“Australia Has a Very Particular Obligation” to Take In Afghan Refugees
As the Taliban swept back into Kabul last Sunday to consolidate its control over Afghanistan, questions are being raised as to how the Australian government is going to meet its obligations to those who’ve fled, are fleeing and will be...
Fears Raised as COVID Policing Deployed to Regional First Nations Communities
As the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in western NSW on 11 August, the primary concern was that the highly contagious Delta variant would commence spreading through local First Nations communities that have been identified as “vulnerable” since the...
“We Can’t Police Our Way Out of a Pandemic”: Shoebridge on Intensifying COVID Policing
The NSW Parliament Public Accountability Committee held its first hearing this year into the NSW Government’s Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic inquiry on 10 August. The meeting was confrontational as NSW health minister Brad Hazzard repeatedly blocked questions that committee...
“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...
