A Royal Commission Into Child Removals Now: An Interview With NSPTRP’s Megan Krakouer
National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project (NSPTRP) director Megan Krakouer has launched on online petition calling on prime minister Scott Morrison to prioritise a Royal Commission into Child Removals. The Mineng woman has done so in response to a...
“Seven Dark Years in Detention for What?”: An Interview With Kangaroo Point Detainee Abdullah Moradi
Right now, the Australian government is continuing to hold over 100 men at Kangaroo Point Central Hotel in inner city Brisbane, in a similar manner to how these asylum seekers were previously locked up on Manus and Nauru. These men...
Half of Child Detainees Are First Nations: An Interview With Change the Record’s Sophie Trevitt
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released its Youth Justice in Australia 2018-19 report last week. The document outlines that over the last four financial years, the number of First Nations children being incarcerated or under supervision orders has...
Keep the Rate Raised: An Interview With ACOSS’ Charmaine Crowe
One good thing that came out of the COVID-19 crisis was that the over 700,000 Australians receiving the below-poverty-line Newstart allowance were suddenly lifted out of their hardship overnight. As it became clear the lockdown was inevitable, the Morrison government...
Welcome to Country: Lidia Thorpe on the Mantra Refugees
Right now, governments around the country are in the midst of a staged lifting of the COVID-19 restrictions that have been set in place for the last couple of months. And while many out there in the community are breathing...
Occupying the Mantra Rooftop for Refugees: An Interview With WACA’s Sam Castro
Right now, there are over 65 former offshore refugee detainees being held at the Mantra Hotel in the Melbourne suburb of Preston. Brought to Australia under the provisions of Medevac, these men with compromised health are now fearing for their...
Digital Climate Disruption: An Interview With Extinction Rebellion’s AJ Tennant
The big four Australian banks - Westpac, Commbank, ANZ and NAB - “collectively poured” around $35.4 billion dollars into the fossil fuel industry over the four years to 2019, Market Forces reported on 7 May. It added that $7.1 billion...
Immigration Centres Analogous to Cruise Ships: An Interview With Doctors For Refugees’ Dr Barri Phatarfod
As of two weeks ago, the UK government had released around 400 immigration detainees into the community, with the aim of containing the spread of COVID-19. The move recognises that populations held within enclosed environments are at great risk of...
Prisoners Lives Are Still at Risk: An Interview With Ex-Inmate Damien Linnane
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Timothy Ginnane ordered on 1 May that the state’s justice department conduct a risk assessment of Port Phillip Prison in relation to COVID-19. The inquiry will include whether adequate cleaning and virus screening measures are taking...
Impossible to Distance in Detention: An Interview With Manus Detainee Farhad Bandesh
The subject of the ABC’s 20 April Q&A was COVID-19: Where to Next? And about 20 minutes into the program, long-term asylum-seeking detainee Farhad Bandesh appeared via video link to ask the panellists a question. The 38-year-old Kurdish man from...