WA Considers Separating from the Rest of Australia
Western Australia has long debated whether to withdraw from federation, and the issue is once again on the agenda. At the WA Liberal party state conference on September 3, members voted in favour of a motion to investigate whether to...
Lack of Treatment Leads to Reoffending
The Victorian prisoner population has been on the rapid increase since the late 1990s. In July 1998, there were 2,876 adult prisoners in the state’s correctional facilities, whereas in July this year, there was 7,152 inmates, according to Corrections Victoria figures....
Medicinal Cannabis for the Elderly: An Interview with Canna Nanna Karen Burge
The Therapeutic Goods Administration’s Special Access Scheme (SAS) is a formal arrangement that allows patients to import unapproved therapeutic goods into the country. There are two main pathways to access imported medicines via this scheme: category A and category B....
Dutton Claims Lawyers Who Represent Asylum Seekers for Free Are “Un-Australian”
Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton announced on August 28 that 70 asylum seekers were being issued with new “final departure” visas. These people had their fortnightly welfare payments cut off, and were given three weeks to vacate their accommodation. The move...
Adelaide Tackles Homelessness Head-On
Australian politicians have recognised that the issue of homelessness won’t just go away. While the number of people sleeping rough around Australia increases, the response by many politicians has been to push for new laws that criminalise homelessness and move rough...
Marriage Equality: An Interview with Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby
At 2.15 pm on Thursday, the High Court of Australia ruled against the challenge to the voluntary and non-binding marriage equality postal vote. As he sat in parliament, Malcolm Turnbull was told of the decision via text, which is a...
Residents Demand Safe Injecting Facility
The Melbourne suburbs of North Richmond and Abbotsford have long been the site of an extensive street drug market. And with it come the harms associated with an unregulated and criminalised drug trade. Between 2009 and 2015, there were 96...
Asylum Seekers Left Destitute at the Hands of Dutton
Stooping to a new low, the Turnbull government has begun cutting off the welfare payment to vulnerable asylum seekers and given these people three weeks to vacate their government-supported accommodation. Leaked documents from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) initially revealed...
Drug Law Reform: An Interview with Former NSW DPP Nicholas Cowdery
On 2 June 2011, the Global Commission on Drug Policy declared, “The global war on drugs has failed.” In its report, the commission found that prohibition has led to increased drug consumption, the growth of powerful crime networks and contributed...
Judge’s Decision Was a “Substantial Miscarriage of Justice”
Kenneth Bell was being held in prison awaiting trial on allegations of sexual assault, when he was savagely attacked on 16 June 2013, suffering a fractured eye socket, traumatic brain injury, and left in a coma for several days. Due...
