Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN) WA is organising a 鈥淐ompassion Caravan鈥 to the detention centre in Leonora, WA, where more than 30 families are being held, including more than 40 children.
Some of these families鈥 applications have been 鈥渇rozen鈥 by the Gillard-ALP government in a political ploy to placate xenophobic sentiment toward refugees. This not only violates international law, but also punishes the bulk of refugees coming to Australia.
To show that not all Australians agree with these policies, we will travel to Leonora to take gifts for the families being detained.
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In one of her first policy changes after replacing Kevin Rudd as leader of the Labor Party, Prime Minister Julia Gillard dumped Rudd鈥檚 idea of a 鈥渂ig Australia鈥.
On June 26, Gillard said 鈥淎ustralia should not hurtle down the track towards a big population鈥. Instead, she called for a 鈥渟ustainable population鈥.
Almost four weeks on, however, Labor鈥檚 policy has no details 鈥 just lots of rhetoric designed to pander to fears that immigration (particularly asylum seekers) is causing a raft of social problems.
A draft program for the Climate Change Social Change conference, over November 5-7, has been released and is available on the conference website.
Major conference sessions include topics such as: 鈥淎 safe climate 鈥 what will it take?鈥; 鈥淐limate justice: their agenda and ours鈥; 鈥淔ood sovereignty for surviva鈥漧; and 鈥淭he global economic crisis and the ecological revolution鈥.
On July 22, the trial of construction worker Ark Tribe was adjourned until September 13. Tribe is facing up to six months鈥 jail for failing to attend an interrogation by the construction industry police 鈥 the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). Thousands of workers rallied around Australia to support him.
In Adelaide, 2000 people rallied outside the court over July 20-23. On the first day, the rally included a march on the ABCC's Adelaide office. One of the most popular chants on the march was 鈥淛ohnny Lloyd you're a rat鈥. John Lloyd is the ABCC head.
On July 22, Socialist Alliance Senate candidate Soubhi Iskander condemned the Australia First Party's leaflets attacking immigrants from Africa. The leaflets were letterboxed in the western Sydney suburb of Seven Hills.
Iskander is a refugee from Sudan and lives in Seven Hills.
鈥淭his is a call to incite racist violence against communities of colour", Iskander said.
鈥淏laming Africans for the social problems in Sydney's west that are the result of a lack of employment, affordable housing and public transportation is wrong.
Forget about the climate science and the record high temperatures. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has decided she doesn鈥檛 need a serious climate change policy to win the federal election.
In its place, she kicked off her election campaign on July 18 with a 鈥渟ustainable Australia鈥 policy. It promised a future of low population growth, which 鈥減reserves our quality of life and respects our environment鈥.
Opposition leader and climate denier Tony Abbott was quick to say he fully agreed with this vision, but was even more committed to it than Gillard.
On July 18, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) administration was forced to reinstate 80 staff members and start two weeks of intensive bargaining. As a result, UNSW union members voted to lift a ban on releasing student results on July 23.
The UNSW branch of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) imposed the ban from June 30 in response to management delaying bargaining for 16 months over union demands for improved job security, pay and other conditions.
The Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union ended its 20-day strike at Kennon Auto on July 20 after voting for a new agreement with a 10% pay rise and protection for the union鈥檚 conditions.
Kennon Auto used to be part of the now-liquidated Nylex group. The new owner, Maggie Dong, at first refused to negotiate a new enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) with the union.
Brain science 鈥 neuroscience 鈥 is big business, big science and big research. Neuroscientists are offering to explain, mend and manipulate the mind. Many see no problems with this.
For example, Eric Kandel, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on memory, said: 鈥淵ou are your brain.鈥
This is an extraordinary, arid reductionism. This is the idea that you can collapse the complex phenomenon that goes on in the human mind into being simply the working of cells or molecules.
On July 24, the NSW Combined Rail Unions announced they had successfully applied to take industrial action for their enterprise bargaining agreement in 2010.
Of key concern to the unions are safety and service levels, which have declined because of a RailCorp staff review that has cut staff at many stations.
The CCTV system, a costly and inadequate method of security for train stations, is set to have its staff numbers cut 鈥 further endangering commuters and staff.
The Sydney Stop The War Coalition has been collecting signatures on giant petitions calling on new PM Julia Gillard to withdraw Australian troops from Afghanistan.
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