Edition 134 • November 2017 No Images? Click here MARRIAGE EQUALITY / Australia said yes, now it's Parliament's turn After two long months, the result we'd waited and hoped for was finally announced. On 15 November, it was revealed that Australia overwhelmingly said 'yes' to marriage equality. Now that Australians have done our job, it's time for Parliament to do theirs and deliver a fair bill that delivers marriage equality for all. OPINION / We had the survey, we have a bill ready to go. Time for actionThe debate on the consensus cross-party same-sex marriage bill has resumed in the Senate. It is very clear that across the parliament our representatives have heard the overwhelming mandate delivered by the postal survey loudly and clearly. MARRIAGE EQUALITY / After the yes, what's next?Now that Australia's said yes, what's the next step towards marriage equality? Legislation has already been introduced in the Senate, read our explainer to find out all the details about the different marriage equality proposals on the table. MANUS ISLAND / Still nowhere safe to goLast week, PNG armed forces stormed the Manus Island regional processing centre again, with reports of people being beaten. The men left there were forced to move to accommodation that two days earlier the UN had found was unsafe and unready. REFUGEE POLICY / Putting lives at riskIn the midst of the ongoing crisis on Manus, the UN's top expert on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions chastised Australia’s controversial turn-back policy, saying it "may intentionally put lives at risk". ROYAL COMMISSION / Enough talking. It's time for action.After 12 months of hearing evidence from children and experts, the NT Royal Commission has handed governments across Australia a road-map for fixing our broken youth justice systems. Now they just need to implement it. OPINION / A moment of reckoningAustralia won't close the dark chapter of Don Dale until we hold governments to account for fixing broken youth justice systems. The only thing more horrifying than the abuse of children in youth jails would be if we did nothing meaningful about it. ROYAL COMMISSION / Raise the age of criminal responsibilityThe Royal Commission said unequivocally that primary school-aged children should be supported in the community, not locked into prisons. Doctors, lawyers, and experts have united to call for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised. REFUGEE RIGHTS / Global award recognises our impact, and our Government’s cruelty Last week, Daniel Webb was in Ottawa, Canada, to receive the inaugural Global Pluralism Award for the HRLC's work defending the rights of refugees and people seeking asylum. While the award recognises the impact we've achieved, it also highlights the gravity of the injustice we must continue to fight against. UN / Australia's racism under the global spotlightThis week, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination will review Australia's efforts to combat racism. Given our treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, culturally diverse communities, and people seeking asylum, we can expect some tough questions. UN / Australia faces questioning over racist remote work for the dole programOvernight, the UN expert committee on racial discrimination issued a 'please explain' to the Australian Government, asking how it will eliminate racial discrimination in the remote ‘work for the dole’ program imposed on remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS / When accountability mechanisms fail, injustices flourishAustralian companies need to be held to account for human rights abuses they commit overseas, but Australia’s complaints system is woefully inadequate and in desperate need of reform. OPINION / The meaning of YES… and NOAustralians said 'yes'. The 61.6% 'yes' margin revealed this month was bigger than any federal election winner’s 2PP vote. This emphatic success is a cause for great celebration. But what happens next? What does it mean? BLACK LIVES MATTER / Awarded the Sydney Peace PrizeThis year the annual Sydney Peace Prize was awarded to Black Lives Matter, the first time the award has been given to a movement. While in Australia, the founders met Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders. INTRODUCING / Hannah RyanHannah Ryan has joined the team as a lawyer, working on democratic freedoms from the Sydney office. Hannah studied democratic freedoms and civil liberties as a Fulbright Scholar and Frank Knox Memorial Fellow at Harvard University. AUSTRALIAN CASE SUMMARIESWA Court of Appeal quashes manslaughter conviction in spite of guilty pleaGibson v State of WA [2017] WASCA 141 (28 July 2017) Australian High Court finds five parliamentarians incapable of being elected on the basis of foreign citizenshipsRe Roberts [2017] HCA 39 (22 September 2017), Re Canavan; Re Ludlam; Re Waters; Re Roberts [No 2]; Re Joyce; Re Nash; Re Xenophon [2017] HCA 45 (27 October 2017) and Re Barrow [2017] HCA 47 (7 November 2017) INTERNATIONAL CASE SUMMARIESThe Charlie Gard case: UK High Court rules against experimental medical treatment for a terminally ill childGreat Ormond Street Hospital v Yates [2017] EWHC 1909 (Fam) (24 July 2017) UK High Court rejects challenge to prohibition on assisted dyingR (on the application of Noel Conway) v The Secretary of State for Justice [2017] EWHC 2447 (Admin) (5 October 2017) NOTICE BOARDJOB / Executive Director, Community Legal Centres NSWCommunity Legal Centres NSW are looking for an Executive Director to lead the organisation into the next stage and increase access to justice for the people of NSW. JOB / Legal Network Coordinator, Asylum Seeker Resource CentreThe Asylum Seeker Resource Centre is looking for a Legal Network Coordinator to develop and coordinate referral systems and build the foundation for a supported and effective network of practitioners. JOB / Lawyer, North Australian Aboriginal Justice AgencyThe North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency are looking for a Lawyer to join their Civil Law Section in Darwin. EVENT / HRW Human Rights DayJoin Human Rights Watch at the Museum of Contemporary Art, as they recognise the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and their commitment to protect and defend human rights worldwide. HRLC IN THE MEDIA NT Royal CommissionSenior Lawyer, Shahleena Musk, joined Warren Mundine, Jacinta Price, and Allan Clarke on the ABC's The Drum to discuss the recommendations of the NT Royal Commission the day they were released. Hiding the horrors of offshore detentionAward-winning Australian human rights lawyer Daniel Webb says there has been a "deliberate" ploy on both sides of politics to "numb the public into submission" and hide the horrors of offshore detention from their view. UN slams marriage equality postal surveyAustralia is drawing international attention for all the wrong reasons, Anna Brown tells News.com.au, after the UN Human Rights Committee criticised the Government's unnecessary and divisive public opinion poll. Bring them here, says the UNManus is on a knife edge, and Australia is responsible for the people left there. Instead of bringing them to safety, our government is trying to force them back to persecution or shuffling from one dead-end camp to another, Hugh de Kretser tells the Guardian. |