“We made a mistake”: teen dies after police fail to call ambulance
A coronial inquest has heard that a teenager who was unconscious during a drug raid on a Gold Coast apartment would still be alive if police had called an ambulance, rather than completing the search and leaving without calling for...
Brisbane Grandmother to be Deported After 50 Years in Australia
Fifty-two year old Maryanne Caric has not left Australia since she arrived as a two-year old from the former Republic of Yugoslavia – not even for a holiday. She does not speak her native language of Croatian, only English, and...
Innocent Until Proven Guilty? Australian Prisons Full of Inmates on Remand
The Ravenhall prison riot broke out on June 30 2015. The major reason given for the disturbance was a tobacco ban that was about to be enforced the following day. However, an independent report found another major reason behind the incident was overcrowding...
Australia Should Follow Portugal’s Drug Decriminalisation Model
Portugal decriminalised the possession of all illicit drugs for personal use in 2001. If an individual is found with a permitted amount of cannabis, methamphetamine or heroin on them, they are not sent to court where they face the prospect...
Belle Gibson Guilty, But Not Deterred
The federal court delivered its judgment on disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson this week, finding she broke the law in “most but not all” of the allegations brought against her. In handing down the decision, Justice Mortimer found that Ms Gibson...
Refugees On Sovereign Soil: An Interview with Koradji Aboriginal Tent Embassy’s Gabitja
The original Aboriginal Tent Embassy was founded on the lawns of what is now called old Parliament House in Canberra on Invasion Day, January 26 1972. Four Indigenous activists instigated the protest that’s still going strong 45 years later. These young men...
Less Cash for Centrelink Recipients: Government Hails Debit Card Trial a Success
The federal government has declared its twelve-month trial of ‘cashless’ welfare cards a huge success, after an evaluation found it has contributed to a reduction in alcohol consumption and gambling in rural communities. The government is so pleased with the...
Aussie Mum May Appeal Sentence for Killing Balinese Policeman
In case you missed the headlines: Sara Connor has been sentenced to four years in prison, while her boyfriend, David Taylor, was handed a six year sentence for killing Balinese police officer Wayan Sudarsa. The Byron Bay mother of two...
Sniffer Dog Operations – Ineffective, Intrusive and Dangerous
Once again, figures obtained under the Government Information (Public Access) Act NSW 2009 suggest that the enormous amount of taxpayer funds and police resources invested into drug dog detection programs are not delivering dividends when it comes to addressing the illegal...
Mystery drug kills two men by cooking them from the inside
The horrendous accounts of how two men died after overdosing on a mystery drug that ‘cooked’ their bodies from the inside has NSW concerned that a new breed of deadly synthetic drug may be circulating throughout the state. Mystery drug...
