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...
Robodebt Class Action is Coming
Centrelink will be contacting hundreds of thousands of Australians in the coming weeks to notify them that they could be part of a Robodebt class action lawsuit against the federal government. About 13,000 people have already signed up to the...
Police Commissioner Gets 15% Pay Rise Despite COVID and the Erosion of Public Confidence in the Force
As recently reported, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has received a controversial $87,000, or 15%, pay rise backed by Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Police and Emergency Services Minister David Elliott. Many other MPs have opposed the raise, with...
Dutton’s ASIO Bill Further Erodes Legal Protections
Original publication date: 16 May 2020 As a reduced Australian parliament met for a series of special sitting days this week to deal with matters that couldn’t wait until after it resumes normal duties post-pandemic, home affairs minister Peter Dutton...
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...
Post-COVID Restart Tough for Sex Workers: An Interview With SWOP’s Cameron Cox
The intimacy involved in a lot of sex industry services was always going to be problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic. But, now it seems that as the economy begins reopening, there’s confusion mounting around when the industry will be fully...
Australian ‘Church’ Fined for Selling Bleach as a Coronavirus Cure
If you thought Donald Trump spouting the potential health benefits of disinfectant to cure the coronavirus was ridiculous, a church in Australia has just been fined more than $150,000 for selling a concoction called Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS). In a...
Sydney Man Sent to Prison for Child Sexual Offences
“Police don’t have the tools or the power to catch people like me,” Kurtis Whaley boasted to a friend of one of his victims shortly before he was arrested at Sydney Airport in February 2019. In January 2020, the 24-year...
‘Lawyer X’ Royal Commission: More Than 1200 Cases to be Reviewed
In her closing remarks at the end of the The Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants’ public hearings, Commissioner Margaret McMurdo thanked the commission lawyers and staff who have been working to investigate and identify any tasks that...
Illegally Strip Searching Teens Does Not Amount to “Serious Misconduct”, LECC Finds
A 16-year-old First Nations boy was walking down the main street of a major town in north western NSW on 25 November 2018, when, on seeing some police, he dropped a foil of cannabis in his possession. The youth then...
