can u BALANCE a frisbee whilst giving inspectors an up-yours, dude?

Commuters across Victoria are today thanking alleged tram fare-evader and fourth year Melbourne Universtiy law student Ben Phillips for bringing the courtroom spotlight onto the practices of tram ticket-inspectors. In particular how ticket inspectors “avoid packed trams”.

Free morning ride, anyone?

The Age reported earlier in the week how Deputy Magistrate Jelena Popovic of the Melbourne Magistrates Court threw out a massive $222 charge of fare evasion (for failing to validate ticket) against law student Ben Phillips on the basis that ticket inspectors had “re-constructed” evidence. Said The Age:

Ticket inspector Randy Diego had accused Mr Phillips of not having validated his ticket aboard the 72 tram as it travelled through Camberwell. Mr Phillips argued he sat next to a validator and - before he could put his ticket in the machine - was stopped by Mr Diego and three other plain-clothed tram inspectors. Mr Phillips, a fourth-year law student at Melbourne University, said he had sat down before validating because ”the tram goes downhill quite fast and I did not want to fall”.

The old “I-just-wanted-to-get-my-balance-defence”, hey? At trial, Phillips’ counsel barrister Philip Skehan raised the very compelling issue of balance aboard trams:

a person should not have to validate before sitting. ”If that were valid it would create a farcical situation for a woman who had a child, or someone who had some shopping.”

Good point, but it surely loses a bit of its lustre when your balance-addled client is apparently non other than a varsity ultimate frisbee champion! Yes folks, Ben Phillips is the President of the Melbourne Univerity Ultimate Frisbee Club!

On its facebook page, the Melbourne University Ultimate Frisbee Club, which amongst members shortens its name to the super cool (MUtation), notes:

We are the MU Ultimate Frisbee Club, we have games, tournaments, roadtrips, and maybe an intense training camp throughout the year, all leading up to uni games, which this year is in Perth. If you’re interested in learning how frisbee is played, or want to stick around for the whole year and win a medal at uni games with us, JOIN IN!

Roadtrips??? Awesome dude! But what about a free tram trip!?! If you want to join the Ultimate Frisbee Club, you can do so by contacting Mr Phillips at the very peculiar email address rogaineboy007@hotmail.com (nothing quite like the loss of a few strands of hair to throw you off balance!).

Meanwhile, the Herald Sun exposed a remarkable cock-up by the Melbourne University law school yesterday. The newspaper reported:

Melbourne University has given law students the answers to an exam after sample answers were found on the internet. The Uni’s law school last month bungled two attempts to administer a take-home test and decided that giving the solutions to everyone was the fairest option. Melbourne was the first Australian university to run such a test after calls form the legal profession to give students a more practical idea of how lawyers work. It involved analysing complex evidence in a criminal prosecution. Law school dean Prof Michael Crommelin said yesterday that exam procedures would be reviewed. “The law scholl regrets the onconvenience these events caused to students and has apologised to all students,” he said. Students not satisfied can seek special consideration.

It is fantastic that the dean believes that giving the exam solutions was the fairest option, but what of the “fare-est” option? Are we seeing yet another free ride?

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