The facilities were poor and some inmates were subjected to unsuccessful experimentation with a “vaccine” that used arsenic compounds.
Hospital Ward Dorre Island/State library of Western Australia
The lock hospitals inflicted incalculable traumas on Aboriginal people, wrenching them away from families and country.
In the SBS documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?, Peter Garrett traces the history of his grandmother, who worked in the “lock hospitals” as a nurse.
Screenshot/Who Do You Think You Are/ SBS
Hundreds of Aboriginal people were incarcerated on Dorre and Bernier islands for “venereal disease” between 1908 and 1919. The lock hospitals were penal rather than therapeutic institutions.
Former minister Peter Garrett retracted claims about receiving cash in an envelope from a representative of a gambling industry lobby group.
AAP/Marianna Massey
The gambling industry knows how to wield power, and does it with great expertise, backed by significant resources.
Tony Abbott made political capital out of the Home Insulation Program’s problems, but will he heed the lessons from the Royal Commission’s findings?
AAP/Alan Porritt
The most important finding in the final report of the Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program is the one the Abbott government is least likely to heed. One of the two crucial flaws Commissioner…
Rudd’s legal wrangles: political theatre, but beside the point when it comes to improving public programs.
AAP Image/Dan Peled
It’s understandable that coverage of Kevin Rudd’s appearance before the royal commission into the home insulation program should focus on the image of a former Prime Minister humbled over a policy that…
Part of Shoalwater Bay in Queensland, where the federal government blocked a major new coal port in 2008 over its “clearly unacceptable” environmental impacts".
Daniel E. Smith/Wikimedia Commons
Deep cuts to environmental programs and staff predicted in today’s federal budget aren’t the only “green” cuts that Australians should be concerned about. The federal government is currently holding an…
Kevin Rudd is once again the Prime Minister of Australia.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Labor has finally made the decision it ought to have taken long ago, but the counter-revolution has been extremely bloody and there are bodies all over the place. Not only is there a new Prime Minister…
The Prime Minister was unable to get agreement with the states on the government’s school funding reforms.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
The A$14 billion federal government proposal based on David Gonski’s call for a better school funding system has not been agreed to at this week’s COAG meeting. In fact, none of the states and territories…
The Gonski review presents a generational opportunity to reform our school funding system.
AAP/Graham Porrit
The Gonski Review sought to create a new funding system for Australian schooling, because what we currently have is a mess. It was to be transparent, fair, financially sustainable and effective in promoting…
Independent journalist and health writer; Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney; Founder of Croakey.org. PhD candidate, University of Canberra