The National Tertiary Education Union is undergoing a leadership renewal that will strengthen its progressive role on industrial and educational issues. The process will also help the NTEU on the social and environmental fronts on which it is showing leadership.
Matthew McGowan, the former secretary of the union's Victorian division, has been elected as the union's new national assistant secretary. When McGowan headed the union鈥檚 Victorian division it succeeded in repelling serious attacks on staffing and educational standards at Victoria University and the University of Ballarat.
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Police broke up a blockade by several Aboriginal and environmental activists at Sandon Point on September 14 after they tried to stop land clearing by the Stockland property group.
Sandon Point, on the NSW south coast, has cultural significance for local Aboriginal people. It is home to a number of endangered and threatened species, which activists say are threatened by the planned development.
On October 10, climate activists will converge on the Hazelwood power station in the Latrobe Valley in eastern Victoria. They will use mirrors to try to create Victoria's 鈥渇irst solar thermal power鈥 station at the Hazelwood gate, to show solar is a viable alternative.
Shaun Murray from campaign group Switch off Hazelwood told 91自拍论坛 Weekly: 鈥淗azelwood is the most carbon-intensive power station in Australia relative to its output, and has been an ongoing target by climate campaigners.鈥
In 1992, Michael Franti from The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy warned that television was 鈥渢he drug of the nation, breeding ignorance and feeding radiation鈥. Almost two decades later, the addiction and the ignorance are accepted as the norm.
Anyone who questions the authenticity of how crime is depicted on television must be an extreme sceptic who spends way too much time online, questions the material reality of the world and thinks The Matrix is a documentary.
Five families are suing Xstrata, the Queensland government and the Mt Isa council over alleged lead contamination.
As part of their case, they commissioned US neuroscientist Theodore Lidsky to examine brain tests on Mt Isa children. His report found some Mt Isa children had brain damage from long-term exposure to lead, the families鈥 lawyer, Damian Scattini, told ABC News on September 17.
Building worker Ark Tribe appeared before Adelaide magistrates Court for the 11th time on September 13. Several hundred people gathered outside the court to support him.
Tribe faces jail for refusing to speak to the anti-union secret police force, the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
The rally was addressed by local and national trade union leaders. The highlight was Tribe's brief speech. He made it clear this was not just about him but about the right of all workers to organise.
A new dictionary to help deliver health care to Yolngu people of East Arnhem Land was launched in Darwin on September 7. Linguist Marilyn McLellan and Yolngu translator Yurranydjil Dhurrkay from the Elcho Island community of Galiwin'ku have produced a dictionary of 200 medical and anatomical terms in English and Yolngu Matha.
The dictionary has been produced and published by the Aboriginal Resource Development Services (ARDS), a not-for-profit organisation based in Nhulunbuy and Darwin.
Coal rules. That was the message delivered last week by the new Labor government.
Freshly appointed climate change minister Greg Combet began his ministership by telling the September 13 Australian: 鈥淭he coal industry is a very vibrant industry with a strong future. What you've got to do is look to how we can achieve in the longer term things like carbon capture and storage for coal-fired power stations.鈥
Australia now has a minority Labor Party government, backed by the Greens and independents. It is the best government available in the circumstances. It is certainly to the left of any government that would have resulted if either Labor or the conservative Coalition had won a majority at the elections.
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