It’s Time for an Australian Bill of Rights
After the second world war, a series of international treaties began being introduced via the United Nations in order to define and protect people’s “inalienable human rights.” Australia has ratified the seven core international human rights conventions. This means that at the international...
Australian Whistleblowers are Persecuted Rather than Praised
Chelsea Manning was released from US military prison last week, after serving seven years of a 35 year prison sentence for espionage convictions relating to the classified documents she disclosed to WikiLeaks. Former US president Barack Obama commuted her sentence on...
Cardinal George Pell May Never Face Trial in Australia
Earlier this week, Victorian police confirmed they had received advice from the State’s Director of Public Prosecutions regarding historic allegations of child sexual assault against former-Sydney Archbishop George Pell. While police are yet to announce whether formal charges will be...
“Free My Father”: An Interview with Jewher Ilham
On September 23 2014, peaceful Uyghur rights advocate Ilham Tohti was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Xinjiang People’s High Court in western China on separatism charges. The two-day trial was condemned as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists around the world....
When “Just Following the Rules” Becomes a Crime
The world watched in horror as footage of Dr David Dao being dragged off a United Airlines flight by Chicago Aviation security officers went viral earlier this month. Airline officials said employees were just following “established procedures,” but to many the...
A World Without Bars: the Prison Abolition Movement
The transatlantic slave trade existed for well over three hundred years, with European nations abducting millions of people from Africa and taking them to colonies in the Americas to be sold into involuntary servitude. Indeed, the wealth of the United States...
Recreational Cannabis: Regulate and Reap the Benefits
One in five US citizens now lives in a state where the use of recreational marijuana is permitted. On November 8 last year, another four US states voted in favour of marijuana legalisation, bringing the total number of states to eight, as...
Is War Looming with China and North Korea?
Veteran documentary maker John Pilger’s new film the Coming War on China screened on television last Sunday night. In it, Pilger “breaks the silence” on the US government’s recent military build-up that’s aimed directly at China. The Australian journalist explains that...
Decriminalisation and a Regulated Drug Supply Market are the Key to Success
The Portugal model of drug decriminalisation is acknowledged globally as a resounding success. In 2001, the Portuguese government decriminalised the personal use and possession of all illegal drugs. Since then, rates of HIV infections and overdoses have dramatically decreased. And despite what...
Military Might in the Middle East: The Political Posturing of the Powerful
In little over a week, US president Donald Trump has carried out three acts of military aggression that appear to be targeting not only the countries directly involved, but also send a clear message to an alliance of nations that traditionally...
