Right Now

‘When “false hope” is really a failure of offshore humanitarian policy’, by Ko Ko Aung.

A new opinion piece on the website.

Follow link to read more: https://rightnow.org.au/opinion/when-false-hope-is-really-a-failure-of-offshore-humanitarian-policy/

New on Right Now, Lena Mountford speaks to Lani Andrews, a Torres Strait Islander woman from Saibai who courageously took an Australian flag from a March for Australia protestor agitating the Invasion Day rally crowd, about the importance of Blak joy even on a day that is so heavy for many First Nations people.

Artwork by Brandi Salmon

The only thing more powerful than hate is Blak joy - Right Now Amid protest, fear and hate on January 26, Lani Andrews refuses to be silenced. Blak joy endures, stronger than anything trying to break it.

The Kinship Had Sailed
A new poem on Right Now by Ebony Elise

The Kinship Has Sailed - Right Now “The Kinship Has Sailed” reflects on a childhood shaped by violence, instability, and separation, while also exploring the complex emotional impact such experiences can carry into adulthood.​

New on Right Now by Benjamin Aitken.

Only one Australian state, Victoria, still allows extended private visits between prisoners and their partners or children.

Supporters say these visits help families stay connected and support rehabilitation.

The question is whether maintaining human connection behind bars ultimately benefits society as well.

Read now:

Should Prison Mean No Human Touch? - Right Now Should going to prison mean never being allowed to hug your partner or child? Is denying physical contact a just punishment, or does it harm families and human dignity? And what do human rights have to say about it?

social erosion
A new poem on Right Now by Margaret Owen Ruckert

Read now:

social erosion - Right Now A poem by widely published poet and a competition winner, Margaret Owen Ruckert.

A new poem on our website, Cacao Flower by Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad 🌸

Read in full here:

https://rightnow.org.au/authors/oormila-vijayakrishnan-prahlad/

A new poem by Damian Balassone

The poem is a speculative narrative that flips the history of European colonisation by imagining a reversal: a seafaring people from a southern island travelling north to colonise a new frontier (a year before Cook got to Australia)

Read now: https://rightnow.org.au/creative-works/1769-alinjarra/

“Many young people do not know their rights or are too afraid to speak out, without knowledge of how this is possible or where to address their concerns.”

New on Right Now Inc: Megan Sapardanis explores how junior pay rates and weak enforcement allow Australian employers to underpay, overwork and silence young workers, and why it’s time that changed.

Read now:

Young, cheap and disposable: why Australia’s retail and food industry is failing young people - Right Now Too many corporations are getting away with exploting young workers, writes student Megan Sapardanis.

Denial.
A new poem by Tim Metcalf.
Read now: https://rightnow.org.au/creative-works/denial/

New on our website, “waste colonisation” in Fiji

Shayal Devi reports for Right Now, The Citizen and Crikey.

Read more on our website, rightnow.org.au

“Our children will be the ones who pay”

New from Amy Rust on Right Now: The Victorian Government delivered a historic apology to First Peoples this week, while at the same time introducing new youth justice laws that will allow children to be sentenced as adults.
This is part of a larger pattern: symbolic gestures in public, structural harm behind the scenes.

Yoorrook has made it clear that colonisation never ended. It continues through the systems that hyperincarcerate First Peoples today. The Government has chosen political convenience instead of protecting First Nations children.

Read now:

We can’t heal what colonialism broke with brutal laws and empty promises - Right Now A special kind of betrayal occurs when a government apologises for historic injustice while engineering new injustice.