No Social Licence for Effective App Take-Up: An Interview With Digital Rights Watch’s Lizzie O’Shea
The prime minister outlined last week that the nation might be able to start lifting some of the restrictions involved with the COVID-19 lockdown in a month’s time. And this is in part based on the proviso that at least...
COVID Policing in Australia: An Interview With Liberty Victoria’s Michael Stanton
As the majority of Australians sit at home during the lockdown, we’re keenly aware that the reason we are isolating is to halt the spread of COVID-19. And as a nation, we’ve been very compliant. Indeed, some might say, this...
“A Looming Humanitarian Crisis”, as Migrant Workers Are Left in the Cold
Unions NSW found that of the 3,700 migrant workers it surveyed across this state in early April, 46 percent had already lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Forty three percent were skipping meals, a quarter couldn’t pay their...
No COVID-19 Uni Cuts: An Interview With Students Organising Resistance’s Shovan Bhattarai
The COVID-19 lockdown has resulted in a huge economic downturn for Australian universities caused by the closure of borders, the loss of international student revenue and the forced shutdown of campuses. Due to its heavy reliance on students from abroad...
Drunken Shooter Avoids Prison Due to COVID-19
On the afternoon of 2 January 2019, Rodney Madex and his daughter Tammy were drinking alcohol together in their Glengarry North home in the Gippsland region of Victoria. And into the evening, the pair had a number of minor disagreements....
Morrison Insists on Mobile Phone Tracing App Before Controls Can Be Eased
In his COVID-19 update on 16 April, prime minister Scott Morrison set out seven “precedent conditions” of a forward planning framework that if set in place could result in an easing of pandemic restrictions in four weeks’ time. The fifth...
“Bloody Reprehensible”: Gerry Georgatos on Perth Rough Sleepers During COVID-19
Right now, there’s around 1,000 rough sleepers in the wider Perth, Fremantle and Peel region. And despite the fact that the rest of the population is in lockdown, the majority of these homeless people are still out on the streets...
Struggling International Students Left in Dire Straits
Over recent decades, Australia has invested heavily in its international education sector, which currently involves around 565,000 overseas students. And as the nation’s fourth largest industry, it employs around 240,000 people and it racked up $37.6 billion in the last...
These Punishments Aren’t Democratic: An Interview With the RLC’s Samantha Lee
The need to get people off the streets and keeping a safe distance from others during the COVID-19 crisis is well understood. However, what’s not quite so understood is why NSW police officers have been handed extensive powers to enforce...
Closures of Parliament Are Unwarranted: An Interview With NSWCCL President Nicholas Cowdery
Except for those brief moments when it has been chided during the COVID-19 crisis - think Bondi Beach - the Australian public has done extremely well in completely changing the way it goes about its everyday life, with the implementation...
