Human Rights in Australia | Discourse! March 2021

In this March 2021 episode of Discourse! we have a University of Sydney reunion with Professor Carole Cusack, Dr. Breann Fallon, and Ray Radford. Covering current affairs in Australia the Usyd team discuss three recent news items. The first item is framed around civil religion and nationalism: it’s the controversial upgrade of Australian Tennis Player Margaret Court AC MBE’s honours on Australia Day. What happens when we honor individuals whose views on sexuality, marriage equality, and gender are deeply controversial? Moving to the motorways, the second news item involves the demolishing of sacred Indigenous trees to accommodate a freeway expansion. This ongoing story reveals deep divides between stakeholders over the environment and Australia’s cultural heritage laws. Finally, in the most recent news piece, the group discusses legislation banning gay-conversion therapies in the Australian state of Victoria. In this instance, the bill explicitly names and bans religiously-informed conversion practices. Bringing the three items together, the episode turns to the notion of human rights as a significant thread running between all stories.