There’s a Deafening Silence on the Current ‘Debt and Deficit Crisis’
When Coalition leader Tony Abbott took on the Rudd government in the September 2013 federal election, he whipped up a storm about what he saw as the atrocious state of the economy under Labor, signified by astronomical government debt –...
New Zealand Warns Australia Against Deporting Long-Term Kiwis
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has again criticised the Australian government’s policy of deporting noncitizens on “character grounds”. But, this time her words were sterner, as she warned of the “corrosive” effect it’s having upon the relationship between the...
Shut It Down: Berejiklian’s Botched Festival Licensing Scheme
After months of warning the industry that a festival specific licensing regime will apply for all events statewide, the killjoy Berejiklian government announced a week before its implementation that the new regulations will now only apply to fourteen festivals. NSW...
Random Workplace Drug Testing: A Breach of Your Civil Liberties
Intoxication in the workplace is a significant safety issue. And for this reason, protocols are in place at certain worksites so that employees suspected of being under the influence of alcohol or other drugs can be tested. Increasingly though, random...
Frontline Festival Safety: An Interview With DanceWize NSW’s Jessie Murray
Over the last five months, safety at music festivals has been front and centre. There have been tragic deaths, increased hospitalisations, debates over pill testing, public rallies and an expert panel was convened to investigate the matter. However, all the...
A Healer, Not a Dealer: Jenny Hallam Pleads Guilty to Drug Charges
When the Turnbull government passed an amendment bill in February 2016 that legalised “the cultivation and production of cannabis and cannabis resin for medicinal and scientific purposes”, it was an admission that medicinal cannabis is a valid treatment that patients use....
Don’t Kill Live Music: An Interview With Festival Promoter Ben Tillman
This Thursday night 21 February at 6 pm, thousands of people from across the state are set to gather in Sydney’s Hyde Park for the Don’t Kill Live Music rally to protest the Berejiklian government’s assault on live music. Initially, the...
Cannabis Legalisation is Coming to Canberra
A piece of legislation that would legalise the personal possession of cannabis for recreational use is to be debated in the ACT Legislative Assembly this week. And with the support of both Labor and the Greens, it’s set to be...
Twilight of the Coalition: Morrison’s De Facto Vote of No Confidence
Things are just going from bad to worse for the Morrison government. Last week marked the first time an Australian government has lost a substantive vote since 1941. And despite the PM’s protestations that it wasn’t a de facto vote of...
Justice Now for David Dungay: An Interview With Leetona Rose Dungay
David Dungay Jr called out that he couldn’t breathe a total of twelve times, as six prison guards held him face down on a bed in the prone position. One of the officers said, “If you can talk, you can...
