Prisoners Lives Are Still at Risk: An Interview With Ex-Inmate Damien Linnane
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Timothy Ginnane ordered on 1 May that the state’s justice department conduct a risk assessment of Port Phillip Prison in relation to COVID-19. The inquiry will include whether adequate cleaning and virus screening measures are taking...
Impossible to Distance in Detention: An Interview With Manus Detainee Farhad Bandesh
The subject of the ABC’s 20 April Q&A was COVID-19: Where to Next? And about 20 minutes into the program, long-term asylum-seeking detainee Farhad Bandesh appeared via video link to ask the panellists a question. The 38-year-old Kurdish man from...
“An Act of Negligence”: An Interview With COVID Prison Watch’s Miranda Gibson
The NSW government passed a suite of emergency laws on 24 March, just as it was about to close parliament for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. And amongst the extraordinary measures that were set in play, were provisions that...
“A Political Injustice”: An Interview With the Housing Defence Coalition’s Adam Adelpour
The Housing Defence Coalition stepped in on 20 April to prevent a St Peters tenant by the name of Layla being evicted from her place of residence. The New Zealander recently lost her job due to the COVID-19 lockdown and...
May Day Car Convoy Rally Calls for Worker Rights and Climate Action: An Interview With Rachel Evans
The May 1 Movement held the No Worker Left Behind car cavalcade protest in Sydney’s CBD on 9 April. It was drawing attention to the federal government having just passed the JobKeeper wage subsidy package, which simply neglected to cover...
No Social Licence for Effective App Take-Up: An Interview With Digital Rights Watch’s Lizzie O’Shea
The prime minister outlined last week that the nation might be able to start lifting some of the restrictions involved with the COVID-19 lockdown in a month’s time. And this is in part based on the proviso that at least...
COVID Policing in Australia: An Interview With Liberty Victoria’s Michael Stanton
As the majority of Australians sit at home during the lockdown, we’re keenly aware that the reason we are isolating is to halt the spread of COVID-19. And as a nation, we’ve been very compliant. Indeed, some might say, this...
No COVID-19 Uni Cuts: An Interview With Students Organising Resistance’s Shovan Bhattarai
The COVID-19 lockdown has resulted in a huge economic downturn for Australian universities caused by the closure of borders, the loss of international student revenue and the forced shutdown of campuses. Due to its heavy reliance on students from abroad...
“Bloody Reprehensible”: Gerry Georgatos on Perth Rough Sleepers During COVID-19
Right now, there’s around 1,000 rough sleepers in the wider Perth, Fremantle and Peel region. And despite the fact that the rest of the population is in lockdown, the majority of these homeless people are still out on the streets...
These Punishments Aren’t Democratic: An Interview With the RLC’s Samantha Lee
The need to get people off the streets and keeping a safe distance from others during the COVID-19 crisis is well understood. However, what’s not quite so understood is why NSW police officers have been handed extensive powers to enforce...
