Britain鈥檚 public sector unions are set to unleash a wave of strikes starting on June 30 in response to the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government鈥檚 attack on workers鈥 pensions.
Unions have called a national day of action for June 30. Nearly 1 million public sector workers will strike for 24 hours.
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The lawyer who won access for refugees to Australia鈥檚 courts last year has gone to the High Court again to prevent a family being split up by the federal government鈥檚 鈥淢alaysia swap鈥.
Contrary to the popular belief that Australian citizens hold absolute rights to freedom and privacy, Australia continues to evolve toward a 鈥渂ig brother鈥-like society as the government strengthens the powers of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
With the support of the opposition, the government expanded ASIO鈥檚 powers to share information from wiretaps and computer access with other agencies. The expansion came with the Telecommunications Interception and Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Act, passed in March.
Huge demonstrations of the anti-austerity M-15 movement in 97 Spanish cities and towns brought at least 250,000 people onto the streets on June 19.
The federal Labor government put a new law before the Senate on June 14 to set up a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory.
The same day, opponents of the radioactive waste dump plan gathered outside Parliament House in Canberra to protest.
Federal resources minister Martin Ferguson has said the government鈥檚 preferred site is Muckaty station, 100 kilometres north of Tennant Creek. The proposed bill also gives the government the go-ahead to set up dumps elsewhere in the NT.
This article is based on a June 24 statement released by Socialist Alliance members in Tasmania.
How is the government getting away with this idea that a public-sector pension is a 鈥渓uxury鈥?
Is it something that suave bachelors show off, saying: 鈥淥nce I鈥檝e taken you for a spin in my Aston Martin, how about I show you the mid-range forecast for my teacher鈥檚 pension over a bottle of Veuve Cliquot.鈥
A pension is a necessity, so you might as well say we simply can鈥檛 go on enjoying the luxury of a sewerage system, given that the amount of waste we鈥檙e flushing is 35% higher than in 1996, so from 2015 we鈥檝e got to throw it out the window otherwise we鈥檒l end up like Greece.
Over three nights last week, hundreds of thousands of people watched something very rare: a Reality TV show that actually showed some reality.
About 120 people attended the Pitt St Uniting Church on June 18 for the launch of Refugee Week, which was the themed 鈥淔reedom from Fear鈥.
Five women singers from Sierra Leone in traditional dress and headgear opened the event, which was hosted by the Refugee Council of Australia and NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors.
The chairperson, SBS Dateline鈥檚 Yalda Hakim, who is also a former refugee from Afghanistan, said she had just returned from Tunisia where 100,000 foreign workers are crossing the border to escape the fighting in Libya.
Community Voice, a united ticket of the left and progressive community in Wollongong, was formed on June 18 after a thorough discussion focussed on putting local council back in the hands of the community.
More than 40 people attended including, Reverend Gordon Bradbery, who nearly won the seat of Wollongong in the recent NSW election; Dr Munir Hussain, chairperson of the Omar Mosque; leading members of progressive parties the Greens and the Socialist Alliance; independent and community activists; trade unionists and other activists.
About 150 protesters rallied at a mining expo in Toowoomba on June 22 to protest the expansion of coal and coal seam gas mining in the Darling Downs region.
They confronted state mining minister Stirling Hinchliffe to demand that other areas in Queensland should be exempted from coal seam gas mining 鈥 similar to the recent rejection of a mining permit in Toowoomba, the June 23 Brisbane Courier Mail said.
The public wants meaningful action to address climate change. The 2010 annual Lowy poll found that 86% of Australians support climate action. Forty-six percent said they supported strong action and a further 40% supported gradual steps.
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