Government Puts Church before Children
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard evidence relating to 4,444 alleged incidents of child sexual abuse involving 93 Catholic Church authorities over the period 1980 to 2015. During the six decades since 1950, 7 percent of...
Silencing Dissent: NSW Government Gives Itself New Powers to Ban Gatherings
A new Act governing the management of Crown lands, along with a fresh set of regulations, comes into effect on 1 July 2018. And the NSW government has taken this opportunity to continue restrictions on protests and demonstrations in these...
Crimes Against Humanity: An Interview with Human Rights Lawyer Julian Burnside
The Norwegian freighter MV Tampa entered Australian waters on 29 August 2001, carrying 433 asylum seekers who’d been stranded on a fishing boat in the Indian Ocean. The vessel crossed the maritime boundary close to Christmas Island, despite having been refused...
Diminishing Rights: An Interview With the Muslim Legal Network’s Zaahir Edries
US District Judge Denise Casper recently found that the US Department of Homeland Security’s policy of searching electronic devices at the international border without a warrant could be in breach of the fourth amendment. The Massachusetts federal judge ruled in March...
New Road Laws: Tougher DUI Penalties, Targeting Phone Use and Cocaine Testing
On 1 July, a series of new road safety laws will come into effect across New South Wales. The new laws will add cocaine to the list of drugs police test drivers for, significantly increase the penalties for driving under...
It’s Time to Ditch Dutton, Before It’s too Late
These days, it seems that every time a nasty policy suggestion is announced in Canberra, it’s Peter Dutton standing at the podium. Indeed, the ultra-conservative Liberal minister doesn’t seem to be at ease unless he’s making some divisive statement. The...
NSW Passes Stronger Child Sexual Abuse Laws, But Priests Remain Protected
Late last night, the parliament of NSW passed one of the most comprehensive criminal justice reform packages in state history. The state’s attorney general Mark Speakman introduced the legislation designed to crackdown on child sexual predators into state parliament on...
Australia Pioneered Drug Harm Reduction and Must Continue
Programs, strategies and policies designed to prevent or reduce the harms associated with the use of illicit substances are collectively known as harm reduction. This approach to drug use has been a key pillar of Australia’s National Drug Strategy since...
Challenging Abuse of Police Powers: An Interview With Greens MLC David Shoebridge
The NSW police use of drug detections dog in public places without a warrant has been widely discredited in the public eye. The damning NSW Ombudsman report into the program was released as far back as 2006. NSW Greens MLC David Shoebridge...
Pioneer Sex Worker Rights Activist Awarded Order of Australia
The governor general, Sir Peter Cosgrove, announced 1007 awards in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list on Monday. And in an Australian first, a leading sex worker rights activist has been made an officer of the Order of Australia (AO). Julie Bates...
