In National Security State Australia, Press Freedom Is Just a Nice Idea
Hong Kong police raided the office of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily on 17 June and arrested its five chief directors on national security grounds, while local authorities froze its assets, effectively shutting it down. Beijing has been increasing its grip...
UK Gives US Permission to Appeal Decision Not to Extradite Assange, Despite Key Witness Lying
The UK’s High Court of Justice granted the United States government permission to appeal the January decision of the Westminster Magistrates’ Court not to permit the extradition of Australian journalist Julian Assange on limited grounds. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser decided...
The Increasing Militarisation of Australia and the Cold War With China Effect
The twenty year war in Afghanistan is coming to an end on 11 September. That is at least from the perspective of the western allied forces that have been stationed in the Central Asian region since the US-led invasion that...
Key US Witness Admits to Falsifying Evidence Against Assange in Return for Immunity
As Julian Assange turned 50 on Saturday, the pioneering Australian journalist continued to be subjected to what amounts to prolonged solitary confinement - a human rights abuse - in London’s Belmarsh Prison, where he has been since he was taken...
Is There a Statute of Limitations for Criminal Offences in New South Wales?
Bill Cosby has returned home, after Pennsylvania’s highest court quashed his conviction for sexual assault. It’s an extraordinary turnaround for one of the most high-profile cases of the #Metoo era, causing mixed reactions and leading many to question how such...
Ministers are Increasingly Ruling by Decree, Without Parliamentary Oversight
Executive branches of government are increasingly relying upon a form of lawmaking that bypasses any input from parliament, as well as avoiding its veto powers. Known as delegated legislation, this process involves a series of instruments known as regulations, rules...
Medevac Refugees Hunger Strike Over Slow Torture of Indefinite Detention
Fourteen Medevac refugees currently detained in the Melbourne Immigration Detention Accommodation (MITA) facility commenced a hunger strike on 17 June. Eleven are currently refusing to eat in the centre, while three are hospitalised. Over the eleven days of the action,...
Dutton Asserts China Is Now the Enemy, Not Islamic Terrorism
“It is the urgency that gets me,” Sky News journalist Andrew Bolt said to Peter Dutton, in relation to the way the defence minister has handled the portfolio since it was handed to him in late March. “There is no...
George Floyd’s Killer Sentenced
45-year old Derek Chauvin was found guilty by a 12-member jury in April 2021 of second-and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter, after kneeling on 46-year old George Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Mr Floyd repeatedly...
“A Steady Deterioration in Rights” in Australia: An Interview With HRMI’s Thalia Kehoe Rowden
When the United Nations General Assembly announced that Australia would be serving on the UN Human Rights Council over the 2018-20 term, questions were raised about the nation’s fitness to hold a seat, especially in relation to its treatment of...
