Seven Years Too Long: End Offshore Immigration Detention
The 19 July 2020 marked seven years since asylum seekers arriving in this country by boat were sent into indefinite offshore detention without hope of being settled here. And on Sunday, as protesters gathered at Sydney Town Hall to demonstrate...
Faced With Multiple Domestic Crises, Morrison Picks a War With China
As the prime minister launched the 2020 Defence Strategic Update on 1 July, he assured those gathered at the Australian Defence Force Academy that the plan “will guide our nation through one of the most challenging times we have known...
First Nations Rainbow Condemns Police Violence: An Interview With Co-Chair Ricky Macourt
Despite a myriad of roadblocks that were placed in its way, the 6 June Sydney Black Lives Matter rally took place with legal approval and without a hitch. At least, that was before some NSW police officers decided to pepper...
End Immigration Detention Violence: An Interview With Refugee Activist Emma Comley
Recently, footage came to light that depicts five Villawood Detention Centre guards on top of a detainee, forcefully wrestling him on the ground. And while another detainee films the March incident, a staff member orders him to stop, as he...
If Immigration Detainees Aren’t Released, a COVID Outbreak Seems Imminent
For a moment there, many Australians thought the COVID-19 pandemic was over. Even now, as the number of cases in Victoria rises dramatically, other regions around the country, like Queensland and the Northern Territory, are reopening their borders. Whereas Sydneysiders...
“Defacing” the Governor Macquarie Statue: An Interview With Activist Stephen Langford
Social justice activist Stephen Langford was arrested by NSW police on 18 June, and subsequently denied bail, strip searched and incarcerated for 20 hours, all for pasting a message on the Hyde Park Governor Macquarie statue, which asked passers-by to...
As the Inquest Concludes, Tane Chatfield’s Parents Declare the “Prison System Killed” Him
Colin and Nikola Chatfield were two of the many family members who stood before the 2,000 strong crowd at Sydney’s 5 July Stop Black Deaths in Custody rally to speak out about the death of their son, Tane, in a...
Upholding the Rights of People Who Use Drugs Post-COVID
The onset of COVID-19 has drawn attention to many of the inequities that our social systems operate under. And the authoritarian response of governments to the pandemic has further highlighted some of the flawed assumptions that underpin the war on...
Complainant’s History of False Sexual Assault Allegations is Inadmissible, Court Rules
A recent decision in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal (NSWCCA) upheld a District Court decision not to allow evidence before a jury that suggests a woman has a history of making false sexual assault allegations, in a sexual assault...
Australia Gives the Nod to Israeli Expansion in Occupied Palestine
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated on 30 June that his country’s newly established coalition government will be pressing ahead with plans to annex up to 30 percent of the occupied West Bank, despite missing the original 1 July commencement...
