鈥淎ustralia is at a crossroads,鈥 said Liam Flenady, Socialist Alliance candidate for Griffith on July 5.
鈥淥ne path leads to more austerity, more oppression of minorities, more environmental destruction; the other leads to a just, equal and sustainable society. There is no middle path.
鈥淲e require a fundamental change to our economic and political system to build the future we need.鈥
Flenady has pledged to put a different kind of politics on the agenda in Griffith in the upcoming federal election, one that puts the needs of the 99% in front of the greed of the wealthy 1%.
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One thousand firefighters from around Victoria descended on parliament house on July 1 to protest Premier Denis Napthine鈥檚 cuts to the fire services budget.
United Firefighters Union (UFU) state secretary Peter Marshall said that as of July 1, the Napthine government鈥檚 fire services levy collection will increase 鈥渇rom $322 million [in 2009] to $654 million [last year].
鈥淭he government is collecting more, but it is putting $157 million of the fire services levy in a bank account to help the government鈥檚 coffers鈥.
Former US marine and anti-war activist Vincent Emanuele is making his second speaking tour of Australia during June and July. A member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Emanuele is speaking to audiences about the US military machine.
At a meeting in Melbourne where Emanuele spoke on July 4, the film On the Bridge was also screened. The film is a series of interviews with Iraq war veterans opposed to the war, including Emanuele.
Fremantle city councillor and Socialist Alliance candidate for Fremantle, Sam Wainwright, spoke at a GetUp forum in Perth on June 14.
Reading the polls makes it clear that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is a hit. Overnight, Rudd's return has turned the tables for Labor. From staring down electoral annihilation, Labor is now on par with Liberal leader Tony Abbott. The election is a contest once again.
鈥淜evin07鈥 was a popular campaign that gained mainstream traction among Australia鈥檚 youth in the 2007 federal elections. Even though 鈥淜evin13鈥 lacks the same ring, his return has marked clear moves by Rudd to regain his attraction to young voters.
Only a month after Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett announced the government would push for the acquisition of James Price Point for future gas and petroleum projects, Shell Petroleum defended their proposal to build a $12 billion floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant off the Kimberley coast.
This follows Woodside Petroleum鈥檚 decision to abort plans to build a $40 billion onshore gas hub after concluding that it was not economically viable. Instead it will use Shell鈥檚 technology to develop its own offshore floating LNG plant.
Some environment NGOs have been quick to say that Australia鈥檚 carbon price has sharply cut carbon emissions in its first year. The claims not only contradict the evidence, but are positively deceptive: an exercise to cast a deeply flawed policy as a serious response to climate change.
The United States government hopes that negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will reach a final agreement this year. If completed, it will create the world鈥檚 largest 鈥渇ree trade agreement鈥 鈥 with serious consequences for the hundreds of millions of people living in the affected countries.
The 18th round of TPP negotiations will take place in Malaysia on July 15-25. This will be the first time Japan has taken part, joining the US, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Chile, Brunei, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru and Vietnam.
After days of non-stop rain, blue sky peeked out for a moment in Sydney. My partner and I grabbed the lead and took our dog for a much-needed walk in the park. But we hadn't gone two blocks down the road when to our shock we saw the front door of a long-time resident of our street covered with foul anti-Semitic graffiti.
"Fuck Jews," it read, "Heil Hitler". It featured three Nazi swastikas.
We were standing there in shock 鈥 even more so when we saw other people walking past without as much as batting an eyelid.
Sydney City Council officers, with the support of police, moved to close down the Occupy Sydney camp in Martin Place on the night of July 4. This follows a resolution passed by the council to evict the camp recently.
Occupy Sydney participant Lance told 91自拍论坛 Weekly that the council took away two truckloads of Occupy material that evening, most of which was to support the homeless community of the city, as well as political banners.
After fleeing and risking everything to seek asylum under Australia's laws, Iranian refugees now face being singled out and persecuted once again. This time, by the Australian Labor government.
New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd labelled 鈥渁 whole bunch of people鈥 as 鈥渆conomic migrants鈥 who 鈥渃omport as refugees鈥. Foreign affairs minister Bob Carr said boat arrivals are 鈥渋ncreasingly not people fleeing persecution鈥 because they are from 鈥渕ajority religious and ethnic groups鈥.
The Hazara community in Melbourne have been forced to hold another vigil after yet another bombing targeting the Hazara community in Quetta, Pakistan.
On June 30, a suicide bomber attacked a Hazara neighbourhood and killed more than 30 people, including children.
More than 1300 Hazaras have been killed in Pakistan over the past decade, with more than 4000 maimed, according to the Australian Hazara Students Group. Not a single perpetrator has been punished by the courts for these bombings which have become more frequent over the last three years.
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