Michael Atkin

1 week ago | abc.net.au | Michael Atkin

As public debate rages over the best way to combat youth crime – some parts of the country are cracking down using tougher sentencing and harsher bail laws. But what happens once these young people are incarcerated is rarely revealed. AM has obtained confronting vision of an 18-year-old female allegedly being assaulted by a male officer – vision a NSW government department has spent three years trying to keep secret.

1 week ago | abc.net.au | Michael Atkin

It was lunch time inside the Reiby Youth Justice Centre in south-western Sydney. A group of girls sat at one of the tables laughing and joking. A male officer approached the table and allegedly ordered one of them to leave, but one 18-year-old refused. He then grabbed her by the arm and neck and threw her across the room. She landed face down on the ground where she was pinned by multiple officers and handcuffed. The officers forcibly moved her to another room. The incident occurred in July 2018.

4 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Michael Atkin

Popular video games are using "harmful" tactics to keep kids gaming for longer, a new report has found. Researchers from CPRC and Monash University — who authored the report — looked at 20 "dark patterns" which they say deceived and manipulated gamers. The Consumer Policy Research Centre wants the federal government to create an independent body that would adjudicate complaints, called a digital ombudsman.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Michael Atkin

A major superannuation fund is being accused of failing a first nations member. Australian super is already being sued by the corporate watchdog for allegedly having lengthy delays in processing death benefits. Now one indigenous woman has revealed how the funds' processes have had devastating consequences for her family.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Michael Atkin

Don't you hate it when a company contacts you out of the blue trying to sell you something?  One consumer group has used special new powers to make the first ever, so-called "super complaint" to the watchdog, the ACCC. The Consumer Action Law Centre is taking aim at unsolicited sales people, and it has the cold-calling and door-knocking tactics of the solar industry in its sights.