Sophie Cousins’ book Renewal: Five Paths to a Fairer Australia is, in many respects, a proposal. For Cousins, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided Australians with an opportunity to reconsider the ways our society currently functions. Cousins aptly makes her case – while in some ways the pandemic reinforced burgeoning inequalities, it also presented us the chance to apply collectivist values to solve systemic problems.
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.
Metiria Turei made welfare system reform a part of the conversation during the NZ election. Since her resignation, We Are Beneficiaries has continued that conversation, revealing the cruelty and judgment behind New Zealand’s social welfare system.
Government policy increasingly defines the limits of the right to privacy, excluding marginalised socio-economic groups from its protection.
Pia White looks back over media coverage of human rights during June, a month dominated by welfare, the environment and the ever-present issue of government handling of asylum seekers.
What does it say about Australia that 100,000 sleep rough every night? Tony Birch sheds some light on society’s invisible people.