Most Australians Supported the Lockdown, But Not the Police Overreach
“Even though Australians were overwhelmingly supportive of the lockdowns,” Civil Liberties Australia (CLA) CEO Bill Rowlings remarked last week, the public “can appreciate how the pandemic laws were pettily abused by police excesses”. And petty is the operative word Rowlings...
Reining in Police Powers: Shoebridge on His Drug Dog and Strip Search Bill
Over the last two years, unlucky commuters at Sydney’s Central Station have been confronted with NSW police officers accompanied by drug dogs. Deployed at peak hour, these officers have been equipped with screens, allowing them to strip search citizens if...
Berejiklian’s Drug Supply Regime Will Enhance Police Powers and Erode Individual Rights
Let’s face it, Gladys Berejiklian loves waging the war on drugs. When five young people died at NSW festivals over the summer of 2018/19, instead of implementing life-saving pill testing, she legislated for more ineffective prohibition laws, and attempted to...
Christian Porter: A National Security Risk Waiting to Happen
Revelations regarding then social services minister Christian Porter’s compromising behaviour with a young female staffer in a Canberra bar in 2017 aired on the ABC last week. Occurring while his wife and child were back home in Perth, the report...
Join the Trans Day of Resistance in Newtown: Pride in Protest’s Charlie Murphy
Pride in Protest and Trans Action Warrang are calling on Sydneysiders to get out on the streets and join them at the Trans Day of Resistance rally in Newtown, because, as both activist groups assert, there’s a lot to be...
Why Is the Coalition So Reluctant to Establish a Federal Anti-Corruption Watchdog?
After promising to establish a federal anti-corruption body in December 2018 - and then hoping the public forgot about it - the Morrison government has finally produced its draft legislation outlining its proposed version of a federal ICAC. Having dragged...
Refugees Call to Be Reunited With Their Families
“Scott Morrison, where are you? Come outside and tell the truth,” chanted around a dozen refugees who’ve been living in the community long-term. They were calling on the prime minister while lined up out the front of his residence, located...
“It’s Designed to Fail”: Geoffrey Watson SC on Morrison’s Federal ICAC Proposal
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, prime minister Scott Morrison promised he was going to deliver on the long-sought-after federal anti-corruption commission. It would be kind of like a NSW ICAC, although shrouded in secrecy. The...
The Nats Are Still Attempting to Kill Off Koalas: An Interview With Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann
The decades-long association between the NSW Liberal Party and the Nationals known as the Coalition was almost brought to an end in mid-September, when deputy premier and Nats leader John Barilaro threatened to march his entire party over to the...
First Nations Mobilising Was Overpoliced, Again, at Sydney’s Djab Wurrung Rally
“This is about black liberation in this country,” said Gwenda Stanley, as she stood on Sydney Town Hall steps on 7 November. The Gomeroi woman was addressing a crowd of demonstrators about bringing an end to the “cultural genocide that’s...
