“A Massive Victory”: Democracy Is Essential’s Eleanor Morley on Lifting the Protest Ban
As NSW police officers began picking up Sydney University students non-violently protesting and, at a distance, hurling them onto the footpath, it was quite clear that something had gotten out of hand. And it seems that state authorities finally agreed....
Supporting Refugees Made Destitute by Dutton: An Interview With BMRSG’s Brendan Doyle
It was clear by August this year that the economy was in deep recession due to the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number of unemployed people having risen to over one million since the societywide lockdown....
“The Government Has Shown No Mercy”: Dane de Leon on a KP120 Refugee Suicide Attempt
Saif Ali Saif has been one of the 120-odd former offshore asylum-seeking detainees, who have been staging a daily afternoon protest on the balcony of Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point Central Hotel since April this year. Known as the KP120, the men...
Violence Against Protesters Was Unprovoked: An Interview With USYD Law Professor Simon Rice
Of late, Sydney University Law Professor Simon Rice has been running an extracurricular project, which involves overseeing some students working on reforming protest laws. Indeed, over recent years, state laws have been gradually encroaching upon the right to demonstrate. So,...
Running the PM Out of Brisbane: An Interview With Refugee Solidarity Meanjin
Just after prime minister Scott Morrison entered the Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at Queensland University on the morning of 12 October, a group of refugee rights activists emerged out of nowhere to commence demonstrating. The protesters doused the...
Boycott Israeli Apartheid: An Interview With BDS Australia’s Nasser Mashni
Increasingly, the use of the word apartheid is being applied to the system of governance that’s currently operating in the nation known as Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories - the land of historic Palestine. In mid-2018, the Knesset (Israeli...
The Incarcerated Trans and Gender Diverse Community Fund: A Chat With Witt Gorrie
A fund to provide support for trans and gender diverse inmates appeared online on 7 October, and within a week it had reached its goal of $30,000. And as the donations have only continued to climb, the organisers’ aim to...
Calls for Reform Around Police Body-Worn Cameras: An Interview With ALA’s Jeremy King
A recent Victoria County Court decision has renewed calls in that state to have the laws governing body-worn cameras overhauled. Last month, Judge Sandra Davis found there’s nothing in the law that requires footage from such cameras to be produced...
The Budget’s Climate Denial: An Interview With Economics Professor John Quiggin
University of Queensland Professor John Quiggin is an economist, who’s had a focus on the environment that goes back years. A former member of the Climate Change Authority, the academic has written on policy topics that range from changing climate...
Sydney University Caught Colluding With NSW Police Over Protests: The SRC’s Jack Mansell Speaks Out
Since late July, reports on the overpolicing of COVID safe student and staff demonstrations at Sydney University have been doing the rounds of both social and mainstream media. Riot squad, mounted and general duties officers have all been deployed in...
