Nick Fredman

Stephen Jolly: A fighter stands for parliament

Stephen Jolly, the Socialist Party candidate for Richmond, is a high profile activist with electoral runs on the board. He came to prominence with the campaign to reopen Richmond Secondary College in the early 1990s, and has been on the frontlines of many campaigns in Melbourne鈥檚 inner north since, including recent efforts to stop the East West Link and to defend public housing.

Victorian election special: Vote left and progressive

The Victorian Coalition government looks set to go down in an ignominious defeat at the November 29 state election. Several recent polls have given Labor a healthy lead of about 56% to 44% in two-party preferred terms. The Coalition was narrowly elected 鈥 to everyone鈥檚 surprise (including their own) 鈥 in 2010, and thus look like being the first one-term government in Victoria since 1955.

National rallies against black deaths in custody

National rallies were held on October 23 to protest against continuing Aboriginal deaths in custody. About 300 people rallied in Melbourne at an event organised by the Indigenous Social Justice Association, Melbourne and First Nations Liberation. The catalyst for the rally was the death of a 22-year-old Yamatji woman known as Ms Dhu in police custody in Western Australia.

Melbourne councillor says heatwaves should be treated as emergencies

Heatwaves are still not considered an emergency by state governments, but they should be. There was a 24% increase in the number of deaths during the four day heatwave in Victoria in January. An additional 167 people died in the week of the heatwave when the temperature was above 41 degrees for four consecutive days in Melbourne and more than 45 degrees in other parts of the state. In 2009, there were an additional 374 deaths during the heatwave in the week before the Black Saturday bushfires.

Moreland Council votes for coal divestment

The City of Moreland became the first council in Victoria to rule out direct investments in fossil fuels and the first council in Australia to start developing a strategy to move investments away from financial institutions that fund fossil fuel developments, after a vote at its October 8 meeting.

Herald Sun squawks on likely loss of East West Link

The Herald Sun has launched a vitriolic campaign against two councils in Melbourne for their opposition to the Victorian government鈥檚 $15 billion East West Link toll road project. In an appalling lack of sensitivity, the paper has also sought to use the rape and murder of journalist Jill Meagher in defence of the paper鈥檚 pro-corporate and road-building agenda.

Protesters block World Congress of Families

Around 50 protesters held a picket outside the opening of the World Congress of Families on August 30, which finally found a venue in the bunker-like premises of the Catch the Fire Ministries in outer suburban Hallam. This sect gained notoriety for declaring the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires were a punishment from God due to the decriminalisation of abortion in Victoria. READ MORE: Why we disrupted the World Congress of Families

Two Melbourne councils challenge East West Link

The campaign against the East West Link received a boost on July 18 when the Moreland Council voted to take legal action against the Victorian state government in the Supreme Court in a bid to overturn planning minister Matthew Guy鈥檚 approval of the unpopular motorway. The proposed East West Link is an 18-kilometre tollway between the Eastern Freeway in Collingwood and the Western Ring Road in Sunshine West. In a special meeting, the councillors voted six to two to take the legal action, challenging the process by which the minister made the decision to give the project a green light.

Melbourne rallies for trains, against tollways

More than 2000 people marched in Melbourne on June 28 to protest the proposed East West Link motorway. The East West Link is to be a partially tunnelled toll road that would give commuters crossing the Yarra River an alternative to the currently overloaded West Gate Bridge. Protesters, however, said the East West Link will be excessively costly, will contribute to pollution and will generate far fewer jobs than an equivalent public transport project. Demonstrators also voiced concerns that the East West Link would erode Melbourne鈥檚 culture of public transport.

Unionists march in Melbourne to bust the budget

Central Melbourne was filled with union flags, political banners and home-made placards on June 12 as about 25,000 protesters marched through the streets in a 鈥渂ust the budget鈥 rally organised by the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC). The rally combined the colourful and humorous placards and diversity of participants seen at recent March Australia rallies, along with a much more substantial and organised union presence.

Victorian Trades Hall calls 鈥榖ust the budget鈥 rally

A determined and vocal crowd of more than 300 union activists packed an all-union meeting called by the Victorian Trades Hall Council on May 20. The meeting welcomed a call by the council鈥檚 executive for a weekday 鈥渂ust the budget鈥 union rally on June 12. Speakers from the floor were cheered as they pushed the Trades Hall Council and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to go further and organise mass delegates meetings, nationally coordinated action, and a clear focus on the demand to block the budget and bring down the government.

Marginal seats campaign won鈥檛 stop East West Link

Many people are looking for effective ways to fight and get rid of the conservative governments in power in Australia. Some have chosen the tactic of a marginal seats campaign. This involves intensive campaigning in the individual electorates where a politician holds the seat by a very small majority and is therefore insecure.