Prisons are Covid-19 tinderboxes and now we have seen case numbers connected to prisons across NSW explode. You couldn’t get a more dangerous breeding ground for the virus - indoors, poor ventilation, lack of sanitation, overcrowded with little ability to physically distance.

For decades, women seeking abortion care in Australia have been targeted by anti-abortionists as they tried to walk to their doctor’s front door.

Recently, a report tabled in the Victorian Parliament by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission uncovered serious and systemic wrongdoing in Victorian prisons.

Sitting in the magistrates court in Canberra this week, I felt like I was watching a scene from Franz Kafka’s The Trial – the famous novel in which a man is arrested and prosecuted by a mysterious authority for an unknown crime.

Sitting in the magistrates court in Canberra this week, I felt like I was watching a scene from Franz Kafka’s The Trial – the famous novel in which a man is arrested and prosecuted by a mysterious authority for an unknown crime.

The prosecution of Bernard Collaery, which returns to the ACT Court of Appeal today, is about right and wrong. It was wrong for the Australian government to spy on our neighbour Timor-Leste for commercial gain.

According to the United Nations, World Press Freedom Day - marked today - is intended to serve "as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom."

Victoria’s bail laws are broken and need to be fixed.As the world marks International Women’s Day, which this year aims to challenge gender inequality, it is fitting to call out Victoria’s broken bail laws and the discriminatory impact they are having on women in our prison system.

It’s easy for many of us living in a country like Australia to take our human rights for granted. For most of us, most of the time, Australia is a great place to live.

As we reach the end of 2020, four individuals – Bernard Collaery, Witness K, David McBride and Richard Boyle – are being prosecuted by our government. These whistleblowers spoke up in the public interest, and now face the very real prospect of jail time. If we want to live in a transparent, accountable democracy, that should trouble us all.

Laws currently being considered by the Tasmanian government would allow the practice of routine strip-searching of kids to continue. If it’s the government’s intention to enact laws that protect kids, rather than cause them more harm, this opportunity to finally get the law right shouldn’t be squandered.

It’s clear there have been serious failures in Victoria’s hotel quarantine program and that infection control procedures must improve to protect the community. But what’s not been discussed enough is how quarantine needs to improve for the safety and welfare of the people being detained.