Articles by Paul Gregoire

Paul Gregoire is a Sydney-based journalist and writer. He has a focus on human rights issues, encroachments on civil liberties, drug law reform, gender diversity and First Nations rights. Prior to Sydney Criminal Lawyers®, he wrote for VICE and was the news editor at Sydney’s City Hub.

Morrison

“Fair Go”: Morrison Moves to Bust Unions to the Detriment of All Workers

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The Arbitration Court ruled to adopt a 40 hour working week for all Australians, as of January 1948. Then ACTU president Percy Clarey told the Age that an increase in production was likely to result from the change, as was seen after the drop in weekly hours down from 48 hours to 44 in 1927. …
NVDA training

Nonviolent Civil Disobedience: The Gandhian Influence on Climate Activists

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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in October last year that at the time, humans had 12 years to curb global greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the climate and ecological catastrophe the Earth is currently plummeting towards. This grave scientific forecast has sparked climate activists into action the world over. Locally, members of the …
Socialist Alliance’s Rachel Evans

NSW Police Strip Search Activists to Intimidate: An Interview With Socialist Alliance’s Rachel Evans

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These days, a commuter disembarking at Central Station during afternoon peak hour can face the prospect of being ordered by police to step behind a screen and remove their clothes, following a positive indication from a drug detection dog. NSW police setting up screens to conduct strip searches at Sydney’s main train station is by …
Father Rod Bower

“People of Faith Aren’t Being Discriminated Against”: An Interview With Father Rod Bower

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In December 2017, literally days after marriage equality was passed, then treasurer Scott Morrison announced that he’d be pushing for laws in 2018 that prevented discrimination against Christians and those of other religious faiths. “Where I think people are being offensive to religion in this country, whichever religion that might be, but particularly the one …
Djab Wurrung

Djab Wurrung “Stand Tall” in the Face of Neo-Colonisation

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Victoria police turned up at the Djab Wurrung Heritage Protection Embassy on 8 August and issued the traditional owners camped there with a notice to vacate the sacred landscape in southwestern Victoria within 14 days. Major Road Projects Victoria and VicRoads have plans to run a 12.5 kilometre stretch of the Western Highway duplication project …
Sex work

Decriminalised: The NSW Laws Governing Sex Work

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NSW was the first jurisdiction in the world to decriminalise adult sex work. And the outcomes have been lauded globally. Indeed, in a 2016 report, the NSW government stated that decriminalisation is the best way to ensure sex worker safety and maintain transparency within the industry. The process of decriminalising adult sex work in this …
Workers

Government’s Union-Busting Laws Will Cement Wage Stagnation

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Australia has some of the most restrictive industrial relations (IR) laws in the Global North. In contravention of international labour standards, these anti-protest laws determine when actions can take place, provide enhanced abilities to stifle them, and curb unions from supporting each other. How this translates is work stoppages in this country are at their …
Extinction Rally

Occupy Sydney on the Extinction Rebellion: The Lessons Learnt

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Tuesday saw Extinction Rebellion (XR) protesters taking to the Brisbane streets with the aim of causing peaceful disruption to bring about societal change, so that a global climate catastrophe can be averted. And over 70 rebels were arrested, as they put themselves on the line for the cause. Meanwhile, south of the border, climate actions …
Māori Land

The Ihumātao Occupation: In Protection of Māori Land

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The more than three-year-long occupation at Ihumātao in Māngere, south Auckland, has come to a head over recent weeks, with police numbers stepped up at the Ōtuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve, where the local Māori protectors of the area are camped. Ihumātao is significant as it is an ancient burial ground dating back to the 14th …
Bruce Shillington

Saving the Rivers from Corporates: An Interview With Water Activist Bruce Shillingsworth

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News of the environmental devastation taking place along the Barwon-Darling river system in north western NSW hit the city last summer, when reports of several mass fish kills near the town of Menindee made headlines. Part of the larger Murray-Darling river system, the Barwon-Darling runs down from the NSW-Queensland border right through the main cotton …