Are the Boys in Blue Really There to Protect You?
There’s a popular perception in mainstream society that the institution of the police was created to protect and serve the interests of the general population, and that officers on the beat are there to prevent crime and promote the interests of justice....
Victoria Police: A Law Unto Themselves
Kyle Stewart was due to appear before Sunshine Magistrates Court on March 8 to face a charge of unlicensed driving. He had been arrested and held in police custody, but officers neglected to take him to court that morning despite being required to...
Keep Adani Out: An Interview with Wangan and Jagalingou Council’s Murrawah Johnson
The Adani Carmichael coal mine is a $22 billion dollar project that, if approved, will be built in the Galilee Basin, Queensland. If the Indian multinational manages to get approval, the mine will be the biggest in Australia, comprised of six...
Should Publishing ‘Fake News’ be a Crime?
The Australian Constitution explicitly guarantees just five rights: The right to vote (Section 41), Protection against acquisition of property on unjust terms (Section 51 (xxxi)), The right to a trial by jury for criminal cases in the higher courts (Section 80), Freedom...
“We made a mistake”: teen dies after police fail to call ambulance
A coronial inquest has heard that a teenager who was unconscious during a drug raid on a Gold Coast apartment would still be alive if police had called an ambulance, rather than completing the search and leaving without calling for...
Brisbane Grandmother to be Deported After 50 Years in Australia
Fifty-two year old Maryanne Caric has not left Australia since she arrived as a two-year old from the former Republic of Yugoslavia – not even for a holiday. She does not speak her native language of Croatian, only English, and...
Innocent Until Proven Guilty? Australian Prisons Full of Inmates on Remand
The Ravenhall prison riot broke out on June 30 2015. The major reason given for the disturbance was a tobacco ban that was about to be enforced the following day. However, an independent report found another major reason behind the incident was overcrowding...
Australia Should Follow Portugal’s Drug Decriminalisation Model
Portugal decriminalised the possession of all illicit drugs for personal use in 2001. If an individual is found with a permitted amount of cannabis, methamphetamine or heroin on them, they are not sent to court where they face the prospect...
Belle Gibson Guilty, But Not Deterred
The federal court delivered its judgment on disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson this week, finding she broke the law in “most but not all” of the allegations brought against her. In handing down the decision, Justice Mortimer found that Ms Gibson...
Refugees On Sovereign Soil: An Interview with Koradji Aboriginal Tent Embassy’s Gabitja
The original Aboriginal Tent Embassy was founded on the lawns of what is now called old Parliament House in Canberra on Invasion Day, January 26 1972. Four Indigenous activists instigated the protest that’s still going strong 45 years later. These young men...
