This article is part of our February theme, which focuses on one of the great silences in the human rights conversation in Australia: Prisoners’ Rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. In March 2012 it will be twenty-one years since the release of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The report found […]
This article is part of our February theme, which focuses on one of the great silences in the human rights conversation in Australia: Prisoners’ Rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. After several years’ involvement with the juvenile justice system in Victoria, my first contact with the adult prison system was in 1976 as […]
This article is part of our February theme, which focuses on one of the great silences in the human rights conversation in Australia: Prisoners’ Rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. This weekend we took our children to the Boggo Road markets in inner-south Brisbane. Most of those looking for vegies and curios seemed […]
In February we’ve been focusing on one of the great silences in the human rights conversation in Australia: Prisoners’ Rights. In his fantastic article, former ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope wonders why “prisoners are perhaps the last discrete group of human beings who are, in a general way, publically vilified, dehumanised and demonised within Australia […]
This article is part of our February theme, which focuses on one of the great silences in the human rights conversation in Australia: Prisoners’ Rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. Our first piece for our February theme, Prisoners’ Rights, is a moving audio work which reminds us of the humanity of those we […]
A free public forum held by a coalition of organisations, including the Federation of Community Legal Centres Victoria (FCLC), Flat Out, the Centre for the Human Rights of Imprisoned People (CHRIP), Inside Access, and Smart Justice, offered perspectives on Victoria’s prison system from diverse speakers. The forum took place in the wake of the Baillieu […]
[Editor’s note: For those interested in writing letters to asylum seekers in offshore processing, Julian Burnside has set up a new campaign. For instructions on how to take part, follow this link:http://www.julianburnside.com.au/letters2.htm] It was not so long ago that it was common to have a pen-pal. Remember receiving an envelope via snail mail stamped from a […]
Mark Holcroft’s fatal heart attack in a prisoner transport van on 27 August, 2009 highlights the widespread flaws and reluctance for reform in the Australian correctional system. The results of an inquest by NSW State Coroner Paul McMahon were released in August of this year, identifying multiple failures by NSW Correctional Services and making a […]
5 September 2011 In Moti v The Queen [2011] the High Court is currently examining whether the Australian Government was complicit in aiding the deportation of former Solomon Islands Attorney-General Julian Moti. Mr Moti, who holds Australian citizenship, was deported by the Solomon Islands Government in December, 2007 to face charges for alleged sexual assault. […]
A recent survey by the Sentencing Advisory Council has found that two thirds of respondents felt that judges are out of touch with society. In response, the Victorian Attorney-General has claimed that the survey is “further evidence that many Victorians are dissatisfied with the sentences that offenders receive”. The Victorian Government has conducted its own survey on sentencing […]
On Wednesday 20 July, the Monash University Alumni Speaker Series presented a panel entitled “Mission Accomplished? The death of Osama Bin Laden and what it means for global terrorism”. The panel was conducted from 6 pm to 8 pm at BMW Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne. Professor Greg Barton led the discussion, with panellists Associate Professor […]
Serco, the private contractor hired by the Australian government to run immigration detention facilities, has come under renewed criticism following reports claiming that refugees are receiving insufficient care. In early May, a fiery group of protestors lined the front of Serco’s headquarters in central Melbourne. The rally was the latest in a series of protests […]