Outback Work-for-the-Dole Scheme Discriminates Against Indigenous Communities
The federal government’s outback work-for-the-dole scheme is wreaking havoc in remote Indigenous communities. Introduced on July 1 2015, the Community Development Program (CDP) has been labelled an overly punitive scheme that may breach the Racial Discrimination Act. The program currently...
Casual Workers Win Right to Request Permanent Work
After its decision earlier this year to slash penalty rates for casual hospitality and retail staff, the Fair Work Commission has now handed casual workers a small win. Casual employees under 85 modern awards will soon have the right to...
Silencing Dissent: Myanmar Authorities Arrest Journalists
At around 3.30pm on June 26, a group of seven people were arrested by Myanmar authorities at a military checkpoint in the country’s conflict-ridden northern Shan state. Three local journalists were among the group who were detained in Namhsan township...
Peter Dutton: A Law Unto Himself
Former Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson has warned that Peter Dutton’s growing control over Australian deportation laws is removing important oversight mechanisms offered by the courts and parliament – threatening the separation of powers between the state and judiciary. Before last October,...
The Social Media Platform Causing the Most Harm to Kids
Do you know what your kids are up to online these school holidays? We know the stories: the horrendous accounts of relentless bullying which result in young people suffering trauma, or engaging in self-harm, or worse. Indeed, more and more...
Australian Transgender Laws Are a Violation of Human Rights
On March 17, the United Nations Committee on Human Rights in Geneva ruled Australian laws that require married transgender people to get a divorce if they want to change the sex on their birth certificates are in violation of international human...
Curbing Homelessness: An Interview with Senator Lee Rhiannon
On June 24, City of Sydney rangers moved in to shut down Sydney’s 24-7 Street Kitchen and Safe Space, which had been operating in the CBD since December. The operation had been providing free meals for the city’s needy, and...
Sex Toy Mistaken for Bomb
Police raided a house in south west Sydney recently and found an object they suspected of being a bomb. But it wasn’t until a major police station had been evacuated, five police officers had been taken to hospital, and a man...
Algorithms Used to Justify Unfair Treatment of the Vulnerable
A highly-respected mathematician believes algorithms are being used to justify race and class bias by the police and courts. Cathy O’Neil is a professor at Harvard University and author of the book ‘Weapons of Math Destruction’, which argues that the...
Crimes Against Humanity: The British Empire
It was the largest empire ever to have existed. And as the saying used to go, the sun never sets on the British Empire. At its height in 1922, the colonial power was lording it over a fifth of the world’s...
