Witness J: The Transcript of Australia’s Most Kafkaesque Trial Has Finally Been Released
ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum last week ordered the redacted publication of the previously withheld transcript relating to the 2018 secret trialling of Witness J, a former Australian military intelligence official, who was referred to as Alan Johns during court proceedings,...
Inquiry into Extralegal Nature of Dan Duggan’s US Extradition Warrants Stay, Lawyer Says
The proposition is that former US Marine Corps fighter pilot Daniel Duggan is currently being held in Lithgow Correctional Centre pending extradition to the US, as the Australian citizen was “unlawfully lured” back to this country by ASIO, which was...
The National Digital ID Will Fail Just Like the Others, Says Dataveillance Expert Dr Roger Clarke
Both major parties in Australia have been keen to establish national identity schemes going back decades. However, the public has consistently rejected them, especially once the privacy-minded inform the broader constituency of their potential to undermine rights and enhance social...
It’s Time to Reform Vaping Laws Through a “Harm Reduction Lens”
Right now, in NSW, an adult can buy some cigarettes at a shop and puff away to their ailing heart’s content. But if they’d prefer legal nicotine vaping liquid, a much healthier alternative, they need to obtain a doctor’s prescription....
Political Voices Unite Against Four-Year-Long Detention of Assange
Independent member for Clark Andrew Wilkie has been leading the Australian parliamentary campaign to see the persecution of Australian publisher Julian Assange brought to an end, even before his slow torture remanding in Belmarsh prison commenced four years ago. The Bring...
Under the NSW Antiprotest Regime, Oppressive Bail Conditions Are the True Punishment
After having been charged under the then recently enacted NSW antiprotest regime last June, ten Blockade Australia activists appeared before NSW Magistrate Christine Haskett at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on 5 April. The extreme antiprotest regime was a Perrottet government response to...
With Increasing Interoperability Between Australian and US Forces, Just Who’s in Control?
In his 2019 treatise on the Australian security state titled Secret, veteran journalist Brian Toohey sets out that the CIA was extremely concerned with Gough Whitlam holding the position of PM in the early 1970s, as the Labor leader questioned the...
As Protests Grow Globally, Police Are Increasingly Using Nonlethal Weapons on Civilians
The use of pepper ball rounds on anti-lockdown demonstrators by Victoria police in downtown Melbourne on several occasions over August 2021, marked an escalation in the law enforcement approach to public protest in this country. Released on 22 March, Lethal in Disguise...
Senator Shoebridge Is Consulting the Community on Legalising Cannabis This Year
Based on the model Greens Senator David Shoebridge has put on the table, legal cannabis could initially be sold at as little as $13 a gram, and even with GST, this could dip to $7 a gram within 5 years...
Australia Card Mark II: NSWCCL’s Michelle Falstein on Labor’s Proposed Digital Identity System
A meeting of the nation’s various data and digital ministers early this year, resulted in the release of a 24th February communique, which asserts an urgency around implementing a national digital identification system, which would make it easier for “citizens to...
