Occupying the Mantra Rooftop for Refugees: An Interview With WACA’s Sam Castro
Right now, there are over 65 former offshore refugee detainees being held at the Mantra Hotel in the Melbourne suburb of Preston. Brought to Australia under the provisions of Medevac, these men with compromised health are now fearing for their...
Digital Climate Disruption: An Interview With Extinction Rebellion’s AJ Tennant
The big four Australian banks - Westpac, Commbank, ANZ and NAB - “collectively poured” around $35.4 billion dollars into the fossil fuel industry over the four years to 2019, Market Forces reported on 7 May. It added that $7.1 billion...
Immigration Centres Analogous to Cruise Ships: An Interview With Doctors For Refugees’ Dr Barri Phatarfod
As of two weeks ago, the UK government had released around 400 immigration detainees into the community, with the aim of containing the spread of COVID-19. The move recognises that populations held within enclosed environments are at great risk of...
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...
