Calls to End Laws that Discriminate Against LGBTIQ Teachers
A few years back, high school teacher Craig Campbell received an email from the WA Teacher Registration Board stating that after having worked for two years as a relief teacher at a Baptist college located south of Perth, he’d been...
Government Is Likely Tracking Young Activists: An Interview With Dr Stanley Shanapinda
Alarm bells rang for digital rights advocates in August 2014, when at a joint press conference, then prime minister Tony Abbott and attorney general George Brandis announced that the government was introducing a metadata retention regime to counter the threat...
What are the Consequences of Having a Criminal Record in Australia?
Over the past 30 years, Australia’s anti-discrimination laws have expanded to provide more protection for many marginalised groups. However, a notable exception is employment discrimination for those who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law, meaning the...
“It Is Now Time for Civil Disobedience”: How the Rebellion Plans to Bring About Change
The human race has until the end of next year to initiate changes that will allow for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, so that global temperatures don’t exceed a 1.5 degree rise by the end of the...
Preaching “Just Say No” Endangers Lives: Informed Decision-Making Protects Them
We live in a state where the head of government continues to spout rhetoric about drug use in line with former US first lady Nancy Reagan. The “just say no” to drugs approach remains as simple and ineffective as it...
NSW May Finally Repeal the Crime of Abortion
A bill before parliament will overturn laws that were set down in 1900 which make abortion a criminal offence. New South Wales is the only jurisdiction in Australia that has not yet repealed criminal laws against abortion. But that may...
Desperate and Hungry: Struggling to Survive on Newstart
In a raw series produced by the Guardian Newspaper earlier this year called “On the Breadline,” a group of Australians opened up, telling their own personal stories of what it’s like to be struggling to make ends meet. What most...
The Defence of Mental Illness in New South Wales
Being found not guilty by reason of mental illness isn’t just the stuff of good fiction crime novels, as a recent case in the Supreme Court of New South Wales demonstrates. In that case, a 38-year old father who stabbed...
The Offence of Graffiti in New South Wales
A mural depicting a satanic figure hovering over a kneeling, handcuffed George Pell in a prison tracksuit has been removed from privately-owned premises. The mural, created by Australian artist Scott Marsh, was painted on property of owned by Wilson Parking...
The Crime of Inciting Hatred in Australia
A leader of the far-right in Australia, Blair Cottrell, has failed in his appeal against a conviction for inciting hatred, contempt or ridicule against people of the Islamic faith. The offence In September 2017, Mr Cottrell, along with two other...
