Opinion – Page 2

"Feeding The Black Dog" by Michelle Robinson

It’s Always Stage 4 in Locked Mental Health Wards

By Simon Katterl

Simon Katterl takes us inside a public mental health hospital where it’s a daily battle for power and control.

A Source of Shame: Australia’s Failure to Uphold the Human Rights of Refugees

By Sohee Park Kwon

Australia’s public health response to COVID-19 demonstrates a double standard that blatantly disregards refugees and asylum seekers’ fundamental right to health.

Juries in an age of trial by media

By Greg Barns

Can juries really be impartial on high profile cases when they are saturated by the media with information, opinion and propaganda about the people they are judging?

Australians can no longer look away from BLM

By Lena Mountford and Keenan Mundine

As the world learns of police brutality in the US, Australians are too ready to ignore the deaths of Bla(c)k people in their own country.

Balibo 5 Murders Remain a Secret 45 Years On

By Clinton Fernandes

On the 45th anniversary of the Balibo 5 murders, Australia’s secret intelligence service still refuses to publicly reveal what it knows, writes Clinton Fernandes.

COVID-19 must not normalise digital surveillance

By David Paris

After a huge campaign to encourage every smartphone user in Australia to install and use the ‘COVIDSafe’ app, the effectiveness of the app has been negligible. But the impact of the app is much more significant, writes David Paris.

Drop the Prosecutions: Statement on Bernard Collaery, Witness K

By Coalition of Supporters of Bernard Collaery and Witness K

The Coalition of Supporters of Bernard Collaery and Witness K are calling for the prosecutions to be dropped, issuing a statement signed by leading public figures.

Immigration detainees protesting the mobile phone ban bill

The Legacy of the Asylum Seeker Phone Ban

By Sangeetha Pillai

A proposed law that recently went before the Australian Federal Parliament would have given the Department of Home Affairs the power to ban access to mobile phones and other communication devices for some of the most vulnerable and isolated people in Australia: the refugees, asylum seekers and other non-citizens who are held in immigration detention.