost lots, fail to cut crime
Crikey / Greg Barns / Monday, 30 May 2011
Young people who commit offences of violence are generally intoxicated, high on drugs, and often have an acquired brain injury or relatively undiagnosed mental illness.
Royals a bunch of right Charlies over Chaser ban
Crikey / Greg Barns / Thursday, 28 April 2011
Freedom of speech in a democracy has always included the right to lampoon and to satirise.
Gillard must step up for Australian arrested in Israel
Crikey / Greg Barns / Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Prime Minister Julia Gillard’ s fondness for Israel is about to be tested with news that Israeli security agencies have arrested aid Rashid Abu Arja, an Australian citizen.
India’s dispassionate judgement on compassionate killing
Crikey / Greg Barns / Thursday, 10 March 2011
As debate on euthenasia laws returns to the Australian agenda, India’s highest court this week has allowed for passive euthanasia-withdrawal of life support. It’s a telling judgement.
UK’s Human Rights Act looms as the great political divide
Crikey / Greg Barns / Friday, 18 February 2011
If the Lib-Dems fail to stop the Tories dismantling human rights protractions, then its supporters might decide to abandon the party at the ballot box.
Assange legal team’s skeleton argument on strong ground
Crikey / Greg Barns / Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Julian Assange’s legal team is on very strong ground and English courts have in recent years repeatedly shown a robustness that the political class of that country lacks when it comes to human rights.
Baillieu legislation no free kick to offenders … it will mean more crime
Crikey / Greg Barns / Tuesday, 30 November 2010
The Baillieu government’s plans also throw a gauntlet down to the judiciary in Victoria.
High Court tells Rann ‘on ya bike’: anti-bikie laws unconstitutional
Crikey / Greg Barns / Thursday, 11 November 2010
The High Court this morning ruled unconstitutional a provision in Mike Rann’s anti-bikie laws that allows the Attorney-General to make a declaration, on the basis of secret evidence and without giving anyone a hearing.
North Korean asylum seeker told to try South Korea
Crikey / Greg Barns / Friday, 22 October 2010
How is it that Australia’s migration system can reject an application from a North Korean woman who had fled her homeland after family members had been persecuted and who fears imprisonment and possible death if she has to return?
An Arab Israeli’s quest for refugee status
Crikey / Greg Barns / Wednesday, 20 October 2010
According to a recent decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal, the systemic discrimination cited by an Arab Israeli does not necessarily amount to persecution.
Should Mitchell and co be accountable for naming names?
Crikey / Greg Barns / Friday, 8 October 2010
Whatever the motives of 3AW’s Neil Mitchell in revealing the names of the Collingwood footballers questioned by police over an alleged incident last weekend, his actions highlight the urgent need for law reform in this area. Should what Mitchell did become a criminal offence?
Barns: the legality of sending Afghanis home
Crikey / Greg Barns / Friday, 1 October 2010
The announcement this morning by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen that ”the percentage of successful [Afghan] refugee claims is likely to be lower than in the past” is, from a legal perspective, a troubling one, writes Greg Barns.
Justice takes a back seat again in WA
Crikey / Greg Barns / Friday, 17 September 2010
The roll call of miscarriages of justice in WA just grew by one — and that’s one too many.
Euthanasia ad: the constitution says it should air
Crikey / Greg Barns / Monday, 13 September 2010
If Australia were to include an explicit freedom of speech right in its Constitution or in a human rights charter, as all other democracies now do, then Exit International would have a strong case.
Obama could still strike down Arizona’s anti-migration law
Crikey / Greg Barns / Thursday, 29 July 2010
A judge has agreed to block parts of Arizona’s controversial anti-migration law, which is opposed by the Obama Administration, from coming into force today. The Arizona law could be doomed to failure, writes Greg Barns.
Listen to Sri Lankan government on asylum seekers? Not a smart move
Crikey / Greg Barns / Monday, 12 July 2010
It would be very unwise for Australian security agencies to not test independently the veracity of anything they are told publicly or privately by the Sri Lankan government, given its track record.
Should Kevin Andrews be personally liable if he’s defamed Haneef?
Crikey / Greg Barns / Monday, 5 July 2010
Dr Haneef intends to sure for false imprisonment and defamation. To defend the suit Kevin Andrews will have to convince Robert McClelland that the claims against him fit the Commonwealth guidelines for ministerial indemnity.
Aid workers will face terror charges after new US court ruling
Crikey / Greg Barns / Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Bringing warring terrorist groups to the negotiating table and using them to help deliver aid is a desirable means of reducing conflict. But a US Supreme Court ruling has just made it a whole lot harder.
Trial by media goes for the doctor: come up empty handed
Crikey / Greg Barns / Tuesday, 11 May 2010
The highly competitive atmosphere in which the media work these days unfortunately makes trial by media inevitable as the print and electronic media chase “big stories”.
Cory Bernardi’s sinister plot to ban the burqa
Crikey / Greg Barns / Friday, 7 May 2010
Senator Corey Bernadi’s call to ban the burqa is more sinister than many other similar calls around the world. Do his comments amount to religious vilification?
Barns: anti-people smuggling law flawed and innocents will suffer
Crikey / Greg Barns / Tuesday, 27 April 2010
ASIO’s powers will be greatly expanded under the government’s new anti-people smuggling laws. Courts have to send people to jail for no less than three years or five years if they are involved in people smuggling.
