Human Rights Should be at the Heart of Australia’s COVID Response
This sidelining of human rights makes it easier to subordinate human rights as less important than economic interests, writes Lee Carnie.
Opinion – Page 6
It’s Always Stage 4 in Locked Mental Health Wards
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Protection Against Unemployment is a Human Right
It is clear, now more than ever, that the Federal Government’s policy approach towards unemployment benefits — as a social good and a human right — warrants public scrutiny.
Drop the Prosecutions: Statement on Bernard Collaery, 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.
The Legacy of the Asylum Seeker Phone Ban
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.
When Justice Fails – Wrongful Convictions in Australia
Australia remains the only democracy that does not have a specific law concerning compensation for those wrongfully convicted, despite scores of innocent people going to prison for crimes they did not commit.
Reflections of a Welfare Righter
Bill Mitchell OAM writes on the changes, challenges and victories of a welfare righter on the 30-year anniversary of Economic Justice Australia, the peak body for community legal centres.