Ellen Hays spoke to Elaine Pearson, Australia director of Human Rights Watch, at the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law’s annual conference, where Pearson was speaking on the consequences of Australia’s border protection policy.

In light of Australian Olympic champion Ian Thorpe’s “coming out”, Tamara Cherny suggests that “being yourself”, particularly in a society less than accepting of diversity, is easier said than done.

The conclusion of the four-part SBS series Once Upon a Time in Punchbowl delivered a sense of fulfilling closure, but Mohamad Tabbaa scratches beneath the fluffy surface to discover an unsettling situation that lies far from a satisfactory ending.

Ben Pynt explains that long-term detention – now the rule rather than the exception in Australian asylum seeker policy – causes inevitable ill effects on health, and that the oversight of the treatment of asylum seekers is becoming practically impossible.