Mridula Amin
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Articles by Mridula Amin
Drive-in cinemas are rare these days. But the last one in Melbourne’s north still draws a faithful crowd
default Between a funeral parlour and a sink factory, a queue of cars slowly disappears down a driveway. Most arrive with plenty of time to spare – to turn their backseats into beds, tune their radios to the film audio and let children play on the bitumen or finish their takeaway dinner. By the time darkness falls, hundreds of cars are pointed towards a screen that has outlived almost every other drive-in in Melbourne.
Millions of people are losing weight using GLP-1s. How do the drugs affect their love lives?
Mridula Amin For Jennifer, obesity was the obvious culprit for most of her problems. The litigation attorney told herself it was the reason why she wasn't being invited to parties, and why she and her husband struggled with physical intimacy in their otherwise “solid” marriage.
Thaum Stacy tus txiv tas sim neej yam tsis nco faj, ces ib xyoos xwb ua rau nws tsis muaj nyiaj siv
Mloog tau tej zaj lus thiab lwm yam xov xwm ua lus Hmoob tau ntawm SBS Hmong. Nick Lutton kuj tau ua kev zoo siab xyoo tshiab rau thaum nws thiab nws tus poj niam tau muag nkawv lub tsev thiab tau yuav ib thaj av dav ntawm Queensland uas nkawv tsev neeg tseem muaj tej me nyuam yau yuav mus nyob. Tab sis tom qab ntau teev rau xyoo 2025 ces nws txawm mob plawv txhaws thiab tau tas sim neej hauv pem teb ntawm nws lub tsev ntawm Wilton thaum muaj hnoob nyoog 44 xyoos.
Australia: Exploitation drives migrants on PALM scheme to leave employers, putting them at risk of deportation, with over 7,000 "absconding" in past 5 years - Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
“'Scared' and 'helpless': Rayasi's dream of working in Australia was not what she envisioned” More than 7,000 workers have absconded from the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme over the past five years, some due to poor working conditions, exploitation and abuse. But the choice to walk has left many in limbo… Rayasi was assigned to the 'stomach section' of the factory, which involves cutting a cow's stomach and removing its contents while high-heat steam is blasted to kill bacteria.
'Scared' and 'helpless': Rayasi's dream of working in Australia was not what she envisioned
Rayasi came to Australia full of hope. She did not expect to wind up injured and undocumented less than a year later. The 42-year-old Fijian national had prayed for months for a place in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme: a temporary visa program designed to plug Australia's labour shortages by recruiting workers from nine Pacific Island nations and Timor-Leste.
When Stacey's husband died unexpectedly, she faced going broke within a year
Nick Lutton celebrated the new year with a fresh chapter in mind — he and his wife had just sold their home and bought an acreage in Queensland, where they would soon move with their young family. But a few hours into 2025, he went into cardiac arrest from heart failure and died on the floor of their Wilton home, aged 44. "I found my phone, called triple zero, and started CPR," his widow, Stacey Lutton, recalls tearily. Her 11-year-old daughter Evie had also awoken.
'If you're the bloke it's your fault': Why Jeffrey believed he couldn't be a victim of abuse
This article contains references to child abuse and suicide. Digger* remembers when he was six years old, being told by the other boys how to make his bed to ward off predators in the night. He would tuck the sheets tightly under his small mattress to make a cocoon. "We thought that was our safety net. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I can still remember hearing boys scream as they were taken away," Digger recalls.
Our trip inside Iran was a closely managed affair, then the undercover police surrounded us
As we walk through the heart of Iran's capital we see a large digital clock nestled among several shops. It's counting down to what it claims, is the time left until the state of Israel is destroyed. The clock overlooks Palestine Square in Tehran as cars and vendors come and go in a country that is in conflict internationally and at home. Across the square is a billboard, several stories high, depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a straitjacket.
If your child can't go to school – what can you do?
www.abc.net.au is blocked www.abc.net.au refused to connect.
School refusal and the Australian families gripped by blame, shame, and the fear of a lost education
A growing crisis of school refusal is gripping Australia, leaving families in a hidden struggle. When it first started happening, Alice would drag her daughter Frieda into kindergarten screaming. The school staff would restrain the five-year-old as they locked the door. "If tough love worked, my child would be at school. The things we put her through … I'm ashamed of it," Alice says. She knows what other parents judge her for — being a mother who can't get her child to school.
Financial data reveals if 30-year-old millennials are worse off than their parents
The cost-of-living crisis puts long-held dreams further out of reach. Data shows how this happened. In 1995, at the age of 30, Jochem Van Der Kwast had the great Australian dream in his grasp. "It was still the quarter acre lot. The Hills hoist, that kind of paradigm," he says. Jochem worked a few days a week selling kitchens, making around $70,000 a year, and in 1995 it was enough to support his wife, two kids, and a mortgage on a home on the NSW Central Coast.
SAI SYDNEY WOMEN 3
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Save Kathy Veel, the owner and a skipper of the 30-foot Currawong, stands on her boat at the docks of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Rushcutters Bay, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 18, 2023. In the race, more women are competing as skippers than in previous years, and many own the boats.
'Simone' had a choice — quit her job, or leak files about the reality of life for children and families on Nauru
'Simone' had a choice: quit her job or fight back. She chose the latter. It's the dead of night on the tiny island nation of Nauru. Inside Australia's offshore detention centre, a lone figure is sneaking around, trying to avoid the guards. She slips inside a makeshift office and boots up a computer. The screen lights up and she worries for a moment that it might attract attention. But it doesn't. She starts downloading documents. They're incident reports.
This whistleblower says a paedophile politician could have been stopped before he committed crimes
/ Posted 6 minutes ago Gillian blew the whistle on her paedophile boss. She believes he could have been stopped earlier. Gillian Sneddon had always been a confident and smiling woman who would do anything for her family. But in 2007, she couldn't face going to her first granddaughter's christening. "I was so full of anxiety and depression," she says.
Summer Season: The hidden park of last resort
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ALICE BRENNAN: Hey there, Alice Brennan here. Welcome to Background Briefing for another week. Thank you to everybody who rated and reviewed us over the last little while, it makes a massive difference to us and getting the message out there about who we are and what we do, so thanks. House prices in Sydney are going up by one thousand dollars a day. It’s eye watering. If we weren’t in the middle of a housing crisis before the pandemic, we certainly are now.
By Mridula Amin Verified, Geoff Thompson, Benjamin Sveen, Ingrid Wagner, Leila Shunnar, Ann-Marie de Bettencor, Tim Roxburgh, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
Drop the debates and just tell stories
First Person By Mridula Amin June 27, 2022 I’m an Australian journalist sitting in on a famous and decorated newsroom’s editorial meeting in New York. They’re poking holes in a piece from another famous and decorated publication that suggests rising crime in California is the defining factor of recent election results. “He’s put tent camps and anti-Asian hate crimes all in the same sentence as part of the issue, but is there any proof they’re linked?” someone asks, clearly bothered.
Summer Season: The hidden park of last resort
ALICE BRENNAN: Hey there, Alice Brennan here. Welcome to Background Briefing for another week. Thank you to everybody who rated and reviewed us over the last little while, it makes a massive difference to us and getting the message out there about who we are and what we do, so thanks. House prices in Sydney are going up by one thousand dollars a day. It’s eye watering. If we weren’t in the middle of a housing crisis before the pandemic, we certainly are now.
Sydney waste research scientist Veena Sahajwalla awarded NSW Australian of the Year 2022
It was in the bazaars of Mumbai, India where a young Veena Sahajwalla first saw what was possible with other people's trash. In the sticky heat, shopkeepers soldered and fixed broken circuit boards with scraps salvaged from landfill. The waste research scientist and engineer's home was informally serviced by "Kabadiwallahs" — scrap dealers who would go from house-to-house collecting recyclable materials for resale.
Long queues outside Kmart at midnight as Western Sydney emerges from months of lockdown
They've suffered more than most during NSW's lockdown, but excited Western Sydney residents were out in force on Monday, enjoying their new freedoms. After 106 days in lockdown, queues of shoppers counted down the final minutes of the Sydney lockdown while waiting in line outside Kmart stores in Casula and Mount Druitt. Retail shops, restaurants, pubs and hairdressers were permitted to reopen on the stroke of midnight to customers fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Businesses in Little India in Western Sydney struggling to get to finish line after lockdown
A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Harris Park was having its heyday. Three streets of the Western Sydney suburb had just been renamed Little India by Parramatta Council on June 15 in a trial to boost local tourism. Footpaths on Wigram, Marion and Station Streets were bustling with customers waiting for Indian street food as the smell of garam masala carried through the air. "I've seen crowds in Harris Park the past year like I haven't seen before," owner of The Saree Shop, Uma Chandrasekaran said.
NSW has reached 100 Delta deaths — here are some of their stories
It's been 24 days since Sitthixay Ditthavong's father died from COVID-19, and he remains riddled with the pain of never saying goodbye. "He was a pillar of the Laos community, his life impacted countless people," Mr Ditthavong said. After a week of not being able to have any family contact, it was only after his wife rushed a letter to the hospital the day before his death that Kat Ditthavong, who also had dementia, realised what was going on.
The workers risking their lives to keep Sydney running during a COVID crisis
Parmanand Sha often receives a call to do a COVID-19 deep clean around dinner time. The 33-year-old from West Ryde, in Sydney's north, supervises 120 employees at Prime Group, a cleaning company which has already completed close to 30 COVID-19 cleanses during the current outbreak. "You'll get that call that there's been a positive case and then you're immediately calling your staff and making sure there's enough PPE and chemicals to try arrive there in the next few hours," he said.
Additional supplies of COVID-19 jabs need to go to Sydney hotspots first, essential workers say
When Raad Skahle watches his staff at his grocery supermarket in Fairfield, it feels like a punch in the gut. Key points: The Fairfield area continues to record the vast majority of the COVID-19 Delta strain About 70 per cent of Fairfield residents leave the LGA for work each day Australia is set to receive 4.5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine in August "I know from their faces everyone is scared because we are an open shop with hundreds of customers.
NSW faces 'disaster' and an overloaded health system if lockdown ends too early, AMA warns
NSW will face a "disaster" if lockdown ends before the state eliminates the current COVID-19 outbreak, the head of Australia's medical association says.
Residents of three Sydney LGAs told to restrict movements as COVID-19 outbreak spreads west
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warns tighter restrictions could be forced on three Sydney local government areas (LGAs) as the COVID-19 outbreak spreads to the city's west.
Taronga Zoo expert says fathers can learn from their counterparts in the animal kingdom
Without lust, the entire animal kingdom, including us, would cease to exist. At least that's what Taronga Zoo's senior emeritus curator, Erna Walraven, has concluded after 30 years refining the art of breeding. It's an area that comes with unique challenges. "I was an animal matchmaker for many years — and there was a lot of online dating we'd do on their behalf," Ms Walraven said.
NSW COVID restrictions explained - this is where you need to wear a mask, and where you can't travel
The NSW government has introduced new COVID-19 restrictions from 4:00pm today, including a ban on non-essential travel outside Sydney and compulsory face masks at work and the gym. The new measures mean Greater Sydney will be subjected to its toughest mask mandate since the pandemic began. It's also the first time travel restrictions have been introduced since the Avalon cluster led to more than 150 infections over Christmas.
Sydney 'in trouble' and restrictions need to be brought in quickly, expert warns
Sydney is "in trouble" and restrictions need to be brought in "quickly" after it was revealed a limousine driver was found to have the Delta strain of COVID-19, a leading epidemiologist says.
Indigenous artist Dan Boyd says he was racially profiled when taxi driver asked him to pay in advance
Dan Boyd never usually takes taxis. In the past 20 years he has let his non-Indigenous partner hail one down for him if he ever needed one. But when the 38-year-old artist decided to catch one home from Sydney Airport on Sunday, the driver insisted he pay in advance. "Usually, I book an Uber, but I was returning from seeing my brother in Cairns who'd had a stroke and also my mother who is sick, so I was tired and just wanted to get home fast," he said.
Jessica is one of a growing number of mothers in NSW who are having induced labours for no reason
When a confused midwife asked Jessica Trusler why her labour was being induced, Jessica remembers the midwife rolling her eyes when she heard the response. "I told her the obstetrician's name and that it was because the baby might be bigger than average," Ms Trusler said.
Parents are having to turn to expensive private services to secure child access visits
In the past two years, Sahil* has had to spend about $15,000 to visit his baby son after separating from his ex-partner. The Western Sydney man had not seen his son in 18 months because his partner had refused him access visits. In 2019, they went to court to begin parenting proceedings following a domestic violence case, with his ex-partner subsequently agreeing to court-ordered visitation.
Janu was teased at school because of her tumors - three decades later one bully reached out
Janu Dhayanathan received a text message last week that shocked her so much, it took 24 hours to respond. The Sydney woman's childhood bully had made contact after 30 years. Janu appeared in an ABC story earlier this year in which she detailed her Neurofibromatosis diagnosis — something that had been a secret for decades to protect her inside Sydney's close-knit Tamil community.
'I've seen families torn apart': The fight for space at Australia's largest cemetery
Australia's largest cemetery is running out of room, but the blueprint for a massive new burial ground 60km away is facing significant opposition. It's Australia's most densely populated suburb, and it's running out of space. More than 1 million people from almost 200 races and religions are packed in side-by-side. It's also pricey. Six-square-metre rooms can cost upwards of $615,000.
All the venues visited by COVID-infected Sydney man — including a busy Westfield shopping centre
A man who tested positive for COVID-19 visited a number of venues across Sydney while infectious, including a cinema at a busy Westfield shopping centre. Key points: The man's workplace has not yet been included in the list of venues of concern Health authorities expect the list of affected venues to grow in the next 24 hours Intensive contact tracing is underway It's the state's first case of unlinked community transmission since January 15.
NSW police officer charged over alleged assault of Indigenous teen
A NSW police officer has been charged over the alleged assault of an Indigenous teenager in inner Sydney last June. Video of the incident, that occurred at Ward Park in Surry Hills, went viral and showed an officer performing a "leg sweep". The male constable was issued with a court attendance notice today for the offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault. In a statement, NSW Police said the officer's employment was "under review".
The hidden park of last resort
ALICE BRENNAN: Hey there, Alice Brennan here. Welcome to Background Briefing for another week. Thank you to everybody who rated and reviewed us over the last little while, it makes a massive difference to us and getting the message out there about who we are and what we do, so thanks. House prices in Sydney are going up by one thousand dollars a day. It’s eye watering. If we weren’t in the middle of a housing crisis before the pandemic, we certainly are now.
Freya got her life back on track after recovering from egg-sized cyst in her brain — then disaster struck again
Freya Roynon was just in Year 8 when she laid out her life plans. Get a 98 ATAR, a scholarship to her chosen degree and attend the NSW high-achiever assembly as a state all-rounder. But four years later on April 9, 2020, her doctors discovered an egg-sized brain tumour in her last year of study. "I was diagnosed with a dermoid cyst in my brain, which is like a benign tumour," the former Girraween High student says. That same day she went home to sit an online modern history exam.
Sexual assault advocates say NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller's consent app idea could lead to victim blaming
Sexual assault advocates have hit back at a proposal by the state’s top cop around a “consent app” saying it was a ‘damaging’ suggestion.
Calls for more funding as most domestic violence victims don't go to police, says damning new report
A new report has found 60 per cent of domestic violence victims don't go to police, amid a renewed push for funding in the struggling social service sector.
Western Sydney University scholarship helped Afghan refugee Parastoo Bahrami fulfill her education dream
It was the hope of educating his children that made Parastoo Bahrami's father pile his family of eight into a rickety fishing boat and sputter across the Timor Sea. Having lived in an Indonesian refugee camp for 11 years as Afghan refugees, they made their final attempt to reach Australia in 2012. Parastoo said her father decided to flee Afghanistan in 2001 because the Taliban took control of their town in Kapisa Province.
NSW school principals in crisis meeting after petition detailed thousands of alleged sexual assaults
© Provided by ABC NEWS Chanel Contos started the petition calling for schools to teach better sexual education on consent. (Image: Supplied) More than 100 private school principals have convened for a crisis meeting following a petition detailing thousands of alleged sexual assaults against former students. Former Kambala student Chanel Contos started the petition last month, because she was "sick of constantly hearing my friends' experience of sexual abuse".
Sydney woman finally feels 'worthy of love' after keeping medical condition secret for more than two decades
For more than two decades, Janu Dhayanathan kept her genetic disorder a secret. Even as lumps began to cover her entire body during puberty, it was decided by her family that to protect her inside Sydney's close-knit Tamil community, her Neurofibromatosis (NF) diagnosis would be kept private. As the 38-year-old approaches the 30th anniversary of her diagnosis this Valentine's Day, it's a relief to finally stop hiding. "It's physically exhausting holding onto a secret like that.
Anti-racism street signs delivering powerful message throughout Sydney's inner west
Can a street sign end racism? Not likely, but it can start a hard conversation. That is the sentiment behind an anti-racism campaign that has seen red street signs with a simple but confronting message appear around Sydney's inner west. When Yaa saw a bright red street sign with the words "Racism Not Welcome" in Marrickville it was an emotional moment for the 5-year-old. Two years ago, on the first day of pre-school a group of girls told her she couldn't play with them because she was brown.
NSW Local Hero Rosemary Kariuki helps refugee women overcome domestic violence in Western Sydney
Rosemary Kariuki didn't know anyone when she arrived in Sydney from Kenya in 1999. In her suitcase was a few hundred dollars, some clothes and several gifts to give strangers. "I thought wherever I'm going, I'll go and get some friends," she said. "So, I bought some gifts, some African artefacts, I bought some teabags, and I said, 'I'm going to make friends'." It didn't take long for her to deliver on this promise to herself.
Lovemore overcame racism and police violence to become a champion boxer, now the courtroom is his ring
Lovemore Ndou was 16 when a cashier flirted with him at the supermarket. It might seem innocuous, but a white woman flirting with a black man in South Africa during apartheid was anything but. When authorities weren't able to pin a sexual assault on him, they instead accused him of theft before taking him to a cell where they broke his arm and let a dog — trained to "kill black people on sight" — almost tear out his eye.
How ‘heat refuges’ could help people like Ian escape sweltering days in Western Sydney
Ian Epondulan knows the heatwaves well. The 31-year-old has lived in Western Sydney his entire life, and often dreads the summer months. On the really sweltering days, the oral health therapist and his family often take refuge in an air-conditioned 24-hour shopping centre in Blacktown. The family do have air-conditioning at their Seven Hills home that they rent, but the cost of running it is prohibitive.
The 'key challenge' facing health authorities trying to contain major COVID-19 cluster in Sydney's west
Efforts to contain the Berala COVID-19 cluster in Sydney's west have intensified, with community leaders in the suburb locked in virus strategy meetings late last night.
How trailblazing African footballers are changing the game in Sydney's west
Rita Oppongboateng never had the chance to play football with other women until she took part in a tournament in Western Sydney. She used to train boys in her home country but finally got to play with other women at the African Cup NSW. The tournament, held in Blacktown, saw teams representing their countries of origin play off over nine weeks for the title.
If northern beaches coronavirus cluster spreads across Sydney, Christmas could be cancelled
If Sydney's coronavirus cluster spreads beyond the northern beaches, there could be dire consequences for Christmas celebrations.
NSW domestic violence victims now have more flexibility to break leases but the real estate industry is worried
Being able to break her lease without a financial hit is what Rani* believes kept her alive after her violent ex-husband followed her home after her daughter's birthday dinner. Were it not for the help of LegalAid lawyers, she would've been penalised $2,500 to break her lease — she admits the hefty cost caused her to hesitate. "As a migrant, it wasn't savings I had and I didn't know about my rights as a domestic violence victim," she said. "[But] I knew we had to leave.
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