Pill Testing Is Inevitable: An Interview with MP Shane Rattenbury
Despite the initial set back to Australia’s first government-sanctioned pill testing trial taking place, it appears that those behind the initiative are confident it will go ahead. According to them, the question is not if, but when. On September 22,...
Protesting Pine Gap: An Interview with Peace Pilgrim Margaret Pestorius
Pine Gap is the top-secret US-run military base hidden in the Australian outback, just outside of Alice Springs. Officially known as the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap, the base was presented to the Australian public as a space research centre,...
Asylum Seeker Rights: An Interview with NZ MP Golriz Ghahraman
The 600 asylum seekers the Australian government is continuing to hold on Manus Island are now staying in transit centres in Lorengau. The facilities aren’t fully complete. There’s insufficient room to accommodate them all. And there’s a lack of water. The...
Country-Based Drug Treatment: An Interview with Professor David Penington
In late October, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews approved a two-year trial of a safe injecting centre for North Richmond. The inner city Melbourne suburb has long been the site of an open street drug market, and 34 overdose deaths have already occurred...
Clan-Based Treaties: An Interview with MP Lidia Thorpe
The Victorian electorate of Northcote had been a Labor stronghold for 90 years. But the November 18 by-election in the inner city district revealed that the local constituents in Melbourne’s north were looking for a more progressive representative. And the...
Mobilising Against White Nationalists: An Interview with CARF’s Tess Dimos
Milo Yiannopoulos is a name that seems to crop up on your Facebook feed as you flick through it from time to time. A quick scan of his Wikipedia page reveals that he’s a British alt-right figure, who is anti-Islamic,...
Post-Release Reintegration Pathways: An Interview with CRC’s Dr Mindy Sotiri
The NSW prisoner population is on a steep rise. In September, there were 13,017 adults detained in the state’s correctional facilities, according to NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) figures. This is despite NSW crime rates being at a...
Exposing Agricultural Brutality: An Interview with Chris Delforce
A bill largely aimed at curbing stock theft and illegal hunting in rural NSW passed through state parliament on November 15. NSW Greens MLC David Shoebridge unsuccessfully pushed for an amendment to the bill, due to a provision he described...
Australia’s First Cyborg Rights Case: An Interview with Biohacker Meow-Meow
Back in June, a Sydney man made headlines when he had the chip from an Opal card inserted just below the skin in his left hand, so he could travel the local transport network without having to fumble around for...
Making Medicinal Cannabis Accessible: An Interview with Senator Richard Di Natale
Currently, there’s a private senator’s bill before the House of Representatives that will provide terminally ill patients with rapid access to medicinal cannabis products. But, there are fears the Turnbull government will vote it down. Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale...
