Police Arrest Patient For Possessing Medicinal Cannabis: An Interview with MCUA’s Deb Lynch
On June 19, Queensland police arrested Deb Lynch, secretary of the Medicinal Cannabis Users Association of Australia (MCUA), on charges of possessing a dangerous drug. Several officers were at her Cornubia residence on a different matter, when they noticed her...
Applying for Asylum: An Interview with Asylum Seekers Centre’s Steven Glass
At the end of May, Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton gave 7,500 asylum seekers until October 1 to lodge their applications for a visa, or face deportation. Dutton went so far as to imply that some of these people – who made...
Barriers to Medicinal Cannabis: An Interview with Medical Cannabis Advisory’s Grace Sands
Last week, a Greens motion passed through federal parliament that allows terminally ill patients faster access to cannabis medicines. These patients are now able to import up to three months’ supply of medical marijuana from regulated markets overseas. The disallowance motion...
Australia’s Denial of Indigenous Rights: An Interview with Koorie Institute’s Terry Mason
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) is an international human rights agreement outlining the inalienable rights of the First Peoples of all continents and islands of the globe. Although it’s not legally binding, it sets up guiding...
Housing First: An Interview with Homelessness NSW’s Digby Hughes
Currently, there’s a video clip doing the rounds of Facebook that informs the viewer about Medicine Hat: a Canadian city that’s actually eradicated homelessness. To do this, the city has implemented a somewhat revolutionary, as well as rather obvious initiative. The traditional...
Empowering Sex Workers: An Interview with Urban Realist’s Julie Bates
Amnesty International has formally adopted a policy to protect and fulfil the human rights of sex workers. This position includes calling for the decriminalisation of sex work, which they define as “consensual exchanges between adults.” The starting point of their policy is to prevent and redress the...
Treaty First: An Interview with Uluru Summit Delegate Fred Hooper
The Uluru Statement from the Heart was the culmination of a six month process that saw the Referendum Council traveling the country carrying out a series of dialogues with First Nations representatives to ascertain how Indigenous people should be recognised in the...
Stop Animal Cruelty: An Interview with Anonymous for the Voiceless’ Matt Stellino
A group of black clad, Guy Fawkes mask wearing individuals were standing at the centre of the bustling crowd in Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall last Saturday holding laptops and flatscreens, displaying graphic footage of animals being treated with horrific brutality. The...
Supporting Criminalised Women: An Interview with Flat Out’s Jake Argyll
The Australian prison population is at an all-time high. At the end of June last year, there were 38,845 adult prisoners in Australian correctional facilities. Women accounted for 3,094 of them, which is 8 percent of the overall adult prison population. But...
Reducing Indigenous Youth Incarceration: An Interview with Just Reinvest’s Sarah Hopkins
There’s a glaring overrepresentation of young Indigenous people in the NSW prison system. While Aboriginal young people make up around 3 percent of the general population, they account for 51 percent of youths being held in juvenile detention. At the...
