Australia

ICC prosecutor says Australia’s offshore detention is ‘cruel, inhuman’

Feb 18, 2020 22:52

In a letter to the independent MP for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, the office of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor said conditions in the Australian-run camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island were dangerous and harsh, and an “environment rife with sporadic acts of physical and sexual violence committed by staff at the facilities.”
Australia's 'black summer' provides glimmer of hope for climate policy action

Feb 16, 2020 11:45

The issue of climate change has plagued leaders of Australia for the past decade, contributing to the downfall of at least three prime ministers. As the world’s biggest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas and one of the world’s biggest carbon emitters per person, Australia has also come under fire from global climate activists and the United Nations for not taking more responsibility to curb global warming.
High Court rules aboriginal Australians not ‘aliens’, cannot be deported

Feb 13, 2020 08:40

In a four-to-three split decision the Australian High Court ruled that Aboriginal people with sufficient connection to traditional societies cannot be aliens, giving them a special status in Australian Constitutional law likely to have ramifications far beyond existing native title law.
Will a devastating bushfire season change Australia’s climate stance?

Feb 12, 2020 20:12

The 2019–20 fire season in Australia has been unprecedented. To date, an estimated 18 million hectares of fire has cut swathes through the bush – an area greater than that of the average European country and over five times the size of blazes in the Amazon. This reflects previous predictions of Australian science.
Australia’s marine animals are the fires’ unseen victims

Feb 08, 2020 14:07

As wildfires ravage Australia’s land and forests, so far killing an estimated one billion terrestrial animals, researchers worry marine and freshwater species will become invisible victims.
While some battle to save Australia’s ecosystems, others blame gov’t for climate change denial

Jan 22, 2020 09:40

The annual Climate Change Performance Index ranks Australia as one of the poorest performing countries on global warming, the index scoring Australia’s climate policy as the worst of all countries in the world.
Australia’s fires show how wealth inequality compounds climate disasters

Jan 21, 2020 19:48

Australian authorities said in November that this season’s weather was similar to that of Black Saturday, with extreme heat and drought conditions. But this time, on the tail of the hottest and driest year on record in the country due to conditions created by the climate crisis, the fires have spread even further and burned even longer than they did a decade ago.
To manage fires, Australia must follow the lead of aboriginal communities

Jan 17, 2020 10:56

Historically, bushfires in Australia were a lot less common than they are today. Climate change is partially to blame. Temperatures have risen dramatically in Australia over the last century, causing more extreme droughts and unpredictable fire seasons.
How ancient knowledge can help Australians survive future bushfires

Jan 14, 2020 10:12

Much of northern Australia is owned and managed by Indigenous people, now in many parts by carefully and skillfully organized Indigenous ranger groups. Fire is, and always has been, part of the interwoven matrix of the relationships between people and the physical and spiritual world.
Bushfires are a catastrophe for Australia

Jan 05, 2020 11:29

As a society Australians should admit that their current policy, operational, knowledge-gathering and research capacity is inadequate to deal with such a new, fiery world.