Queensland Legalises Abortion, While NSW Continues Criminalisation
In what’s being hailed as a ‘historic vote’, the Queensland parliament has resolved to repeal an antiquated section of the state’s criminal code that considers the termination of a pregnancy to be an “offence against morality”. The code was written...
Court Upholds 30-Year Prison Sentence for Domestic Murder
On 21 September 2018, the Australian Capital Territory Court of Appeal dismissed Magad Al-Harazi’s appeal against the severity of his 30-year sentence for murdering his wife Sabah Al-Mdwali. The relationship The couple met in 2005 and married in Yemen a...
Kids Off Nauru: An Interview With World Vision Australia’s Andrew White
The tide is turning over the issue of removing the close to 80 children still being held in offshore detention off Nauru. Indeed, events over recent days reveal that the Morrison government is going to find it increasingly untenable to...
First Nation Economic Independence: An Interview With the Treaty Council’s Alex Wymarra
Australia is the only settler colonial nation not to have entered into treaties with the First Nations of the continent. Indeed, it wasn’t until the 1992 High Court of Australia Mabo decision that the nation actually recognised Indigenous peoples’ prior claim...
Death Count Soars as Epidemic of Violence Against Women Continues
Since the beginning of this month a total of eight women have been killed violently in Australia. In at least seven of the cases, the victims knew the men who murdered them. And yet, no national outcry has occurred, and...
Religious Freedom Laws: PM Proposes Schools Can Sack Teachers, but Not Expel Students
Following the leaking of a section of the Ruddock religious freedoms review last week, Scott Morrison spoke out in support of recommended strengthening and clarification of federal laws that allow religious schools to discriminate against students and teachers on the basis...
Peter Dutton’s Office Under Investigation
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is investigating the Home Affairs Department over allegations it leaked material regarding Peter Dutton’s visa grants to two au pairs. The AFP was put on high alert about a month ago, when several emails were...
Church-led Coalition Calls for Drug Decriminalisation
On Friday morning, Sir Richard Branson launched Uniting’s Fair Treatment campaign at Sydney Town Hall. The well-known drug reform advocate threw his support behind the campaign that’s pushing for the decriminalisation of the possession of drugs for personal use, as well as...
Victoria Increases Police Powers and Removes Legal Safeguards
The recent weeks, the bulk of Victoria’s Justice Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Bill 2018 has been enacted, which the state government claims will better protect the community against the threat of terrorism. The changes include new powers for police to detain...
Socially Progressive, Economically Sensible: An Interview with Independent, Dr Kerryn Phelps
Dr Kerryn Phelps recently called on prime minister Scott Morrison to release the final report of the Ruddock review on religious freedoms prior to next week’s Wentworth byelection, in which she’s running as an independent. Now that hasn’t happened. But, what...
