Government Set to Renew Laws which Remove Civil Liberties
Currently, some of the most extreme Commonwealth counterterrorism laws are under the review of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS). And if recent reports from an executive oversight body are anything to go by, these laws will be...
Facing Prison for Providing Free Cannabis Medicine: An Interview with Jenny Hallam
The benefits of medicinal cannabis have been rediscovered over recent years. Clinical trials and research papers have documented evidence that shows cannabis medicines can treat conditions, such as chronic pain, seizures in children with Dravet syndrome and multiple sclerosis. In...
Don’t Throw Anything Incriminating Into Your Rubbish Bin
Back in 2002, residents of Portland in the US state of Oregon were questioning whether local police had the power to go rummaging through citizens’ bins looking for evidence of criminal activity, after trash had been left on the side...
It’s Time to Repeal Australia’s Discriminatory Transgender Laws
The majority of Australia’s same-sex marriage laws came into effect on December 9 last year, which meant LGBTIQ members of the community were finally able to get their partnerships legally solemnised as of January 9, due to the 30 day waiting period...
Australia to Implement Protections Against Prisoner Abuse
After signing the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) in 2009, the Australian government finally ratified the international treaty on December 15 last year. The nation is now obligated to enhance oversight in its places of detention to prevent the...
Religious Exemption Laws: An Interview With Professor Marion Maddox
Philip Ruddock’s inquiry into whether Australian laws adequately protect religious freedoms began last Wednesday. Malcolm Turnbull announced the controversial review in late November, in response to the concerns of his colleagues and ‘No’ voters over same-sex marriage laws. The expert panel assisting Ruddock...
The Top Five Australian Crime Films
Australian cinema has a long history of producing raw and brutal films. And none more so, than those that explore criminal conduct. It could even be said that the outlaw defines the zeitgeist of our colonial times. Perhaps part of...
1984: Dystopian Prophecies Become Reality
The week after Donald Trump’s inauguration in January last year, George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four became Amazon’s number one selling book. Penguin Books had to order a reprint of 75,000 copies to keep up with the increase in demand. It seemed people...
Medical Marijuana Innovation: An Interview With Andrew Kavasilas
In late 1930s Australia, dozens of cannabis-based medicines were widely available, either by prescription or over-the-counter. One of the most popular was Dr J Collis Browne’s Chlorodyne, which was a preparation made from Nepalese cannabis resin. When a Victorian MP...
The Mandela Rules: Minimum Prison Standards Must Be Implemented
Nelson Mandela famously said, “no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.” And after revelations about the mistreatment and torture of young people inside Darwin’s Don Dale youth detention centre, it must be acknowledged we have...
