The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade tabled its , Principles and Practice 鈥 Australian Defence Industry and Exports, in Parliament in December 2015. The report made 19 recommendations about how the Australian government should increase its support of Australian arms exports, which largely reflected the wishes of arms companies.
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Sydney may be in the grip of an apartment boom, but the construction of thousands of units across the city has done little to put a lid on rents, according to an analysis of the latest rental data.
Apartment living became more expensive in Sydney in the year to September 2016, after rent increases in all but three of the city's local government areas, according to the NSW Tenants' Union Rent Tracker report.
Tenants' Union advocacy and research officer Leo Patterson Ross said: "Apartment rents are growing faster than house rents at the moment."
Condemning Donald Trump鈥檚 cruel bigotry is easy 鈥 well, OK, maybe not for the Australian government, but for actual human beings with functioning consciences.
Then again, our country is so screwed up, our government鈥檚 response to the rise of the most extreme racist authoritarian president in US history is to ask him if he鈥檚 still ok to take desperate asylum seekers we won鈥檛 help, coz we are sick of the expense of torturing them in isolated hellholes.
New Premier Gladys Berejiklian is already on the run, after only a couple of weeks in the job.
Since taking over from disgraced former premier Mike Baird on January 23, Berejiklian has managed to cobble together a new cabinet of misfits, but is already reported to be preparing to dump one of Baird's signature policies 鈥 the forced amalgamation of the state's local councils.
People across the world are rising up, angry at the failure of governments to listen to their concerns or prioritize their lives over the profits of big business.
On January 12, Perth joined this movement when more than 1000 鈥減rotectors鈥, as they have dubbed themselves, descended on the Roe 8 construction site to protest the state government鈥檚 efforts to build a freeway through the Beeliar Wetlands. Roe 8, which is part of greater freeway known as Perth Freight Link has ignited some of the most sustained community opposition Perth has ever seen.
The dairy industry is in crisis and dairy sustainability is under attack.
In Victoria 鈥 where most dairy farms are 鈥 Australia鈥檚 largest processor, farmer-owned co-operative Murray Goulburn, allowed outside investors to become members, to get the funds to build more infrastructure to take advantage of export opportunities. Murray Goulburn prioritised paying returns to those investors out of their 2016 $44 million annual profit, rather than to the farmers who supply the product.
Dave Oliver announced his resignation as secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions on January 31 after five years in the post. Vice-president Sally McManus is likely to take the role.
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) has urged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to immediately halt Centrelink鈥檚 automated debt recovery system, protect government whistleblowers and end an ongoing 鈥渁buse of government power鈥 that is causing distress and financial hardship to some of Australia鈥檚 most vulnerable people.
ACOSS joined a wide range of charities, welfare groups, legal bodies, unions and advocacy services, which have all expressed serious reservations about the accuracy and fairness of the debt recovery system.
Santos released an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on February 1, declaring it intended to develop a controversial gas reserve in Narrabri, in north western New South Wales.
Farmers, townspeople, Traditional Owners and environmentalists are opposed to the proposed gas field: an overwhelming 96% of landholders, representing 3.2 million hectares of land over which Santos holds leases, have declared their lands 鈥済asfield free鈥.
Santos wants to drill 850 wells at 425 sites on about 1000 hectares in and around the Pilliga State Forest, near Narrabri.
A rally organised by Australians for a Free West Papua in support of West Papuan independence was held outside the Indonesian Consulate in Darwin on January 31.
Maritime Union of Australia NT secretary Thomas Mayor pledged the MUA鈥檚 help to grow the campaign for a Free West Papua. The rally burned a copy of the Lombok Treaty.
The West Papuan struggle continues to gain momentum as the facts about the West Papua struggle become known via social media.
The government has not made a mistake with the Centrelink robo-debt notices. It knows it is sending out incorrect notices.
Centrelink staff warned management the notices would be wrong and the new debt recovery system would incorrectly claim overpayments.
The world has reacted in anger, solidarity and protest to US President Donald Trump鈥檚 Muslim immigration ban.
Taxi drivers have gone on strike, major corporations such as Google are condemning it and protests continue at airports across the US.
Germany鈥檚 Angela Merkel and Britain鈥檚 Theresa May, not known as advocates for human rights, are speaking up in opposition.
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