“The Spectre of State Power”: USYD Professor Greg Martin on Policing the Pandemic
At the end of the seventh week of the Greater Sydney lockdown, the NSW government was stumped. Instead of COVID cases decreasing under the law enforcement approach to the pandemic, they were steadily rising in tandem with the ever-increasing police...
Countering Corporate Capture: An Interview With Australian Democracy Network’s Saffron Zomer
The latest IPCC report warned that the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis is accelerating. Yet, in response, PM Scott Morrison stood before the nation last week to announce that rather than move away from fossil fuels, he advises expanding the industry...
The US and Australia Leave Power Vacuum in Afghanistan for the Taliban to Fill
After the US, Australia and other allies overthrew Taliban rule early on following the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the Islamic militants have easily swept back into power in a matter of months after Washington announced its withdrawal, with...
UK Extends Extradition Appeal, So US Can Challenge Assange’s Suicide Risk
Two Royal Court judges in London agreed last Wednesday to extend the grounds upon which the US government can appeal the decision of the Westminster Magistrates’ Court not to permit the US to extradite Australian journalist Julian Assange to face...
In Defence of the Fifth Estate: Just Who Is Propagating Disinformation?
The term fake news was popularised by now defunct US president Donald Trump in the days after he took office in early 2017. The notorious billionaire used it to describe the way in which the press reported on him, while...
In Response to the IPCC Report, Morrison Damns Us to Climate Hell
Released last Monday, the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is the most comprehensive study of its kind, and it’s also the most damning. Gone is the 2015 Paris Agreement target of keeping rising temperatures to below 1.5°C...
Last Chance to Halt Coalition’s Muzzling of Charities and Not-for-Profits
Drafted in February by the executive branch of the government, amendments to the laws governing charities were tabled before by houses of federal parliament on 3 August, and if a disallowance motion doesn’t strike them down, the changes will serve...
Child Removal Suppression Law Is Unconstitutional, Argues Paul Robert Burton
Section 105 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) (the Child Protection Act) prevents the publication of the name and identifying details of a child or young person, who’s in state care, out-of-home care or...
“Hell on Earth”: Extinction Rebellion’s Violet Coco on the Urgency of Climate Activism
The Federal Court of Australia declared on 8 July that in deciding on whether to approve fossil fuel projects going into the future, the environment minister has to consider a duty of care “to avoid causing personal injury or death”...
Calls for Canberra to Impose Sanctions on Apartheid Israel
The eleven day bombardment of Gaza by the military forces of apartheid Israel came to an end on 21 May this year. The attacks left 248 Palestinian civilians dead – a quarter of them children – while the death toll...
