More deaths
Deaths in custody in Australia continue and are also not limited to prison and police custodial jurisdictions. There were 2043 Australian deaths in custody from 1980 to 2007; 72 deaths in custody per year from 1980 to 2000; 75 deaths per year from 2000 to 2007. Eighteen percent are Aboriginal. We have one of the world's worst deaths in custody records.
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On the surface, Labor PM Julia Gillard appears to have done an about-face on climate change in the weeks since Labor scraped back into government. Immediate action on climate change 鈥 especially setting a carbon price 鈥 is back on the agenda, she says.
The Labor minority government has given in to a Greens demand for a new parliamentary committee on climate change. In doing so, Labor appears to be backing away from its pre-election promise to delay new climate legislation until 2013.
In the lead-up to the November 27 Victorian state elections, the Council of Single Mothers Action Group has expressed its concern about the right of religious institutions to legally discriminate against gays, lesbians and single parents.
Until amended last year, Victorian Equal Opportunities legislation granted religious bodies many exemptions. This meant they could discriminate against many groups of people in employment and service provision. The amendments did not remove the right to discriminate against gays, lesbians and single parents.
A University of Newcastle student group, the Fairtrade Club, has had a win: a campus cafe has agreed to serve Fairtrade-certified coffee.
The club formed earlier this year. It campaigns for shops and cafes at the university to sell fair trade products like coffee and chocolate. It also organises awareness-raising events, like 鈥淔airtrade Fortnight鈥.
During recent protests in Villawood Detention Centre that followed the September 20 suicide of detained Fijian exile Josefa Rauluni, detainees who tried to help rooftop protesters with water and blankets were stopped by security. One man was bashed.
We have just three months left to raise $135,228 if we are to make our 2010 fighting fund target of $300,000.
This may seem like an impossible task but it isn't. Our supporters have raised $164,772 this year. We know we have the support out there to raise the rest.
Of course, these amounts are just spare change to the corporate fat cats who were partying at the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Sydney last week, but 91自拍论坛 Weekly readers and supporters have had to work hard to raise that amount for the fighting fund.
鈥淎fter the election: What now for refugee rights?鈥 was the theme of a September 29 Refugee Action Collective forum.
Wesley Widlend, from National Labor Students, condemned federal Labor鈥檚 鈥渄isgraceful display鈥 on asylum seeker policy. 鈥淢any members of the Labor Party consider the party policies inhumane鈥, he said. An immediate aim of the refugee rights movement should be 鈥渃ommunity processing of asylum seekers鈥.
The Greens鈥 Elissa Jenkins said it was 鈥渢ime for the Greens to listen to people's ideas鈥 on the goals of the refugee rights movement and for a 鈥渞eal campaign plan鈥.
Efforts to pass laws banning full veils, burqa or chador, in some European countries 鈥 particularly France 鈥 have put the issue firmly on the agenda in many other Western countries.
鈥淚 believe in capitalism. Capitalism to me is a spiritual concept. Democracy just gets in the way. Democracy is annoying. Let them buy stuff and eat cake. Where I come from, if you don't believe in capitalism you're going to hell.鈥
A 鈥淵es Men鈥 parody? No, these serious words of US billionaire investor Ken Fisher give an insight into the Forbes Global CEO Conference held in Sydney on September 28 and 29.
Wollongong's satirical Billionaires for Coal rallied in Sydney on September 29 in defence of the Forbes CEO conference, which brought together billionaires from across Australia and the globe. The three billionaires faced off against a group of activists dressed as pirates, who were protesting against the system of global inequality epitomised by the conference.
On September 28, a British Guardian reporter who interviewed me by phone published an article on the September 26 Venezuelan National Assembly elections titled 鈥淥pposition Gains Loosen Chavez鈥檚 Grip on Power.鈥
According to the article, I said the electoral results 鈥渟uggested the government should try to modify its radical discourse and accommodate the opposition, as long as it accepted the government鈥檚 legitimacy鈥.
On September 15, France鈥檚 Senate passed a bill banning women from wearing full Islamic face veils such as the burqa and niqab.
Similar laws are being considered in other European countries. In the New South Wales Legislative Council, Christian fundamentalist MLC Fred Nile has introduced a private member鈥檚 bill seeking to ban wearing the burqa. Neither major party supporta the bill, so it is expected to fail.
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