Vacro Board Member and @humanrightshrlc.bsky.social associate legal director @moniquehurley.bsky.social called on the government to urgently invest in support services over political point-scoring “in an alarming race to the bottom”.

"Most of the cost of that phone call is paying a telco to do monitoring and surveillance...we don't think that's a cost that should be passed onto families." Vacro CEO Marius Smith updates ABC Radio National's Life Matters on our phone calls campaign:

In the absence of international action, people from around the world are embarking on flotillas aimed at breaking Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza. Governments should protect flotilla participants and press Israel to end its unlawful blockade of Gaza.

“There can be no true justice and accountability while police are permitted to investigate the actions of their colleagues in relation to complaints and deaths in police custody.” Maggie Munn and Monique Hurley on the aftermath of the Kumanjayi Walker inquest.

Victoria’s Indigenous people experienced ‘genocide’, truth-telling inquiry says

MEDIA RELEASE: Despite Government claims, Australia still exporting lethal arms to Israel acij.org.au/despite-gove...

Australia’s support for Israel’s ongoing illegal occupation and blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza must end. Read our full statement with @theacij.bsky.social: hrlc.org.au/news/statement-blockade-of-humanitarian-aid-gaza

UN urged to rule on Australia's 'racist' youth crime laws: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-01/un-urged-to-rule-on-australias-youth-crime-laws/105116196

Media Release: Urgent complaint made to the UN about Aboriginal children's incarceration Australia’s punitive laws are fuelling a mass incarceration crisis and violating the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Read more: www.hrlc.org.au/reports-news...

Bail saves lives, but the Allan Government is introducing dangerous and discriminatory bail laws. We stand with VALS and 93 Aboriginal, human rights, community and legal organisations in calling on the Allan Government to instead implement #PoccumsLaw. www.vals.org.au/granting-bai...

Media Release: Allan Government hands police excessive stop and search powers In the same week as pushing through discriminatory bail laws, the Allan Government has handed Victoria Police almost unlimited stop and search powers. Read more: www.hrlc.org.au/news/allan-g...

Imagine if – instead of spending $1.54 billion a year on prisons – the Victorian government built up the supports needed to help people avoid contact with the criminal legal system to begin with? rightnow.org.au/opinion/why-...

@moniquehurley.bsky.social and I on the media-manufactured crime panic in Victoria and why Premier Allan's reactionary bail changes will make communities less safe #bailsaveslives #poccumslaw rightnow.org.au/opinion/why-...

"Governments spend money on the things that matter to them (building prisons), and drag their feet about the things that seemingly do not (preventing torture in prisons)." Vacro board member @moniquehurley.bsky.social and Andreea Laschz in @overlandjournal.bsky.social:

"Governments spend money on the things that matter to them (building prisons), and drag their feet about the things that seemingly do not (preventing torture in prisons)." Monique Hurley and Andreea Lachsz on Australia's resistance to adopting the OPCAT.

New from our Board Member @moniquehurley.bsky.social and Andreea Laschz in the Australian Journal of Human Rights: whether the use of solitary confinement in Australian prisons amounts to torture, and the risk that perpetrators act with impunity.

Universities should be protecting the rights of staff and students to speak about, and protest, international atrocities in Palestine, rather than burying their heads in the sand with vague notions of ‘civility’. My piece in @sydmorningherald.bsky.social www.smh.com.au/national/syd...

I'm just an Australian-based human rights lawyer, standing in front @bsky.app, asking for all things police and prison abolition.