QVB Rough Sleepers’ Camp Shines a Light on Sydney’s Homeless Crisis
Last Saturday, evidence of the homeless camp that had sprung up on George Street beside the Queen Victoria Building was all but gone. Where there had once been numerous makeshift beds and furniture earlier in the week, there was only...
Saving Aboriginal Mothers From Prison: An Interview With Free the People’s Debbie Kilroy
In Western Australia, the authorities still incarcerate people for unpaid fines. It’s the only jurisdiction in the country that continues to do so. If an individual can’t otherwise pay off their debt, this system sees it reduced by $250 each day...
Youths Demand Pill Testing to Stop Deaths: An Interview With SSDP’s Sofia Devetak
Decades ago, the Just Say No campaign was launched by Nancy Reagan, wife of then US president Ronald Reagan. Comprised of the simple idea that telling children to say no to illicit substances would somehow stop drug use, the campaign...
Peter Dutton Tops Hard-Right Hitlist
The fact that home affairs minister Peter Dutton was voted number one on a list of Coalition MPs the public would like to see ousted in the next federal election would be no surprise to much of the community. But,...
Immigration Detainees on Hunger Strike Over Brutality and Deplorable Conditions
On Wednesday, over 350 detainees at Perth’s Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre entered the tenth day of their hunger strike over conditions at the facility. Key grievances are guard brutality, the arbitrary nature punishment and government powers to detain indefinitely. And as...
Five First Nations Girls Commit Suicide in Just Nine Days
The ongoing and often unreported crisis in First Nations youth suicides has come into stark focus recently, as five girls under the age of 15 took their own lives over the nine day period ending on 11 January. Rochelle Pryor...
Just Test the Damn Pills: Sydney Rallies in Support of Harm Reduction
On Saturday, hundreds of Sydneysiders took to the streets to rally in support of the roll out of pill testing services at music festivals and beyond. And those gathered made clear that they’re appalled by Gladys Berejiklian’s refusal to see...
Keep Poppers Legal: An Interview With the Nitrite Group’s Paul Kidd
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) released an interim decision last year that would see amyl nitrite and other alkyl nitrite inhalants banned. This means these substances popularly referred to as poppers would be moved into schedule 9 of the Poisons Standard along...
Aboriginal Elder Strip Searched on Busy Sydney Road
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission announced at the end of October that it was launching an investigation into the use of strip searches by NSW police. The inquiry is in response to growing allegations that officers are abusing their powers. This...
Preventing Violence Against Women: An Interview With Girl Geek Academy’s Sarah Moran
Last year, 69 women were killed violently across Australia. This brings the murdered women death toll in this country since 2012 to 506, according to Counting the Dead Women Australia project researchers from gender equality group Destroy the Joint. And in the overwhelming...
