COVID in Detention, the 2021 Pandemic Management Bill & The Criminalisation of Children

This week, Marisa speaks with David Glance from the Refugee Action Collective about the lack of accountability and duty-of-care in regards to the spread of COVID-19 in detention, after 22 out of the 46 men currently detained in Melbourne's Park Hotel detention centre have tested positive to the virus since October 17, 2021. He also reports on the rally in support of these refugees that took place outside the hotel on 7 November.  Then, Associate Professor Maria O'Sullivan (Associate Professor and senior lecturer in the Monash University Faculty of Law, and a member of the Monash Castan Centre for Human Rights Law) joins to discuss the Public Wellbeing and Pandemic Management Bill 2021, which is currently before the Victorian Parliament - and which will hopefully bring some transparency and accountability in these unprecedented times. Does the Victorian Charter of Human Rights need strengthening? Will temporary measures of intensified surveillance become permanent features of society? Maria shines a light on the positives as well as the negatives in regards to this bill.  Lastly, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the Human Rights Law Centre are calling for the Victorian Government to reconsider their proposed changes to the age of criminal responsibility in Victoria so that they can comply with medical and international standards. This is in response to a meeting of Attorneys-General proposing to decrease the age of criminal responsibility in Victoria to 12 years old, which would be a devastating missed opportunity. Lee-Anne Carter (Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service) joins the program to discuss the implications of this plan for children young enough to be in primary school, how the carceral system does not rehabilitate, and the ongoing battle to raise the age of criminal responsibility in this country.