By Blair Morris. This article is part of our October theme on disability rights. To read more on this topic, click here. Medicating people with disabilities and elderly people is a contentious issue, particularly in situations that involve aggression. Some experts argue that medication can have a calming effect, and may help to “normalise” the individual. […]
By Holly Kendall. This article is part of our October theme on disability rights. To read more on this topic, click here. Disability isn’t something we like to think about. People with a disability have complex needs that society struggles to meet. There is no magic solution. Disability reminds us that we are vulnerable. Anyone of […]
By Sam Ryan I hadn’t planned to buy a copy of The No-Nonsense Guide to Human Rights when I attended the book’s launch at the Melbourne Writers Festival in September. The launch barely touched on the book, but the speeches, discussing a similar range of human rights issues, somehow inspired me to do so. My […]
By Vaughn Rogers The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the Declaration) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 13 September 2007. Australia, along with the United States, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, opposed the Declaration at the time of its adoption, but Australia subsequently endorsed it in April 2009. […]
By Natalie Sambhi. This piece is part of our September focus on Women’s Rights. See all of this month’s articles here. Of the Defence issues raised over the past 12 months, none has been more controversial than the government’s decision to lift a ban on gender discrimination in the military which means women are eligible to […]
Julie McKay is the Executive Director at UN Women Australia (formerly UNIFEM Australia) and advocates on significant global issues affecting women including political participation, leadership, pay equity, gender-based violence and social inequality. Right Now’s Chloé Potvin spoke with Julie McKay to discuss her perspectives on the current challenges facing women in Australia and the Pacific […]
By Holly Kendall. This piece is part of our September focus on Women’s Rights. See all of this month’s articles here. In 1983 Australia was one of the first countries to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This is to be expected of a liberal democracy that purports to uphold the […]
By Blue Mahy. On the 28 August 2012, the ‘No to Homophobia’ campaign, which aims to put an end to the harassment and discrimination of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) people, was officially launched by Victorian Mental Health Minister Mary Wooldridge at Victoria’s Parliament House. This campaign is the result of collaboration […]
By Lydia Jebakumar. This piece is part of our September focus on Women’s Rights. See all of this month’s articles here. “Oh my darling, you have to be stronger than razor wire. I try, Mum. I try.” “Detention is the deliberate policy of the Australian Parliament, repeatedly affirmed. In default of a constitutional basis for invalidation, it […]
By Dr Leslie Cannold. This piece is part of our September focus on Women’s Rights. See all of this month’s articles here. A number of years ago I joined with thousands of activists and concerned citizens to change abortion law in Victoria. After more than 143 years, and after a long political fight, the crime of […]
By Claire Varley. This piece is part of our September focus on Women’s Rights. See all of this month’s articles here. For almost two years I lived in a small village on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific. Here I worked with some of the most inspiring women in the world. Women like […]
Police accused of racial profiling Concerns are mounting over African and Muslim communities being unfairly targeted by police in street patrols. Tamar Hopkins, a lawyer from the Flemington and Kensington Legal Centre in Melbourne’s inner-west, says that the police may actually be breaking the law themselves if they are in fact racial profiling. Sydney based […]
