The Wire

The world spotlight has been on the outback this week, with the murder trial of Peter Falconio in the Northern Territory. The public has tensely listened for updates on Joanne Lees’ testimony, while cinemas there have been banned from showing Greg McLean’s film Wolf Creek because the Aussie-made picture is about traveller murders. The office of the Northern Territory DPP has told the Wire the film’s content is inappropriate to show until the Falconio trial is over. It looks as if outback murders are becoming a strong part of Australian culture, whether we like it or not. Senior lecturer and deputy head of the University of Newcastle’s school of law, John Anderson, has studied many similar murder trials and talked about the trends of the crimes.