When it comes to significant shifts in culture, law and society are poised in an agonising “chicken or egg” scenario. Does the law change from above, trickling down to alter a culture? Or does a movement rise up, demand, fight, lobby for a change to which the law eventually concedes? It’s a dynamic relationship that doesn’t obey a strict rule of cause and effect.
Right Now looks at the major parties’ policies on five noteworthy human rights issues of this election. Today, marriage equality, asylum seekers and climate change.
By Angelica Neville. This article is part of our July 2013 focus on “Australia in the World”. Click here for more articles in this issue. Defence White Papers are produced to let the general public know what the Australian military finds scary or relevant in the current global situation. The most recent Defence White Paper, released […]
By Will Mooney. The concept of land rights is well entrenched in contemporary understandings of Indigenous people’s struggle for sovereignty and respect, but how many of us understand the importance of water rights to Aboriginal communities? In 2013, the International Year of Water Cooperation, it is vital that we address the exclusion of Indigenous needs […]
By Liz Jakimow. This article is part of our February 2013 focus on Religion and Human Rights. Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild […]
By Hsin-Yi Lo. This article is part of our August theme, which focuses on the environment and human rights. Read more articles on this theme. “All individuals are entitled to live in an environment adequate for their health and well-being“. Australia’s mining boom has attracted many local and international mining companies. International companies such as BHP Billiton, […]
By Liz Macpherson. This article is part of our August theme, which focuses on the environment and human rights. Read more articles on this theme. In August 2012 the Murray Darling Basin Authority released a third altered draft of its Proposed Basin Plan (Basin Plan). The Basin Plan was prepared by the Authority under the Water Act […]
By Katherine Grant. This article is part of our August theme, which focuses on the environment and human rights. Read more articles on this theme. Australia has long prided itself on its oceans; images of pristine beaches with white sand, clear water and tropical reefs have become iconic representations of life down-under around the globe. Despite the […]
By Emma Kerins. This article is part of our August theme, which focuses on the environment and human rights. Read more articles on this theme. In February of last year, environmental activist and icon Erin Brockovich arrived in Australia to further the cause of what she refers to as “environmental justice”. At the launch of her initiative, […]
By Jenna Gibbons. This article is part of our August theme, which focuses on the environment and human rights. Read more articles on this theme. Australia has the world’s largest resources of uranium, which we sell to 39 countries to power civilian nuclear energy reactors. As nuclear power becomes a more widely used clean energy alternative, a […]
In the past decade, the expansion of the coal seam gas (CSG) industry in Australia has been nothing short of momentous. In the Eastern states, where the growth has been concentrated, this progression has generated increasing social and environmental concerns. Uncertainty regarding the effect of coal seam gas extraction upon ground water aquifers, the full […]
By EDO. This article is part of our August theme, which focuses on the environment and human rights. Read more articles on this theme. Support is growing in international and comparative domestic law for the idea that existing human rights should be interpreted broadly, so that, in effect, they require the protection of the environment to ensure […]