“I Hope It’s Overturned”: Former Magistrate Heilpern on Revoking of Drug Driving Mistake Defence
The drug driving regime in this state, as in the rest of the country, has always been controversial, as the testing model used, which ultimately sees people charged and lose their driver licence, doesn’t test for impairment levels, like drink...
Major Parties are In Cahoots in Terms of the Surveillance State and Warmongering
The Albanese government has passed new laws to reduce the level of independent oversight that covers this nation’s intelligence agencies, which, thanks to the earlier work of then home affairs minister Peter Dutton, sees some international agents gifted with the ability...
Black Lives Still Matter: Dunghutti Activist Paul Silva Puts Aboriginal Justice Back on the Agenda
At inception, NSW law enforcement had a focus on quelling First Nations resistance to British takeover of Indigenous land, and, over 230 years later, an excessive and overtly brutal focus on those who never ceded control to the Crown continues to...
Ending Native Forest Logging Is Within Reach: Bob Brown Foundation’s Jenny Weber on the National Campaign
Mid-July saw yet another Australian locked up over an environmental protest. This time it was 47-year-old veterinarian Dr Colette Harmsen, who was protesting mining in northwest Tasmania, which was in breach of a suspended sentence imposed upon her for an earlier antilogging...
Welfare Not Warfare: NUS Education Officer Xavier Dupé on Students Rejecting Militarisation Over Society
The Morrison government had already kicked the Australian constituency in the guts in September 2021, when it announced that we were entering a new security arrangement with the US and UK, known as AUKUS, which includes acquiring new submarines that require...
The Time Is Ripe for Drug Law Reform in New South Wales
NSW Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann hit the opening of the 58th NSW parliament running, as she moved four notices of motion on its second day indicating soon-to-be-tabled bills on key drug law reforms: pill testing, cannabis legalisation, a medical cannabis driving defence and decriminalisation....
The NSW Public Trustee Is Liberally Selling Off Managed Persons Assets, Says APTAGIE
“Imagine being under the control of a state-appointed guardian or public trustee and not being allowed to grab an ice coffee for a treat, buy presents for the grandkids or to replace your ill-fitting underwear?” posed Independent MP Andrew Wilkie...
NSW Has a Police Problem, Says Higginson, “Use of Excessive Force and Misconduct are Systemic”
NSW police senior constable Kristian White pulled his taser out, as 95-year-old great-grandmother Clare Nowland, who was holding a steak knife, was approaching with the aid of her walking frame, and the 33-year-old officer then stunned her with his device....
Disruptive Protest Is Necessary, Says Extinction Rebellion, as SA Antiprotest Regime Likely to Pass
Amnesty International organised a 500 hundred strong protest in the Adelaide CBD last Friday evening, as civil society groups, unions and climate defenders marched united in their demand that the Malinauskas government’s proposed extreme antiprotest regime is not enacted into law....
Minns, Time to De-Christianise Parliament in Multifaith/Nonreligous NSW, Say Rationalists and Greens
The March state election saw Catholic premier Dominic Perrottet hand over the reins of NSW top minister to current Catholic premier Chris Minns, who is now set to establish a multifaith religious advisory group to parliament with a direct line to...
