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Victorian budget pushes law and order, despite falling crime rate

The Victorian Labor government delivered a May 2 budget in which a multi-billion dollar war chest was set aside for 鈥渓aw and order鈥 and new prisons. This is despite Victoria having the lowest crime rate in Australia.

It also continued with its neoliberal privatisation program, including the sell-off of the Land Titles Registry.

Victoria aims to employ one in every 400 people as a police officer or a protective services officer and, with thousands more prison cells available, presumably the state government calculates these people will have jobs.

Disability workers protest privatisation plan

"Disability 鈥 not for sale!" was one of the slogans shouted by Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) members as they marched on Parliament House on May 10 to protest against the Victorian Labor government's plan to privatise state-run disability services.

HACSU聽state secretary Lloyd Williams told the rally that Premier Daniel Andrews had broken a promise not to privatise public disability services in Victoria.

Photos: Students protest the budget in Canberra

Students held a protest on the eve of the federal budget in Canberra on May 9 to protest the proposed increase of higher education fees.

Photos: Fossil Free UNSW calls on university to stop killing the Reef

Fossil Free UNSW, as part of the global divestment mobilisation, took larger than life coral to the UNSW chancellery building calling on the university to divest from fossil fuels.

Good news (for a change)

WA councils support marriage equality

The Western Australian city councils of Bayswater and Fremantle passed motions of support for marriage equality on April 26. Both motions instruct the councils to write to the Prime Minister and all federal MPs, calling on them to make marriage equality a reality.

The motion passed in Bayswater "calls on the council to acknowledge 鈥 that many residents are disadvantaged by the current laws and that marriage equality laws have been passed in 22 countries around the world".

Standoff in Venezuela

Venezuela has been rocked in recent weeks by almost daily protests and counter-protests, as right-wing opponents of socialist President Nicolas Maduro seek to bring down his government.

While the media portrays these events as a popular rebellion against an authoritarian government, supporters of the pro-poor Bolivarian revolution initiated by former president Hugo Chavez say the country is witnessing an escalation in what is an ongoing counter-revolutionary campaign seeking to restore Venezuela鈥檚 traditional elites in power and reverse the gains made by the poor majority under Chavez and Maduro.

Denial delivers satisfying court room drama

Denial
Directed by Mick Jackson
Starring Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson & Timothy Spall
In Cinemas now

In 1996 the vile 鈥渉istorian鈥 David Irving sued US historian Deborah Lipstadt for libel.聽She had labelled Irving anti-Semitic because of his persistent claims that the Nazi Holocaust had not occurred.

Irving sued Lipstadt in London because under Britain鈥檚 libel laws, the burden of proof would be on her.聽In other words, Lipstadt would have to prove the Holocaust actually did occur.

Murray Goulburn: Dairy crisis hits new low

Australia鈥檚 largest milk processor Murray Goulburn has announced it will close manufacturing plants in three small rural towns: Kiewa and Rochester in northern Victoria and Edith Creek in Tasmania.

Murray Goulburn expects 360 people will lose their jobs. The closures are in areas where there are no other industries.

This will have a huge impact on these three local communities. The 700 residents of Kiewa-Tangambalanga will lose 135 jobs from Murray Goulburn's factory closure.

France: Le Pen loses, but struggle against Macron brings new challenges

Emmanuel Macron won the second round of the French presidential elections on May 7, receiving 58.21% of the vote compared to the 30.01% share for far-right National Front (FN) candidate Marine Le Pen.

Despite the apparently decisive victory, the vote signals continued political uncertainty in France fuelled by widespread disillusionment with France鈥檚 democracy. It raises questions as to whether Macron鈥檚 supporters, organised in a new centrist movement called En Marche!, will be able to form a working government out of legislative elections scheduled for late June.

South Korea: Right loses presidency after mass movement 鈥 what Moon鈥檚 win means

Moon Jae-in, of the liberal Democratic Party, won South Korea鈥檚 May 9 presidential election with 41% of the vote, easily defeating his arch-conservative opponent Hong Jun-pyo, who won about 24%.

The elections took place after the impeachment of conservative president Park Geun-hye for her involvement in a huge corruption scandal. Park, from Hong鈥檚 right-wing Saenuri Party (renamed Liberty Korea Party in a bid to rebrand), was forced out by the huge 鈥淐andlelight Revolution鈥. Millions of Koreans mobilised in an ongoing series of candlelight protests to demand her impeachment.

The elections also took place in a context of the threat of war in the Korean Peninsula with US President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration ratcheting up tensions with North Korea.

Labor votes down 鈥#MetreMatters鈥 cyclist law

Victoria鈥檚 Labor government voted down the 鈥#MetreMatters鈥 bill on May 10 which would have required motorists to give cyclists at least 1 metre of space when passing. Earlier in the day, Greens MPs had moved the bill in the upper house, where it passed with the support of Coalition MPs.

Ukraine: Italian anti-fascist activists at risk of prosecution

It is official: solidarity and activism are, according to the Ukrainian government, criminal acts. It seems paradoxical, but it is true.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Petro Poroshenko has demanded the Italian government extradite members of the so-called Anti-Fascist Caravan (AFC), a group of activists who recently visited the separatist region of Donbass in eastern Ukraine.