Morrison’s Xmas Gift: New Laws to Further Erode Your Civil Liberties
The Abbott/Turnbull and now Morrison government has unleashed a swag of draconian laws in the final parliamentary sitting weeks of this year. And it’s hoping to ram through another lot before this last week is out. The Defence Amendment (Call Out...
Voices for Change: Shifting Attitudes Via the Media to End Gender-Based Violence
In November last year, Alia and her 2-year-old daughter Emily showed up at a Newcastle support service after having fled a domestic violence situation. A Bangladeshi national on a student visa with no money, Alia was left with little options...
Facing Prison Time Over Son’s Cannabis Medicine: An Interview With Jamie Blake
Next Monday, Jamie Blake and his partner Stephanie McKay are to stand trial in the Rockhampton Supreme Court over drug charges that could see them behind bars. The reason they’re facing prison is they were trying to help their autistic child....
Cannabis Legalisation in Australia: It’s Only a Matter of Time
The United States led the way in establishing the international system of drug prohibition last century. The intensification of drug law enforcement known as the war on drugs was launched by US president Richard Nixon in 1971. Even in India -...
Not Guilty on All Charges: An Interview With Medicinal Cannabis Crusader Dr Andrew Katelaris
At around noon on Thursday, a jury found renowned medicinal cannabis practitioner Dr Andrew Katelaris not guilty on a number of very serious charges relating to the supply and manufacture of cannabis medicines. Representing himself in court, Dr Katelaris argued...
Decriminalise Drug Possession: An Interview With Former AFP Commissioner Mick Palmer
Calls for reforms to the approach Australian governments take to illicit drugs are growing stronger. The idea that personal drug use and possession should be treated primarily as a health and social issue, and not a criminal offence, is starting...
It’s Time to Raise the Age of Criminal Responsibility
Right now, children as young as 10 can and are being arrested and locked up in youth detention centres across the country. And this puts Australia out of step with the majority of other nations around the globe where the age of...
High Price User-Pays Policing: The New Tactic to Shut Down Music Festivals
Despite a court ruling last week that the northern NSW music festival Bohemian Beatfreaks could go ahead, the NSW Police Force (NSWPF) was able to push the event interstate by charging the organisers exorbitant user pays policing fees that had the...
Countering Street Harassment: An Interview with Sexism in the City Guest Dr Bianca Fileborn
Crime rates in NSW are at a forty year low. According to NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures, over the 24 month period ending in March this year, only two of the seventeen major crime categories were on the rise....
Removing Criminal Sanctions for Drug Use: An Interview With Australia21’s Dr Alex Wodak
“We call on Australia’s federal, state and territory governments to treat drug use primarily as a health and social issue and to remove criminal sanctions for personal use and possession,” begins think tank Australia21’s recently released fourth report on illicit...
