Gerry Georgatos
If you want to know the hearts and minds of a nation, of its consciousness, of its legislators, then day and night look into our prisons.

The two century old modern day prison experiment is failing, that is if we look at the spiralling incarceration rates, adult and youth, and if we look at re-offending rates, the recidivism.

My PhD research argues that people who enter the prison experience, who are incarcerated for relatively short or long terms leave the prison experience worse than they came in.

A steady and swelling inflow of racist and otherwise abusive comment to this site has prompted us to take protective action. We had to choose between keeping the site open and quickly responsive, at the risk of being overwhelmed by the abusers, or putting up some barriers that might slightly inconvenience the visitors who do the right thing.

We, the editorial collective, the small group of people who run this site, have opted to put in some restrictions.Just as we do with articles, we now look at comments before we allow them to appear or bin them.

Gerry Georgatos
We have all heard about mortgage stress however renters' stress has received comparatively little mention according to Lea Keenan, coordinator of the WA Renters Alliance. Ms Keenan said that rising rents are not confined to Perth and the north west however "are just as out of control in the south west."

Bridgetown renter, Louise Fleay said that she relocated two years ago from Perth for the promise of less financial pressures in terms of cost of living including "cheaper and fairer rents". She was paying $350 in rent in Perth and two years ago was paying $220 in Bridgetown however this has risen to $270 per week.

Surveillance and harassment of direct action protestors campaigning against coal in Victoria and nationally is increasing. This week saw the Fairfax press reveal that ASIO has been spying on domestic green groups at the behest of Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson. The evidence was obtained through documents through FOI. Apparently non-violent green groups are seen as a bigger threat to power infrastructure than terrorists! This is symptomatic of how the profit margins of large corporations is equated with national interest. This report comes as the Victoria Police Intelligence Group visited Paul Connor from Quit Coal at his home: Listen to interview. Earlier this year it was also revealed that Martin Ferguson had been encouraged by major power companies to increase surveillance of green protestors.