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The High Court ruled indefinite immigration detention was unlawful in 2023.

Home Affairs could pay out tens of millions to former detainees, criminals, after High Court ruling

The judgment could pave the way for more cases against the government.

  • Brittany Busch

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Tony Kellisar was transferred to immigration detention in 2019 after serving a 20-year sentence for the death of his wife, Svetlana Podgoyetsky, in 1997.

Wife-killer on hunger strike after deportation from Perth to ‘hellhole’ Nauru

Tony Kellisar was jailed for 22 years after he strangled his wife in 1997. He was then in limbo in immigration detention before being released in 2023, but his freedom was short-lived.

  • Rebecca Peppiatt
The complaint concerns facilities from across the state.

WA youth jail officer raped detainee, listened in on calls, human rights complaint claims

The complaint outlined three particularly harrowing stories from detainees across remand facilities, Banksia Hill, Hakea Prison and other locations in WA.

  • Hannah Murphy
It is the second time the electronic monitoring regime has been struck down by the High Court.

High Court strikes down Labor’s ankle-monitoring regime for a second time

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government’s deportation deal with Nauru softened the blow. Six people have so far been sent to the Pacific island, with 27 more issued visas.

  • Natassia Chrysanthos
Separation rooms where children are kept for hours, sometimes days, at a time at West Moreton Youth Detention Centre (left) and Brisbane Youth Detention Centre (right).

Children held in locked rooms for days at a time, report finds

Children are being kept in solitary confinement without basic amenities in Queensland’s youth detention centres due to staff shortages and increased demand.

  • Courtney Kruk
Wooroloo Prison Farm report WAtoday main image. Picture: WAtoday

Day release prisoners allegedly ate guinea pigs. This report may tell us why

An inspection of WA’s three prison farms revealed 40 per cent of inmates performing work in the community were getting paid just $7.35 a day and fed a small diet.

  • Rebecca Peppiatt
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Queensland’s chief police union says domestic and family violence reporting is creating unmanageable workloads and draining resources, leading to more officers leaving the force.

Police need hundreds more officers as domestic violence calls skyrocket

The state’s top police union says officers are responding to more than 500 domestic and family violence-related occurrences a day, with the number expected to grow.

  • Courtney Kruk
Feinstein says guitars remain the most popular instrument among detainees, although there are often requests for regional instruments, especially from asylum seekers from the Middle East.

‘Everything else disappears’: How music brings relief in detention centres

Philip Feinstein, 76, collects donated instruments to deliver to those waiting in immigration detention.

  • Penry Buckley
Andrew John Hickling was running a lucrative drugs operation from a Northam detention centre.

Detainee handed hefty jail sentence for running ‘brazen’ drugs business from Yongah Hill

Andrew Hickling imported drugs and dirty money into WA, running a lucrative business all while incarcerated at Northam’s Yongah Hill Detention Centre.

  • Rebecca Peppiatt
Queensland’s youth detention centres are often full, so children are being held in adult watch houses.

No access to fresh air: Children held in ‘inadequate’ adult watch houses for weeks

Children being held in adult watch houses for extended periods of time are using mattresses to surround themselves when using the toilet.

  • Keira Jenkins