Unfolding Catastrophe: Journalist John Stapleton on the Government’s COVID Response
Tensions are high in the Sydney region as the population looks towards its tenth week in lockdown, without any clear understanding of when it will be coming out of the home confinement it’s enduring as cases of COVID-19 continue to...
As Deaths Rise, Perth Rough Sleepers Demand Housing: An Interview With NSPTRP’s Megan Krakouer
A group of Perth rough sleepers staged a rally on 14 August, shutting down a major CBD intersection. Those gathered were calling on the McGowan government to do something about upholding their human rights, especially that to adequate housing. Homelessness...
“The Spectre of State Power”: USYD Professor Greg Martin on Policing the Pandemic
At the end of the seventh week of the Greater Sydney lockdown, the NSW government was stumped. Instead of COVID cases decreasing under the law enforcement approach to the pandemic, they were steadily rising in tandem with the ever-increasing police...
Countering Corporate Capture: An Interview With Australian Democracy Network’s Saffron Zomer
The latest IPCC report warned that the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis is accelerating. Yet, in response, PM Scott Morrison stood before the nation last week to announce that rather than move away from fossil fuels, he advises expanding the industry...
Child Removal Suppression Law Is Unconstitutional, Argues Paul Robert Burton
Section 105 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) (the Child Protection Act) prevents the publication of the name and identifying details of a child or young person, who’s in state care, out-of-home care or...
“Hell on Earth”: Extinction Rebellion’s Violet Coco on the Urgency of Climate Activism
The Federal Court of Australia declared on 8 July that in deciding on whether to approve fossil fuel projects going into the future, the environment minister has to consider a duty of care “to avoid causing personal injury or death”...
Indefinite Detention Without Trial, That Is Australia, Says SA Barrister Claire O’Connor SC
The majority of the High Court ruled on 23 June that Australian law provides for the indefinite detention of asylum seekers, refugees, and stateless people in immigration detention under the authority of the executive branch of government. The finding came...
PM Facilitates Green Energy for Singapore and Gas for Australia: An Interview with 350’s Lucy Manne
The sequence of events is well known. Over the summer of 2019-20, Australia suffered its worst bushfire season ever. This occurred at the same time as extreme climate-driven weather events were steadily increasing around the planet. In February last year,...
On a Trajectory Towards Self-Annihilation: An Interview With Dr Helen Caldicott
Russian president Vladimir Putin currently has his people developing two so-called “Doomsday” planes that would allow him and other top leaders to fly to safety in the event of a nuclear conflict, whilst maintaining contact with the rest of the...
The Need for a Medicinal Cannabis Driving Defence: An Interview With Former Magistrate David Heilpern
The NSW government introduced the state’s much maligned drug driving laws in 2007. The regime criminalises any trace of the psychoactive component of cannabis, THC, in the system whilst driving. The federal government, however, legalised the use of medicinal cannabis...