Attention to Iran's nuclear status has overshadowed its human rights record. The UN has condemned Iran's treatment of Bahá'ís more than 56 times. Now the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief has made public her grave concerns for members of the Bahá'í faith in Iran. Opposition politician Jennie George has succeeded in […]
The Cuban hit song Guantánamera celebrates the women of the seaside town of Guantánamo. The lyrics speak of seeking refuge in the mountains in preference to the seashore. There are about 460 involuntary Guantánamero (men) who might echo that sentiment. That such a place as the US detainment camps at Guantánamo exists at all, when […]
Just yesterday I was writing about the powers of the Governor-General. Now the Queen's representative in Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery, has overturned laws passed in the ACT allowing same-sex civil unions (not quite marriage, but the closest thing we have in Australia so far). The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is a small region in […]
Australia is, I believe, the only country in the world to declare a public holiday in honour of a horse race. But at the least the Melbourne Cup is a home-grown event and the holiday actually falls on race day (the first Tuesday in November). Today is a public holiday known as the Queen's Birthday. […]
Treasurer Peter Costello urges Australians to have more children. He seems to think a bigger population would be a good thing for Australia. So why is his government pathologically averse to, one could say xenophobic towards, refugees? Australia has distinguished itself yet again by proposing refugee policy even more appalling than before. Having previously ‘excised’ […]
Conflicting rights claims are inevitable and it helps to have some fair, principled ways of sorting them out. A professor of law belonging to the Eualeyai and Kamillaroi nations, Larissa Behrendt cites the controversial case from the Northern Territory of Australia of a 55 year-old indigenous man convicted of raping a 14 year-old indigenous girl […]
A fine tradition of Australian parliamentary democracy — in addition to compulsory voting, long may it last — is the respect given to all prisoners' right to vote. Perhaps it is a consequence of (white) Australia's penal history that we don't regard prisoners as less than human. Whatever they may have done, adult prisoners should […]
Criminologist Don Weatherburn, Director of the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research in Sydney, argues persuasively for an evidence-based approach to crime prevention. Scientific research is not inerrant, but in the long run it is far superior to ideology, 'common sense' or subjective experience as a basis for sound public policy. Prison policy too should […]
Esteemed human rights barrister and judge Geoffrey Robertson QC has always been a hero of mine. (Strictly speaking, Fred Astaire was a hero of mine long before I'd heard of Robertson and his Hypotheticals. I was devastated when my mother told me that Astaire probably wouldn't be available for tap lessons, but Robertson has never […]
With the Australian media seized with a sudden interest in the complex social problems of some Aboriginal communities, politicians seeking solutions without consultation and the Prime Minister, John Howard, advocating a ‘law and order’ response, we see once again the impact of the law on indigenous youth: this time recognised at the highest international level […]
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