They're not mutually exclusive. The west/USA isn't some bastion of LGBT rights, and using us as a cudgel against the enemies of the empire helps noone.
We're a pretty robust little queer/commie group on independent social media. What does it mean?
why, is there a transphobe in this community?
they're heartless so it's fine
Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in a blast in the southern Gaza Strip, the military says, as its forces continue to push into the city of Rafah, with strikes in several areas of Gaza killing at least 19 Palestinians, residents and medics say.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli soldiers were in an armoured carrier that detonated on Saturday while carrying combat engineering materials, apparently in contravention of standard practice.
oh well that's alright then
just-in-time artillery
a captive bolt gun, apparently. Your doohickey made me think of it
New details have emerged about a group detained on Nauru, including reports of self-harm and a minor among the 11 arrivals
>A 17-year-old boy is among a group detained inside the regional processing centre on the remote pacific island of Nauru. > >He is one of 11 people, all Tamil speakers, who were taken to Nauru on September 7 under the offshore processing system set up by Australia. > >These are the first people transferred to Nauru since 2014. > >One of the adult men in the group made a serious self-harm attempt last week, the ABC has learned. > >The teenager's mother is also in the group. > >The Department of Home Affairs declined to provide details of the cohort, due to privacy reasons. > >"The Government of Nauru is responsible for the implementation of regional processing arrangements in Nauru, including the management of individuals under those arrangements," a spokesperson said. > >A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neill also declined to comment and referred the ABC to what officials from the department said at Senate estimates this week. > >Government officials confirmed at Estimates that the group had been intercepted and transferred to Nauru, but would not reveal their country of origin. > >Rear Admiral Justin Jones, commander of Operation Sovereign Borders, told Estimates the boat was not turned back because "in this case, we were not able to safely or lawfully conduct a turn-back or a take-back". > >"Therefore, those personnel have been transferred to Nauru for regional processing by the government of Nauru, in accordance with longstanding Operation Sovereign Borders policies," he said. > >Ogy Simic, director of advocacy at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said the organisation had not been able to establish any contact with the people recently sent to Nauru. > >"We are urgently seeking to establish if they are receiving independent legal support, health, and support services," Simic said. > >In recent years, the Nauru Processing Centre has been wound back, as refugees and asylum seekers held on the island were resettled in other countries or brought to Australia. > >In 2021, the Australian government signed a new "enduring regional processing capability" with the Republic of Nauru. Asylum seekers sent to the island nation by Australia are to be managed by the government of Nauru, which continues to host the processing centre. > >Australia continues to play a role in the processing centre. Private prison operator MTC won the Australian government's $350 million contract to run garrison services at the largely-empty centre until September 2025. > >By July 2023, only two men who arrived since the centre was last reopened in 2012 remained on the island.
A law firm in Sydney writes a letter of demand to federal ministers, warning the government may have breached the Racial Discrimination Act by "failing to uphold the human rights" of Australians trapped in Gaza.
>Lawyers acting on behalf of Palestinian Australians are threatening legal action against the prime minister and other senior members of the federal government, arguing they have provided "encouragement and moral support" for alleged crimes by Israel. >>Key points: > >- A Sydney law firm says the government may have breached the Racial Discrimination Act in its response to the Israel-Gaza conflict >- The firm demands the government condemn alleged breaches of international law, and call for a ceasefire >- Israel's ambassador to Australia says Israel has complied with international law > >Sydney-based law firm Birchgrove Legal has sent a letter of demand to Anthony Albanese, saying his government "appears to have contravened domestic and international law" over its position on Israel and has issued seven demands to prevent the continuation of legal action. > >The firm said it was also considering whether ministers had breached Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act by "failing to uphold the human rights" of Australians who remain trapped in Gaza, as well as by "inducing, encouraging and authorising an environment of vilification, hate crimes and hate incidents" against Palestinian and Arab-Australians. > >More than 5,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its unrelenting bombing campaign following Hamas' October 7 terror attack on Israel more than two weeks ago, according to health officials in Gaza. > >Israel's response – which has included a blockade on food, water, and fuel into Gaza – has been condemned by human rights groups and the United Nations, which said it amounts to "collective punishment", a war crime under international law. > >Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon defended Israel's actions as "in line and in full compliance with international law". > >Birchgrove Legal said it was considering whether Australia's support for Israel, including remarks made by senior ministers, amounted to "complicity in genocide and other crimes". > >The letter listed the Australian government's "failure to condemn dangerous rhetoric" emanating from Israel, the sale of weapons to Israel, and "historic advocacy on behalf of Israel to hinder [International Criminal Court] investigations into war crimes allegedly committed by Israel and Hamas" as their key concerns. > >It said Australia's longstanding support for Israel has contributed to "an environment of lawlessness in that conflict where there is an extreme imbalance in military and political power in favour of Israel". > >The firm also pointed to military technology contracts with Israel and support for dual Australian-Israeli nationals to travel overseas to "participate in a reasonably foreseeable genocide" as other examples of Australia's complicity. > >"The Australian government should be aware that international criminal tribunals have previously examined the responsibility of those who have substantially contributed to a crime by providing encouragement and moral support to the perpetrators, and where the perpetrator is aware of this support," the letter said. > >"Immediate action must be taken to ensure that Australian government policy towards the unfolding catastrophe in Gaza complies with international law and places the core humanitarian principles of proportionality, distinction, precaution and humanity at its heart. > >"The genocide convention not only highlights the imperative of preventing or stopping an ongoing genocide, it also makes clear that inaction by states party to the treaty, including the third states, engages criminal complicity in genocide itself." > >The letter refers to public comments made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil between October 7 and October 16. > >It includes itemised interviews and statements from Israeli officials, which it said, "constitute direct incitement to commit genocide" including remarks by Israeli politician Ariel Kallner who on October 8 said, "Right now, one goal, Nakba" — a reference to the mass expulsion of Palestinians in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. > >The 32-page letter also includes a chronological list of interviews and remarks by Australian government members, which it said demonstrate Australia's intention to provide "unconditional support to Israel regardless of what international crimes" may be committed. > >One example it refers to is Mr Albanese's statement that, "We will stand with Israel, we always will", on October 10. Frustration at government response to Australians trapped in Gaza > >Ms Wong this week called for a "humanitarian pause on hostilities" to allow essential and emergency supplies to reach civilians. > >"The way Israel exercises its right to defend itself matters. It matters to civilians throughout the region, and it matters to Israel's ongoing security," she said in a statement on Wednesday, 18 days after Israel began its bombardment of Gaza. > >"Innocent Palestinian civilians should not suffer because of the outrages perpetrated by Hamas." > >Two federal government ministers have said that civilians in Gaza are being subjected to collective punishment, however, other members of the government have refused to use the same language. > >The law firm said to prevent further legal action the prime minister should issue a statement condemning alleged Israeli breaches of international law, ask ministers to rescind their public statements, call for a ceasefire and encourage accountability through the International Criminal Court.
The government says harsh conditions in WA juvenile detention are necessary to keep detainees and the community safe. But so far it's failing on both fronts and now a teenager has paid with his life, writes state political reporter Keane Bourke.
>They're counting on you not noticing, or maybe more accurately, not caring. > >But alone in his room in the early hours of last Thursday morning, a teenage boy seems to have made the tragic decision to end his own life. > >He was apparently found not long after, and managed to be resuscitated before he was rushed to hospital. > >Machines kept him alive as dozens of relatives from across the state rushed to be by his side. > >But despite the efforts of all involved, Cleveland Dodd's short life came to an end on Thursday night, just 16 years after it began. > >He'll never get married, have children, or know what it's like to grow up. > >It's unfortunately not an uncommon story, but this time it was different. > >The boy was not in his own room, in a safe and loving home. > >He was in a cold, hard, prison cell, under the care of the government inside a maximum-security adult prison unit which, in a move of desperation, had been turned into a place to house young people. > >The government promised it was to keep them safe. They promised keeping them there would make the community safer. But on that night, those promises were broken in the worst way possible. >>Writing on the wall > >The worst part? This situation should not be seen as a surprise. > >The government had all the information it needed to see what was coming, just like the opposition knew it was coming. Just like everyone involved in youth justice knew it was coming if things didn't change. > >The only questions were when it would happen and who would pay the ultimate price. Now we have an answer to both. > >Since Unit 18 opened last year, there have been at least 20 attempted suicides within its walls. > >Over the same period, there were 22 suicide attempts at Banksia Hill, despite it housing around four times as many young people. > >The detainees being kept in there were clearly struggling more than those in Banksia Hill. >>Detainees feel 'trapped and alone' > >Those sent to Unit 18 have spent far less time out of their cells than those at Banksia Hill – with obvious consequences. >>Justice Department officials appear before a Parliamentary Committee > >The independent Inspector of Custodial Services has frequently raised concerns, and earlier this year highlighted the "correlation between extended time spent in cell and incidents of self-harm". > >"It makes me feel suicidal and I'm always depressed and I stress out a lot," one detainee said. > >"I feel trapped and alone. I get really sad and depressed because all they give us is a TV and I don't like watching TV," another told the Inspector. > >The sad state of affairs within WA's youth detention system received dedicated examination in the Disability Royal Commission. >>'Like hell on earth' > >The Children's Court, which has a front row seat to the situation, continues to deplore the experience of detainees in Unit 18 as "barbaric" and "like hell on earth". Banksia Hill detainees unlawfully detained > >The Supreme Court of Western Australia finds three young detainees were subjected to "solitary confinement on a frequent basis". > >"It is one of prolonged systemic dehumanisation and deprivation, with no rehabilitative element or effect," President Hylton Quail said while sentencing one boy earlier this month. > >In the lead up to that sentencing, the boy had spent 38 out of 40 days locked in his cell for 22 hours or more – an experience President Quail said amounted to solitary confinement. > >The Supreme Court has twice ruled on how horrific conditions in youth detention have been and the harm it's doing to the young people who get trapped in its cycle. > >"It has the capacity to cause immeasurable and lasting damage to an already psychologically vulnerable group," Justice Paul Tottle said earlier this year. >>Concerns fell on deaf ears > >The Aboriginal Legal Service has sent dozens upon dozens of letters of complaint to the government, highlighting the concerns it hears from its clients about everything from sexually inappropriate behaviour to excessive use of force and the terrible effects of prolonged lockdowns. > >Many have gone unanswered as the situation worsened. > >And if all of those warnings weren't enough to show exactly what direction the sad state of affairs in detention was heading in, the government was warned specifically about the boy who has now lost his life, Cleveland Dodd. > >Two weeks before he was found unresponsive in his cell, his lawyer wrote to one of the people tasked with protecting him: Deputy Commissioner for Children and Young People, Christine Ginbey. > >It highlighted how Cleveland was lucky to get more than one hour out of his cell every day and had taken to sleeping through the day rather than endure the torment of being locked in a tiny box with little to do. > >It requested he urgently be transferred back to Banksia Hill for his own wellbeing. > >And yet nothing was done. He remained in that cell until he decided to end his life. > >"There's nothing in that letter that was new," Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia said in response. >>Boy put in 'too hard basket' > >Through their grief, Cleveland's grandmothers shared their story in the hopes it might bring about some change for those who come after him. > >They described how he just wanted to return home, and their feeling that he was put in the "too hard basket" by those meant to keep him safe. > >There are many who, with good reason, see Unit 18 as a "too hard basket" for a group of detainees the government consistently labels complex, dangerous and difficult – as if that's any consolation for the conditions it keeps them in. > >Beneath the government's response to the unprecedented death of a child in its care, some might see a suggestion of inevitability. > >"The cohort at Unit 18 … self-harm often, assault other people, assault staff, other detainees, are disruptive. That is the nature of the cohort that is there," Mr Papalia also said on Monday. > >"What we have to do is keep them safe but also try and make it better and get them out of their cell more frequently." >>Lack of detail around plan to fix Unit 18 > >But in the four months he's been in the job, detainees have been spending less time out of their cells, which the government has promised to fix by adding more prison guards to the facility. > >Repeatedly both Mr Papalia and his department were asked over the last week what else they had done to improve conditions at Unit 18. > >Time and time again they deflected, or just promised "improvements" were being made without providing much more detail. > >On Tuesday, Premier Roger Cook pointed to "significant upgrades" to keep detainees safe, and plans to have more youth custodial officers and prison officers at the facility. > >On Friday, Mr Papalia added a team of 14 specialists who have recently started visiting both Banksia Hill and Unit 18. > >But that does little to change what's happening there now. The same thing that's been happening for months: teenagers spending more time in their cells, with limited access to fresh air, exercise and even phone calls with family. > >"If you locked up a dog in a cage for 20 hours a day, the RSPCA will turn up at your house and remove it," Jacqueline McGowan-Jones told ABC Radio Perth last week. > >"But we think it's reasonable to lock troubled, traumatised young people into a cell for 20 hours a day and … expect that their behaviour will improve, and … expect that they won't suffer mental health issues." > >Cleveland's death prompted more promising responses from the premier and the minister on Friday. > >"Can I just say I want to see Unit 18 shut down," Premier Roger Cook said. > >The man in charge of making that happen, Mr Papalia, said he was committed to "the urgent improvement of Unit 18" and wasn't ruling anything in or out. > >Strong sentiments, which demand strong follow up — but whatever changes come about won't be soon enough for Cleveland. > >Those who have been close to this issue for years say the problem lies less with political will and more within the Department of Justice itself. But regardless, both shoulder some responsibility for what has happened. >>Improved conditions at Banksia have come at huge cost > >Nobody is doubting the complexity of the task the government faces. > >These are genuinely some of the state's most vulnerable, troubled, traumatised and complex children, who need all the help they can get if they are to have any hope of turning their lives around.
>If you or anyone you know needs help: > >- Lifeline on 13 11 14 >- Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800 >- Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 >- Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 >- Headspace on 1800 650 890 >- ReachOut at au.reachout.com
>But they largely aren't getting that help, or at least they haven't been for some time. > >They haven't been educated, rehabilitated or even treated. Just detained and isolated in ways the government's critics argue is making their situation even worse, and their prospects of recovery even more remote. > >Conditions have been improving in Banksia Hill over recent months. The progress has been significant and that should be acknowledged. > >But it's come at a cost. > >These encouraging signs of progress appear to have been achieved by taking a small group of children to Unit 18, where they have been exposed to worsening conditions. > >Now, one of them appears to have been pushed too far. > >This was never inevitable. His family believe it's the direct result of the lethal combination of his complex needs and the harsh, isolating environment in which the state kept him for months on end. > >The government promises those conditions are necessary to keep those young people safe, and the community safe. > >So far it's failing on both. > >The latest figures show that of all the detainees who have gone through Banksia Hill and Unit 18 in the last two years, more than half have returned. > >That tally doesn't even include those who turn 18 and are sent to adult prisons. > >It means the community isn't made safer by those facilities. > >For people applauding the government rhetoric about protecting public safety, the current approach appears to be delivering the opposite result. > >Instead of rehabilitating these children and reducing reoffending, the system of harsh detention and isolation is hardening already troubled young men, and locking them into a cycle of recidivist offending and incarceration. > >No matter your views on the kids we lock up, that seems a perversely destructive outcome – for the community and the children. > >And the price for that failure? > >The young life of Cleveland Dodd, cut short at just 16 years.
>Precisely 12 hours before a teenage boy attempted to take his life in a WA youth detention unit last week, he was told his bid to be given bail had been delayed again. >>Key points: > >- The teen had his bail hearing adjourned 12 hours before self-harming >- He had been due to have his next bail hearing tomorrow >- The boy is now on life support in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital > >>WARNING: This story discusses incidents of self-harm. > >It was at least the third time his bail had been adjourned since he allegedly broke into a caravan park and committed aggravated burglaries in July. > >The boy, simply known as "V" in the Children's Court transcript obtained by the ABC, had been on remand since then. > >He was detained at Unit 18 – a controversial youth detention facility within the maximum-security Casuarina adult prison – where he spent his 16th birthday in September. > >V's Aboriginal Legal Services lawyer and Judge Wendy Hughes both expressed concerns about his wellbeing there. > >But there were several issues holding up the bail hearing. Administrative delays > >On October 3, the Children's Court heard the state prosecutors were yet to view the evidence and information relevant to the case tendered by police. > >"The state advised, as they say today, that they hadn't received any disclosure – although we had," V's lawyer Georgia Keysers said. > >"And that they were seeking an adjournment to consider the state case in relation to those. So, it's a month later. V is still in custody." > >The court was told V was charged with other offences, including breaching bail and assaulting a public officer – which complicated things further. > >Then there was finding someplace else the boy could stay. > >"It is difficult to find somewhere suitable for V to put him in the best place for bail," a Youth Justice officer told the court on October 11. >>Grandmother willing to house teen > >Several options were proposed, including his grandmother's house. > >"He has spoken to grandma, she's willing to have him," Ms Keysers, said. > >"He's obviously good to have bail." > >But the state argued that a bail report was necessary, and Judge Hughes agreed. > >She reassured V that she was not denying him bail, she just needed a plan. > >"V, your lawyer has done the right thing," she told him. > >"She has told me that she's worried about you being in Unit 18. I, last time when I spoke to you, said likewise. > >"I've got concerns about you being there. I just need a plan, okay? > >"So you don't need to persuade me that being locked up in Unit 18 is bad. I already agree with you, okay?" > >V responded with: "Yes." >>Judge ordered bail report > >The ABC understands the teenager has a developmental language disorder, having trouble with communication and processing linguistic information. > >"I haven't said no, I'm just saying I'm going to see you next week on Thursday," Judge Hughes reiterated. If you or anyone you know needs help:
>- Lifeline on 13 11 14 >- Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800 >- MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978 >- Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 >- Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 >- Headspace on 1800 650 890 >- ReachOut at au.reachout.com >- Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) on 1800 008 774
>"I'm going to talk about it more, okay?" > >V again simply replied: "Yes." > >Judge Hughes ordered a bail report, and told V to tell his family that Youth Justice officers were going to come around for a home visit and that she would see him again next week. > >But V did not get the chance to speak to his family again. > >In the early hours of Thursday morning, the boy was involved in what the government described as an "incident" in Unit 18. > >Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia said that just minutes after V was heard speaking on an intercom – which left officers "concerned" – guards conducting a routine check found him unconscious in his cell. > >The teenager remains on life support in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.