Julian Burnside AO QC is an Australian barrister, human rights and refugee advocate, and author. He is known for his staunch opposition to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers and has provided legal counsel in a wide variety of high-profile offshore-detention legal cases. 

In this podcast, we delved into Julian’s experience representing refugees and asylum seekers against the Australian government and its departments - principally the ‘Department of Immigration and Border Protection’ (now subsumed into the new 'Department of Home Affairs’). Throughout, we discussed the importance of human rights advocacy, explore his impact in the Tampa case and beyond and prompted his reflections on the past and present detention policies as well as some of the rationales put forward to justify them. Finally, Julian sheds light on what we can look forward to in the future and where he sees the need for change.

For those interested in the cartoon that was spoken about: https://www.cathywilcox.com.au/shop/not-drowning-print-c5ts7

Link to the poem discussed: https://medium.com/poem-of-the-day/warsan-shire-home-46630fcc90ab

*TRIGGER WARNING* This episode contains themes of suicide and depression, if you are experiencing negative thoughts please contact  LifeLine https://www.lifeline.org.au/ or call 13 11 14. 

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