Should recreational cannabis be legalised?
Alysia Thomas-Sam reports.
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ABC News
3 days ago
- ABC News
The joy of being reunited after fleeing Iran
ARIFA HAKIMI: I was so nervous and very anxious about his safety. I straightaway called him, but he didn't pick up his call. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM, REPORTER: As bombs were falling over Tehran, Arifa Hakimi's heart was breaking. ARIFA HAKIMI: Very stressful time. I couldn't work; I couldn't concentrate. My main focus was just what is happening, what is going on now in Tehran, in Iran. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Nas Rezayee, Arifa's fiancé, had been living in Tehran for four years. Last month, he was caught up in the war that erupted between Israel and Iran. ARIFA HAKIMI: Eventually after nearly 18 hours, I got a very small text message in WhatsApp that he said that 'I'm okay, but I don't have a very good internet connection and there is like a very bad situation going on.' ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: The bombing campaign against Iran lasted 12 days. Nas filmed the attacks which were close to where he lived. He sent these videos to Arifa. ARIFA HAKIMI: He said that during the night it's very hard to go to sleep and because all the missiles and the bombings were mostly happening during the night and the situation was very terrifying. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Arifa and Nas are from Afghanistan; they met in 2019 at a military university in Kabul. She was studying computer science, and he was finishing a Bachelor of Civil Engineering. ARIFA HAKIMI: He asked me if I'm okay, he wants to spend the rest of his life with me. And then I said, 'Let me think about that and then I'll let you know.' So, it didn't take much time. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: After two years of being inseparable, the pair were torn apart in August 2021, when the Taliban took over - both Arifa and Nas fled the country. ARIFA HAKIMI: Our lives were in danger, and we tried to get an Australian visa, but that time I got the visa to come to Australia, but he didn't get the visa. So that was the problem, the main issue that we get separated from each other. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Former Premier of New South Wales Kristina Kenneally helped Arifa get an Australian visa when she escaped Afghanistan. Earlier this year she saw her again at a refugee event in Melbourne. KRISTINA KENEALLY, FORMER NSW PREMIER: Through snatches of conversation at this reception, she told me about the danger that Nas was in, that he had been waiting to get his spouse visa. He was in Iran, he was working, and yet Tehran was being bombed. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: She was so touched by Arifa's plight to bring Nas here, she offered to help. KRISTINA KENEALLY: I'd reached out to some staff I knew working in Canberra just to ensure that the visa application was complete and could go forward for processing. Once it was assessed, it was approved, such relief. I remember the message I got from Arifa. She had received an email from the department saying it had been approved. She was at the gym. ARIFA HAKIMI: I just stopped the treadmill and then go and sit, went and sit on the bench, and then I was not expecting that, but my hands was shaking. I was very excited. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Nas flew out of Tehran just days after hostilities ceased between Iran and Israel. ARIFA HAKIMI: Oh my god. Welcome, how are you. It was very hard, we faced many challenges, and hardships, but it had happened, finally we got a good result which is very good. NAS REZAYEE: It's wonderful to see my partner here in Melbourne… ARIFA HAKIMI: After a long time. NAS REZAYEE: After four years. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Nas, welcome to Australia. NAS REZAYEE: Thank you so much. ARIFA HAKIMI: How are you feeling? NAS REZAYEE: I'm feeling good. Very good. I like Melbourne. It's a good city. Nice people and good environment and lovely beach. I think it's incredible and very, very, very good that I have Arifa and reunited. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: While relieved to be with Arifa, Nas is still haunted by his final days in Iran. NAS REZAYEE: After seven o'clock in the evening the bombing and missiles were starting, and we were waiting to die and just hiding to find a very safe place and apartment because my journey was not finished. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: When you think about what people are going through back there, how do you feel right now? NAS REZAYEE: It's really, really, really good to have people helping me here in Australia and it's really interesting that people is always be smiling and just helping each other. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Arifa is in her third year at Deakin University studying exercise and sports science. Nas was a personal trainer in Tehran. He wants to work as a civil engineer in Australia. NAS REZAYEE: I have a plan to study but in the first time I should stabilise my situation condition in Melbourne. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Six years after they first met in Kabul, Nas and Arifa can finally begin their life together in Melbourne. They have big plans for later this year. ARIFA HAKIMI: Summer wedding, of course the weather that time is so good. We don't have the exact plan, which location, where, but we are in thinking of that ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: In Australia? ARIFA HAKIMI: Of course, in Australia. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: In Melbourne? ARIFA HAKIMI: Yes.
ABC News
6 days ago
- ABC News
Should recreational cannabis be legalised?
Policy researchers say now is the time to legalise recreational cannabis to eliminate the black market and free up police to tackle other crime. Alysia Thomas-Sam reports.
ABC News
7 days ago
- ABC News
NT to reinstate use of spit hoods in youth detention, eight years after royal commission sparked ban
The Northern Territory government has flagged it will reinstate the use of spit hoods on young people in youth detention centres, almost eight years after the practice was banned. The proposal is one of several changes to the Youth Justice Act 2005 and Youth Justice Regulations 2006 expected to be introduced and debated in NT parliament this week by the Country Liberal Party (CLP) government. In a statement on Monday, the government said the proposed changes would also include: The CLP pledged during last year's NT election to reintroduce the use of spit hoods on youths if elected to government. On Monday, NT Deputy Chief Minister and Corrections Minister Gerard Maley said the legislative changes would be introduced to parliament as a matter of "urgency", following the stabbing at the weekend of a 15-year-old boy at the Royal Darwin Show. Mr Maley said the "community have had enough" when it came to youth crime in the territory. "This is another piece of legislation we're going to do to make sure Territorians can go to work, go to the show and live in the Northern Territory safely," he said. NT Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley said the proposed amendments were about ensuring "safety and security" for staff and young people in youth detention centres. "These amendments this week are about making sure our staff have the tools, the powers and the procedures to make sure that environment is safe and secure,' he said. "We're wanting to see a change to the past where our officers have been exposed to risk, our officers have been exposed to assault and harm, and our youth detention centres have been damaged and destroyed. Controversy over the NT's use of spit hoods received significant media attention in 2016 following an ABC Four Corners report into the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, which led to then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announcing a royal commission into juvenile justice and child protection in the territory. In 2017, following the federal government's formal endorsement of a United Nations protocol against torture and inhumane punishments, the NT government stopped the use of spit hoods and restraint chairs in youth detention centres. However, it was not until 2022 that the use of spit hoods for youth in police custody was also banned by the then-Labor government, though the ban was never formalised in legislation. In a statement on Monday, an NT Police Force (NTPF) spokesperson confirmed that since October 2024, spit hoods had once again been made available to use on youths in police watch houses and cells. "The NTPF have strict policies in place for their use", the spokesperson said. NT Children's Commissioner Shahleena Musk said the proposed amendments to the Youth Justice Act reflected a "failure" by the government "to meet with key stakeholders, including legal and social service experts". "It goes against all the evidence of what actually works to try to reduce challenging behaviours, particularly in a custodial setting," she said. "We're the only jurisdiction that is now going back to using spit hoods on children. Ms Musk said she was also concerned about the planned change to ensure detention was no longer a last resort. "[It] is against international law, it's against child rights. It can lead to unjust dispositions by the court, that is not able to then balance the needs of that child against other considerations," she said. Opposition Leader Selena Uibo labelled the government's decision a "reactive, knee-jerk response" that would not have a "holistic impact when it comes to improving community safety". "Everything that these millions and millions of dollars of royal commissions or reports have shown not to do, the CLP is doing," she said. In a statement, the National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls also condemned the proposed amendments and called for "the urgent withdrawal of this legislation". "These proposed changes represent a punitive attack on the rights, dignity, and lives of children in the Northern Territory," said Debbie Kilroy OAM, chief executive of Sisters Inside. Ms Kilroy labelled the re-introduction of spit hoods as a "grotesque failure of leadership", and cited the interstate cases of Wayne Fella Morrison and Selesa Taifaifa — who both died following incidents involving the use of spit hoods — as examples of their "deadly consequences". "Let us be clear: spit hoods are instruments of torture. They are used to degrade, control and silence," Ms Kilroy said. Ms Kilroy also criticised the planned removal of the principle of detention as a last resort. "Many of the children who appear before the courts are themselves victims — victims of violence, poverty, neglect, racism and state failure," she said. "They are not born 'offenders', they are criminalised by a system that was never designed to protect them." The proposed amendments will be introduced to the NT parliament on Tuesday.
