From safe within their national borders, Australians watch the calamity unfold on their screens – terror stricken families trying to save dying loved ones as the subcontinent’s hospital system collapses – desperately crowdsourcing medicine and oxygen cylinders.
In early March, then Minister of Home Affairs Peter Dutton signalled his intention to proscribe British Neo-Nazi group Sonnenkrieg Division (SKD), a terrorist organisation. This represented a significant, if contextually alarming, moment in Australian history.
With the support of One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson, the Federal Parliament has passed a bill that risks saturating the Federal Circuit Court and endangering the safety and welfare of families in critical need of expert attention, writes Gabrielle Ebeling.
While coercive control legislation would mark a monumental shift away from the violence model of abuse, which sensationalises discrete episodes of physical assault, the reality is that the laws are unlikely, in and of themselves, to serve victims’ needs and prevent future harm.
The NSW One Nation Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020, which is currently open for public comment, would deny children in our community the right to be seen, to be protected, and to be treated with integrity by schools and teachers.
On January 22 the possession and facilitation of nuclear weapons will be prohibited by international law, however, Australia has at every stage of the law’s process shown its unwillingness to create an anti-nuclear world.
Dr. Sangeetha Pillai writes about the story of Zaki Haidari and how he got caught up in Australia’s ‘legacy caseload’ legal limbo.
Angela Costi’s poem considers how the stories of newly arrived people can be undermined by legal definitions, how Australia’s migration law is designed to keep them in a state of ‘arrival’.
Chip Jones’ new book is a brilliantly researched exploration of a facet of the racial inequality that has long plagued the medical profession.
Based on the true story of a woman wrongfully detained in offshore detention, Stateless challenges our capacity for empathy.
This sidelining of human rights makes it easier to subordinate human rights as less important than economic interests, writes Lee Carnie.
Zara Gudnason reflects on the inadequacies of the system in protecting the most vulnerable and the tragedy that can occur when crucial services are under-resourced.
