10 April 2025

Federal election: Time to hold MPs accountable for stance on genocide

Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, and now its seizing of their land is the worst example of genocide since the horrors of the genocides of Darfur in Sudan in 2003 and Rwanda in the 1990s.

12 March 2025

No apologies over fabricated terror plot from pollies or lobby groups

When it comes to antisemitism, politicians in this country are often quick to jump on the claim without waiting for evidence. With notable and laudable exceptions like the Greens and independents such as Tasmanian federal MP Andrew Wilkie, it seems any allegation will do when it comes to the opportunity to imply Arab Australians, the Muslim community and Palestinian supporters are trying to destroy the lives of the Jewish community.

11 February 2025

Australia's silence on Trump's ICC sanctions is nothing but shameful

Last Friday 79 nations signed a statement condemning the announcement 24 hours earlier by genocide enabler US President Donald Trump, that he was imposing sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court because they had issued a warrant for the arrest of architect of genocide of the Palestinian people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

8 February 2025

The Genocide Red Line Package – a litmus test for our legislature

In the period since 7 October 2023, serious questions have arisen as to whether the Australian Government is properly discharging its obligations under international law in light of Israel’s devastation of Gaza, invasion of Lebanon and the escalation of settler violence in the illegally occupied West Bank. In November 2024, Senators Lidia Thorpe and Fatima Payman introduced a package of 3 bills — the Genocide Red Line Package — aiming to require compliance by Australia with its international law obligations in relation to genocide, serious breaches of international law and illegal settlements in occupied Palestine.

18 January 2025

Canada and Australia's federal elections

Not for the first time the political landscapes in Australia and Canada are worthy of comparison. This year both nations are holding elections and the opposition parties, the Conservatives in Canada and the Liberals in Australia, are led by right wing populists.

17 January 2025

Another victim of the United States’ obsessive anti-China strategy

The law and politics can be callous. And it certainly has been in the case of 56-year-old Dan Duggan, a former US Marines pilot, now an Australian citizen. Five days before Christmas the federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced Mr Duggan would be extradited to the United States to face charges relating to allegations, vehemently denied by Mr Duggan, that he breached arms trafficking laws and engaged in money laundering and conspiracy offences, by training Chinese pilots in South Africa between 2010 and 2012. On Tuesday, Mr Duggan's family announced it was appealing Mr Dreyfus' decision.

9 January 2025

Dreyfus' trip to Israel makes a mockery of Labor's foreign policy

The role of the attorney-general in Australia, even in these partisan times, is to uphold the rule of law, as the former Chief Justice Sir Anthony Mason said. So how can it be in any way compatible with that duty for Mark Dreyfus, the current holder of the office, to head to Israel and meet with a government that is committing genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity?

9 December 2024

Synagogue attack: The unashamed trashing of the rule of law by news outlets

The attack last week on a Melbourne synagogue is undoubtedly a criminal offence. But according to the News Limited media outlets, many in the Jewish community and the broader pro Israel movement, and now the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, it was an act of terrorism.

26 October 2024

“Systemic criminality”: The reality of Israel’s destruction of Gaza

“Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” That is from the Facebook page of the deputy commander of Israel’s 749 Combat Engineering Battalion (the 749) Lieutenant Colonel Adi Bekore. Did he mean it? It seems, tragically for those Palestinians now deceased and those who have had their lives destroyed, and for humanity generally, he did.

9 October 2024

Equality under the law: the differing treatment of Hezbollah and Israel in Australia

Last week the federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was asked by a journalist about the process for making Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based political and militant group, a ‘proscribed terrorist organisation’. As is usually the case for a politician caught out because they don’t know the answer, he became aggressive and sought to belittle the journalist.

2 October 2024

Tasmanian Holocaust Centre must reflect the horror of genocide in Palestine

In the past 5 years both the Morrison and Albanese governments have provided funding to enable each state and territory to build, or expand on an existing, Holocaust museums or education centres. The Tasmanian government announced last year it had secured $2m in Commonwealth funding to build a centre at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart.

19 September 2024

UN Palestine vote: Australia shows it lacks a backbone

Why is it that successive Australian Governments cannot bring themselves to call out Israel for what it is? A state that constantly ignores international law, most recently in the current Gaza conflict where there can be no doubt that war crimes have been, and are being committed against the Palestinian population. What Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinians is genocide on any definition.

17 July 2024

Israel lobby’s attack on Kostakidis threatens everyone’s right to free speech

Mary Kostakidis is one of Australia’s finest journalists, but more than that, she also resolutely stands against oppression and injustice.

2 July 2024

Assange - the aftermath

On March 12 last year, former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr summed up why the Americans were determined to send the now free Julian Assange to a maximum security jail for over 170 years.

21 June 2024

Protecting our citizens from complicity in Israel’s war crimes

Earlier this year we co-authored two op-eds on this site (“The prosecution of Australians complicit in Israel’s crimes in Gaza” (29 February 2024); “Australians at risk if they serve in the IDF” (19 January 2024)) concerning the legal issues that are raised by Australians travelling to Israel to fight with the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).

22 May 2024

US in high-risk legal gamble as court grants Assange leave to appeal extradition

The US is playing a high-risk legal game in refusing to fold its tent and walk away from the prosecution of Australian citizen Julian Assange for exposing US war crimes.

16 May 2024

Over 700 Australian lawyers call for the Australian government to take immediate action to ensure a lasting peace in the Middle East and uphold international law

In another significant show of solidarity by the Australian legal profession, more than 700 Australian lawyers (including practising barristers and solicitors, legal academics and law students) have signed a further letter to the Australian Government calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

15 May 2024

A public interest defence must protect whistleblowers like David McBride

The jailing of military whistleblower David McBride, who exposed alleged war crimes by Australian troops in Afghanistan, for 5 years and 8 months by the ACT Supreme Court shines a light on a number of issues and one of them requires urgent consideration. The need for a public interest defence to protect individuals like McBride.

7 May 2024

Australian politicians lock more people up, for longer

Criminal justice is an area of public policy where the disconnect between evidence based solutions and political responses is depressingly wide. And it is getting worse as both the ALP and the conservative parties respond to what is fast becoming saturation media about, in particular, family or domestic violence and youth crime.

1 May 2024

The Albanese government needs to come clean on its support for Israel's war crimes

Israel’s crimes against humanity, war crimes and its acts of genocide against the Palestinian people are, without a doubt, the most horrific acts committed by a ‘democracy’ since the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. Yet despite this fact the Australian government refuses to warn or investigate whether any Australian citizens or companies are involved directly or indirectly, in the commission of these atrocities.

29 February 2024

Traitors in our midst: Australias foreign interference laws are a political ruse

Leaving aside the issue of whether ASIOs announcement that there is a traitor in our midst is simply a ploy to get more funds in this years Federal Budget (something you can never rule out) why hasnt ASIO and other security and law enforcement agencies in this country pursued the two greatest practitioners of so called foreign influence - the United States followed by Israel?

28 February 2024

The prosecution of Australians complicit in Israels crimes in Gaza

There has been much talk about nations and corporations being complicit in the war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide being committed by Israel in the wake of Hamas horrific attacks on October 7. Much of this discussion, and in fact action, has been taken in the context of governments approving the export of arms and other military supplies to the Israeli military.

18 February 2024

Critical week: Torture, US jail, awaits Julian Assange - act now

In terms of significant dates and milestones in the long running pursuit by the US of publisher and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, this coming week ranks highly. On Tuesday and Wednesday this week a hearing before two judges in the UKs High Court will hear Assanges final bid to appeal against extradition to the United States.

18 January 2024

Australians at risk if they serve in the IDF

Australian citizens are at risk of being prosecuted under Australian law if they commit, or are complicit in crimes being perpetrated by the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza.

13 December 2023

Belmarsh tribunal urges Biden to drop Assange charges

Another year passes and Australian citizen, journalist and publisher, Julian Assange is still detained in the UK as the US continues its pursuit of extradition for publishing material over a decade ago which revealed war crimes committed by the US and its allies in Afghanistan and Iraq. The US blatant attack on freedom of speech and freedom of the press which the Assange case represents allows for other nations such as China and Russia which are routinely criticised by Washington and other democratic nations like Australia for their jailing of journalists, to label it a case of the pot calling...

8 November 2023

Legal case set to expose Australias facilitation of war crimes

Is the Albanese government aiding and abetting the Israeli military and intelligence services in actions in Gaza which are serious violations of international human rights laws?

23 October 2023

For Washington, the US-Australia alliance counts for less than nothing

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will have plenty to talk about when he meets with US President Joe Biden this week. The Middle East, China, AUKUS and submarines will no doubt dominate the agenda. But there is one matter in respect of which Mr Albanese should insist on a quick resolution. That is the case of Australian publisher and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

10 October 2023

Selective enforcer: ICC must warn Israel on crimes against humanity

The International Criminal Court (ICC) faces a test of its credibility in how it monitors and deals with the conduct of Israel as it strikes back against the horrific attacks committed by Hamas.

26 September 2023

Amidst the shattered remnants of an impartial public service

Will the Mike Pezzullo case be a line in the sand?

29 August 2023

Toothless tiger: Human Rights Committee sits helplessly on the sidelines

In 2009, after receiving a report from prominent Catholic priest Frank Brennan which recommended it, the Rudd Labor government abandoned the quest for a national human rights act. Instead it established a parliamentary human rights committee which came into operation in 2011. But, as one might expect, this committee was dead on arrival. It is a toothless tiger with no capacity to hold governments to account for human rights. It has sat helplessly on the sidelines while governments and parliaments have continued to undermine fundamental rights in this nation.

9 August 2023

Israel and Australian law on sanctions. Will we act?

The imposition of sanctions on Israel by the Australian government is a logical step now that Foreign Minister Penny Wong has finally bowed to the inevitable in calling Israels West Bank settlements illegal. As Wong told the federal party caucus yesterday, it was time to strengthen the government's objection to settlements by affirming that they are illegal under international law and a significant obstacle to peace.

28 July 2023

Attorney-General Symes must uphold integrity of Victorian justice system

The Lawyer X scandal is one of the most outrageous examples of the undermining of the rule of law in Australian legal history. What is at stake here is nothing short of confidence in the legal system in Victoria. The Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes must step up and ensure the integrity of justice in her state is upheld.

29 June 2023

Victoria and Lawyer X

There is something deeply troubling about a democracy when its police are able to get away with acting with complete disregard for the rule of law by adopting an ends justifies the means approach.

4 May 2023

Attorney-Generals criminalising 13 year olds is a national disgrace

The lethargy in lifting the age of criminal responsibility in Australia from 10 to 14 is scandalous given the numbers of vulnerable children caught up in the brutality of the criminal justice system daily.

20 March 2023

The International Criminal Court's hypocrisy on Putin

The International Criminal Courts conduct in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, characterised by unusual alacrity for an international legal institution, is in stark contrast to the feet dragging on alleged war crimes by Israel against the Palestinians in 2014.

10 March 2023

Who are the gang of five pushing Australia to war?

The Age and Sydney Morning Herald have failed to publish, except in the most cursory sense, the current or recent past associations of their gang of five experts who apparently believe Australia could be at war with China in as little as three years.

10 December 2022

The crisis in youth justice?

If ever we need a federal government to intervene in a human rights crisis in this nation, then it is now. There are almost daily headlines about the appalling abuse of children in detention centres and the preparedness of state governments, and the Northern Territory to cynically and callously play the law and order card at the expense of some of the most vulnerable members of our community.

6 September 2022

Justice Kelly's speech on racism - a response

Northern Territory Supreme Court Justice Judith Kelly's widely publicised speech on August 26th delivered to a Womens Lawyers function in Darwin and which covered racism and family violence in Indigenous communities, delivered to a Women Lawyers, needs a response.

30 August 2022

Children and the justice system

Only five years after the landmark Royal Commission on Institutional Abuse exposed the shocking abuse of children and young people across this nation over decades, one is tempted to say plus a change.

19 June 2022

Greg Barns: Julian Assange and the Albanese Government - Enough is enough!

Now is the time to end a dangerous threat to basic freedoms and the rule of law. The Albanese government has a critical role to play in ensuring that outcome.

24 May 2022

Time for change - the Attorney General and the AAT

Just before erstwhile Prime Minister Scott Morrison called Saturday's election Senator Cash shamelessly appointed a number of Liberal and government members and staffers to the AAT where they will earn between around $190,000 to $380,000 a year. There was no attempt to hide this stacking of this quasi judicial body.

30 April 2022

If I were the Attorney General in the next government I would have three priorities

Is it too much to hope that after the May 21 election we see an AG who energetically pursues three priority initiatives; A treaty with Indigenous Australia and a republic, a national human rights charter, and a substantial reduction in the cost of justice.

4 April 2022

The new republic model

There were two major reasons the 1999 Republic Referendum, (I ran the Yes case for Malcolm Turnbull and the Australian Republican Movement (ARM)), disappointed those Australians who believe the head of state should by one of us.

25 March 2022

A refugee deal with NZ after nine years of cruelty

The sickening cynicism of the Morrison government is never far from view.

11 December 2021

Australian government must intervene on Julian Assange's behalf

When Australia allows the US's pursuit of Julian Assange to continue, it tells Australians that it does not care about a free press.

23 November 2021

With campaigns against pandemic mandates the need for a human rights act has never been greater

After a pandemic response that required incursions on some human rights, the threat of governments expanding these powers further is high.

28 October 2021

The US's assurances on Assange are worthless

Despite the pledge by US lawyers that the WikiLeaks founder could serve his sentence here, Julian Assange could still languish for years in a US prison.

26 October 2021

US continues pursuit of Assange, and Canberra neglects its moral obligation to protect him

Surely the Australian government should leverage the AUKUS pact to save Julian Assange from the US government.

6 October 2021

The plot to murder Julian Assange is being ignored by the mainstream media

The US government reportedly planned to kidnap and murder Julian Assange. And yet the Australian commentariat and media are silent. Why?