A House is Just a Home
What is a house? What is a home? Ben and Tracey, once homeless, are now in possession of their own homes. But a home is just one tiny part of what they need, writes Carlynne Nunn.
Health – Page 7
Real change for Australia’s homeless requires more than good intentions
Currently before the senate, the Homelessness Bill 2013 is the result of Kevin Rudd’s 2008 promise to halve the number of homeless Australians by 2020. The bill recognises the multifaceted nature of homelessness, writes Stephanie Murphy, but are these empty words?
Policy Progress: How does Australia’s NDIS fare?
Coming into force this July, the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act continues to occupy a great deal of the media’s attention. With an emotive introduction to Parliament by Prime Minister Gillard and rare bi-partisan support, the question circling many Australian households is: what is the NDIS? Isabella Royce answers this question and others in her discussion of disability support schemes in Australia and the UK.
Australia and the Trans-Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is likely to become one of the world’s most significant free trade deals. But while Australia is one of the major parties, Australians could be excused for drawing a blank on the name. Stephanie Murphy discusses the regional agreement, internet freedom, big pharma and the perils of free-trade.
Getting into bed with AIDS
By Emmeline Tyler. This article is part of our April and May focus on Arts and Human Rights. “Who wants to get into bed with the Victorian AIDS Council? BalletLab does.” – Phillip Adams. Phillip Adams BalletLab is partnering with the Victorian AIDS Council/Gay Men’s Health Centre to create Kingdom, a multi-layered visual and dance performance […]
Human Rights and the Pacific Solution Mark II
By Benjamin Pynt. This article is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Introduction Under the offshore processing regime, better known as the Pacific Solution Mark II (PSII), some asylum seekers are transferred to Nauru and Manus Island, where they face problems such as endemic antibody-resistant malaria, unsafe drinking water and inadequate […]
Human rights and drug policy
By James Petty. The question of human rights in relation to coercive treatment for substance use is, unsurprisingly, complicated. The concept of “addiction” exists within a complex web of legal categories, medical science, social values and cultural practices, all of which work to colour the way we view these issues. In 2010 the Victorian parliament […]
Don’t Go Back To Where You Came From & Euthanasia IQ2 Debate – Mid-Week Review
Reviews by Sonia Nair and Jessica Szwarcbord. Multiculturalism and euthanasia are two hotly debated topics, and the subjects of our two reviews this week – Tim Soutphommasane’s book Don’t Go Back To Where You Came From, and the recent, fiery Intelligence Squared Debate on the question of euthanasia. Book: Do’t Go Back To Where You Came […]
Trading in Dangerous Weapons
By Dr Peter Wigg. I have recently returned to Melbourne after fifteen months on a reconstructive surgery program for victims of armed conflict in the Middle East. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), for whom I worked, has hired hospital and accommodation space in Amman in Jordan, and brings patients there on short-term visas from Iraq, Yemen, […]
Abortion Shaming: What the law does and doesn’t do
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 […]
A Beginner’s Guide to Abortion Law in Australia
By David Donaldson. This piece is part of our September focus on Women’s Rights. See all of this month’s articles here. Abortion law in Australia is up to the states; accordingly, state laws vary. Victoria and the ACT have the most liberal legislation on this issue, Queensland the strictest. Thankfully, the issue is not as polarising […]
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS, TAMIL ASYLUM SEEKER DEPORTED & DISABILITY INSURANCE: THE HUMAN RIGHTS WRAP UP
Government fails on child rights The Australian Human Rights Commission has found that Australia’s treatment of suspected people smugglers who said that they were children has breached international human rights law in a report released on Friday. The report An age of uncertainty reveal that between 2008 and 2011 Australian authorities gave little consideration to […]