Government Forces Messaging Platforms to Surrender Information
Social media has allowed us to connect with friends and family during these difficult and physically isolating times, but it has also given many of us a false sense of privacy and security when using platforms such as Facebook Messenger....
Government Moves to Silence Immigration Detainees Under Cover of COVID
Federal parliament convened for three emergency sitting days last week to deal with legislation that couldn’t wait until after the COVID-19 pandemic. And the Coalition decided a bill allowing for the confiscation of the mobile phones of refugees in detention...
Teen Fined $1,000 for Not Breaking the Law
Public pressure is mounting over the heavy-handed actions of New South Wales police officers during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen them handing out tens of thousands of dollars in fines, with the latest being to a teenager who had...
Officer Who Punched Teen in the Head Cleared of Misconduct
Questions are being as a result of Victorian Police refusing to release details that would explain why a female police officer has been cleared of any wrongdoing after punching a 15-year old girl in the head at a pro-marijuana rally....
COVID-19 Policing: Confusion, Wannabes and Authoritarian Creep
The main NSW COVID-19 public health order was amended on 14 May, so that as of the following day the ban on outdoor gatherings was lifted from more than two to more than ten, and the prohibition on being outside...
Victorian Government Wants COVID-19 Powers to be Permanently Expanded
Under its original strategy to enforce public health laws which were created at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Victorian Government expanded the powers of ‘protective services officers’ (PSOs) on an emergency basis. Now, they want those powers not...
Sports Rorts Scandal: Emails Suggest Morrison Lied About Involvement
Further investigations by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) into the ‘sports rorts’ scandal have uncovered emails that show the PM’s office took more than a ‘passing interest’ in the grants scheme and that Senator Bridget McKenzie – who was...
Aussie Cannabis Patients Left in the Cold, As Coalition Attempts to Rush Exports
“Patients in Australia needing access to medical cannabis have been slapped in the face yet again” by the “corporate-friendly” Morrison government, “who cares nothing about the suffering of our people,” said the Medicinal Cannabis Users Association of Australia (MCUA). The...
Police Watchdog Finds that Illegal Strip Searches Did Not Amount to ‘Serious Misconduct’
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) released its report into Operation Karuka on 8 May. It was one of a number of reports into questionable strip searches carried out by NSW police officers over recent years, at a time when...
Government Proposes to Ban Mobiles Phones from Detention Centres
The Federal Government has proposed new laws which would give the Immigration Minister the power to ban mobile phones, computers and other items it sees fit from detention centres and other places of immigration detainment. The laws - a similar...
