Mentally Ill Disproportionately Killed by Police
Recently released statistics suggest that more than half of the people shot dead by NSW police over the past twenty years were suffering from a mental illness. The data was obtained by Greens MP David Shoebridge through the Government Information...
Open Adoption of Indigenous Children: Another Stolen Generation?
Horrifying statistics paint a bleak picture of the reality for many thousands of Aussie kids. One in 32 children now receive some sort of child protection services, rising to one in ten in the Northern Territory. Indigenous children are at...
Stop Sniffer Dog Operations: An Interview With the Sniff Off Campaign’s Xiaoran Shi
The campaign against the warrantless use of sniffer dogs in public places by NSW police is moving North. The Sniff Off campaign, which is a collaboration between Greens MLC David Shoebridge and the NSW Young Greens, launched in Newcastle on...
More Police in Byron Bay to Get Body Cameras
After two recent incidents filmed and uploaded to social media showing police officers using heavy-handed tactics on members of the public, more officers in Byron Bay will be fitted with body cameras. The process of issuing the cameras is being...
Misgendered Incarceration: An Interview With Scarlet Alliance CEO Jules Kim
A transgender woman is currently being held in solitary confinement in WA’s Casuarina maximum security prison for men. In January, CJ Palmer was found guilty by a Perth District Court jury of committing grievous bodily harm for transmitting HIV. The prosecution claimed...
New Zealand PM Condemns Turnbull’s Policy of Deporting Kiwis
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern raised concerns over the Turnbull government’s policy of deporting offending New Zealanders at a press conference in Sydney last Friday. In particular, the NZ PM questioned the practice of deporting individuals who have made Australia...
Time to Start Over: An Interview With Medicinal Cannabis Pioneer Lucy Haslam
Lucy Haslam has been at the forefront of the movement to re-introduce the use of medicinal cannabis in Australia since 2013. The Tamworth local was instrumental in engaging the support of politicians to a cause that many were sceptical about....
Cannabis Patients Denied Access: An Interview With MCUA President Deb Lynch
The Australian medicinal cannabis quagmire is heavily impacting patients. The whole debate around the medicine has been about how to get a criminalised plant, which is now widely recognised for its beneficial qualities, into the hands of those that need...
Sydney Psychologist Suggests Homicidal Teen Should Commit Murder
A psychologist practising on Sydney’s North Shore has come before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) after a referral from the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC). Dr Elise Lowick, a specialist in emerging psychosis, was facing suspension or deregistration...
Bail Assessment Officer Program Fails to Make an Impact
NSW continues to be the greatest incarcerator out of all Australian jurisdictions. Figures released recently by the Australian Bureau of Statics reveal that 13,228 inmates were incarcerated in our state in September last year, while Queensland came in at second place...