The Latest Breaking News from Lorraine Finlay

Australia has now joined Rwanda as the only other country to have inspections terminated by the United Nations, after the international body was denied full access to detention and mental health in-patient wards in New South Wales and Queensland.

The United Nations grills Australia over its treatment of people in youth and immigration detention, describing the over-representation of Aboriginal people in detention as "horrific".

The New South Wales government is resisting growing calls to scrap tens of thousands of COVID fines, which lawyers say were unjustly issued.

Law has important consequences and ‘sits oddly’ with aims of sentencing, which include rehabilitation and reintegration, national security watchdog says

International rights body has concerns that open and merit-based processes were bypassed in the filling of three key positions

The Australian Human Rights Commission risks being stripped of its accreditation as an "A-status" institution, with the global standards body raising concerns about the selection of commissioners.

Australia's Human Rights Commissioner says state of emergency laws are getting harder to justify at this stage in the pandemic.

A Senate estimates hearing is told that the lack of air conditioning at Roebourne prison has been a serious issue for a "considerable period of time". Meanwhile, an Aboriginal legal service has asked the UN to put pressure on the WA government.

In 2017, Australia made an international commitment to implement a comprehensive inspection system for all places of detention. Four years on, it has failed to do so, and this is simply not good enough, writes Lorraine Finlay.