Abortion to Remain a Crime in Queensland and NSW
Welcome to Australia, 2017, where abortion is still a crime. And it will remain that way for at least another two years in Queensland after reform legislation was pulled from parliament. Independent MP Rob Pyne has withdrawn two private member’s...
Government Bureaucracy Impedes Access to Medicinal Cannabis
Australian health minister Greg Hunt announced last week that medical marijuana will be more readily available within the next eight weeks. He said the government will ensure the fast tracking of the importation of cannabis based medicines. This relaxing of the laws...
Archbishops Slam Catholic Church for Covering-Up Widespread Child Sexual Abuse
Five of Australia’s most senior Catholic figures fronted the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Sexual Abuse, all of whom condemned the Church’s failure to protect vulnerable children. The archbishops of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth were questioned about how...
Not In My Back Yard – Residents Protest Against Youth Detention Centre
Thousands of residents have protested in Melbourne’s west against the Victorian government’s proposal to build a new youth detention centre at Werribee South. The protest Members of the public were previously encouraged to send an email every day to Premier...
Say FU2 Racism – Attitudes Towards Race in Australia
Today marks the start of ‘Face Up to Racism week’, which seems like the perfect time to look at our attitudes towards race in Australia. Since the end of the Second World War in 1945, Australia has welcomed more than...
The President’s Role in Shaping Crime Policy
The election of Donald Trump came at a time of widespread dissatisfaction with traditional politics and discontent with the perceived direction of the nation when it comes to both domestic and international policies, including criminal justice. The tension between the...
From the Pulpit to the Bench: An Interview with Chris Geraghty
After years of tension with his seniors at the Catholic Church, Chris Geraghty walked away from the priesthood in October 1976. He’d served 15 years in the Archdiocese of Sydney, after training in the seminaries since the age of 12. Right from...
The National DNA Database Is Watching You
Back in 2012, then NSW police minister Michael Gallacher proposed the establishment of a national DNA database, suggesting that genetic samples be taken from all newborns. The stored information could then be accessed under a Supreme Court warrant, and compared...
The Forest Wars: An Interview with Long Time Forest Campaigner Warrick Jordan
From the 1980s, right up until the early 2000s, the logging of old growth forests was the most prominent environmental issue in Australia. And what’s referred to as the forest wars – a conflict between environmentalist groups and the logging...
The Cop Who Helped Reduce Street Crime
Rather than employing heavy-handed tactics and a punitive approach when dealing with anti-social teens, police in the Western Sydney suburb of Blacktown have been tackling youth crime a different way. And the results speak for themselves. When police superintendent Mark...
