The Indefinite Detention Achilles Heel: An Interview With Human Rights For All’s Alison Battisson
The Magna Carta is a charter of rights that was drafted by the court of King John of England in 1215. And to this day, the eight-century-old document provides the foundational legal principles of our modern Australian democracy, including that...
Improving the Lot of Transgender Inmates: An Interview With NSWCAPP’s Keith Quayle
Part 3.8 of the Custodial Operations Policy and Procedures of Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) outlines how prison authorities deal with transgender and intersex inmates. It aims to achieve best practice, non-discrimination, safety and security. The policy stipulates that a transgender...
War Resumes in Occupied Western Sahara: An Interview With Polisario’s Kamal Fadel
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) president and Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali ended the 1991 ceasefire agreement between his Sahrawi independence forces and the Moroccan army, which has occupied most of Western Sahara since 1975. Ghali brought the 29-year-long truce...
Truth-Telling: Activist Stephen Langford on Facing Time Over Craft Gluing a Colonial Statue
The Black Lives Matter-Stop Black Deaths in Custody movement erupted in Sydney last June. Despite COVID lockdown restrictions only just being lifted, thousands took to the streets, as they challenged the tired and wearying official narrative around the British takeover of...
Drug Decriminalisation for the ACT: An Interview With Labor MLA Michael Pettersson
Led by the Uniting Church Synod of NSW/ACT, Fair Treatment has been calling on the jurisdictions of NSW and the ACT to decriminalise drug use and personal possession since late 2018. This health-based campaign has the backing of over 60...
A Violation of Civil Liberties: NSWCCL’s Elizabeth Htwe on Criminalising Drug Use
Since the drug-related deaths of two young Australians at the Sydney Defqon.1 festival in September 2018, the NSW Liberal Nationals government has understood that this state’s current approach to illicit substances isn’t working. Indeed, by the end of that music...
No Longer a Taboo: Psychologist Carly Schrever on Judicial Stress and Wellbeing
In a 1995 speech delivered in Hawaii, former High Court of Australia Justice Michael Kirby set out that “the general deference formerly paid to judges has been eroded” and “attacks on judges have now become commonplace”. He added that much...
War Powers Should Rest With Parliament: An Interview With Senator Jordon Steele-John
Then PM Tony Abbott withdrew Australia’s last combat troops from Afghanistan in late 2013. It marked the end of our nation’s longest engagement in a specific conflict. However, Australian troops were still deployed to the country in a training capacity...
Gamil Means No: An Interview With Gamilaraay Next Generation’s Ian Brown
Gamil means “no” in Gamilaraay: the language spoken by the Gomeroi people. Situated on what is today described as north western NSW, the Gomeroi Nation is currently saying gamil to the proposed Narrabri Gas project. In a statement released on...
Controlling the Discussion: Peace Campaigner Jacob Grech on the Brereton Report
The recently released Brereton report details 39 alleged murders conducted by Australian SAS troops in Afghanistan. The document also goes to great lengths to ensure the reader is well aware that no one knew about these war crimes above the...
