COVID-19 Highlights the Need for an Australian Bill of Rights
Around the world, legal proceedings are being commenced against governments over social control measures implemented during COVID-19, but this presents a legal conundrum which must weigh the reduction of freedoms and legal safeguards against the need to stop the spread...
Pandemic Police Powers Should Not Be Used to Silence Dissent
Just after 4 pm on 10 April, a cavalcade of around seventy vehicles decorated with trade union signs and protest placards made its way through Sydney’s CBD to drive past NSW parliament, calling for no worker to be left behind...
Will COVID-19 Police Powers Creep Into Permanency, Just Like Terrorism Laws?
The global spread of COVID-19 is hardly the first pandemic the species has faced. Probably the best known is the Black Death that spread through Europe, Asia and northern Africa in the 1300s. The chief measures to combat it were...
Police to Use Cameras to Enforce COVID-19 Restrictions
They told us the technology would be used to catch serious criminals, to protect us from potential terrorists and to keep our roads safe. But this weekend, police will use number plate recognition and cameras to ensure that we all...
Global COVID-19 Developments: Forced Removals, Indefinite Detention
The COVID-19 landscape is shifting. The epicentre is no longer Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province. After 76 days, that city’s complete lockdown ended on Wednesday: the borders reopened, many restrictions were lifted, however officials warned further infections are...
A Death Sentence for Inmates: An Interview With Sisters Inside CEO Debbie Kilroy
The Berejiklian government passed a suite of emergency laws to get the state of NSW through the COVID-19 crisis on 24 March. These included provisions allowing NSW Corrective Services commissioner Peter Severin to release inmates early on parole. However, more...
Can Police Enter My Residence to Check Compliance With a Public Health Order?
The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to unprecedented controls being placed on the Australian population, significantly restricting movement, association and gatherings. State and federal parliaments have been shut down, the executive has taken over powers normally exercised by parliament and...
The Interlinked Crises of COVID and Climate: An Interview with Health Professor Ro McFarlane
A different aspect within many Australian urban centres over the last summer was the site of locals wearing face masks on city streets due to the intense smoke pollution rolling in from the bushfires that were ravaging the eastern seaboard....
COVID-19 Powers: Police Need to Use Common Sense When Exercising Their Discretion
Under NSW’s strict lockdown laws, it is an offence to leave home unless it is for work, school, to get groceries or for a limited number of other essential trips. Gatherings of more than two people are not permitted. And...
The Need for Parliamentary Oversight is Greater Than Ever
The Morrison government shut down federal parliament due to concerns around the spread of COVID-19 on 23 March. And besides a special reduced sitting day set to take place on 8 April, the chambers in Canberra aren’t expected to start...
