There’s a Desperate Need to Focus on Rehabilitation in Australian Prisons
A new programme introduced this year at Cooma Correctional Centre in in Southern New South Wales is matching inmates with homeless, unwanted dogs, and the early results are exceptionally positive. The programme is a collaboration between the prison and Snowy...
PM’s COVID Inquiry Will Be Ineffective, As It Ignores State and Territory Responses
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Federal Health Minister Mark Butler have announced a 12-month inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic response, but it falls well short of public expectations, even though taxpayers will be the ones funding it. The inquiry’s terms...
The By-Design Lack of Federal Rights Protections Is Driving Australia’s Authoritarian Drift
“Australians are unaware of the vast inroads made into our civil liberties by the most authoritarian western democracy currently in the world: Australia,” ACT barrister Bernard Collaery told the Guardian in April. “Democratic Australians are just asleep at the wheel.” And he...
It’s Always Been About Treaty: Senator Lidia Thorpe on the Progressive Vote
Not having bothered to pay attention to the Coalition’s No campaign as it makes its usual racist claims, this time about an all-powerful Voice to Parliament dividing the nation, hearing leader Peter Dutton’s use of the word “squalor” in relation...
Another Mentally Ill Woman Dies After Being Tasered by NSW Police Officers
Another woman has died after New South Wales Police used “a number of tactical options, including a taser” during her arrest last week. The woman’s family is now demanding answers. The incident Police were called to 47-year old Krista Kach’s...
The Deployment of ADF Troops for Domestic Disturbances is an Ominous Sign
The Australian Defence Forces alerted the Lismore public, via the local council’s Facebook page, that it would be in the vicinity of their town over 6 to 8 September conducting exercises, which would include “riot control” at Lismore Airport and “blank-fire...
The Bipartisan National Security Club Is Circling Independent Oversight Like a Vulture
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) is an old major party politicians’ club that’s charged with scrutinising any national security legislation and rubber stamping it prior to handing it back to parliament to be enacted. These are...
Macquarie Bank to ‘Phase Out’ Cash, Cheques and Phone Payments
Just as Qantas stopped momentarily making headlines for being “out of touch” with its staff and customers, enter Macquarie Bank which is currently dominating news pages over its plans to make banking almost impossible for thousands of people. Phasing out...
The NSW Drug Summit: Where Other Labor Leaders Triumphed, Minns Fears to Tread
A key objective of the 2023 NSW Labor policy platform stated that “a top priority” for the party on election would be to hold a state drug summit, so the experts can “advise on a wide variety of policy challenges”. This would...
Bipartisan Punishment of the Jobless Coexists with Necessary Unemployment Economics
Social services minister Amanda Rishworth was congratulating her government in July, after it budgeted for an unemployment benefit rise, which means that as of 20 September, those on base level JobSeeker will receive a $40 rise a fortnight and with indexation,...
