The 鈥渋ncommunicado detention without judicial scrutiny鈥 of 153 Tamil asylum seekers has turned the world's eyes on Australia's refugee policy and brought many questions into the spotlight.
The first question was raised by 53 international law scholars from 17 Australian universities, who after the government revealed it had handed over 41 passengers of an asylum boat to the Sri Lankan navy.
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The number of victims of Israel鈥檚 merciless bombing of Gaza reached 90 fatalities as of July 10, with several members of individual families among the dead.
One such family is that of 75-year-old Muhammad Hamad of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. Six members of his family were killed when Israel bombed the home of his 30-year-old son Abd al-Hafez Hamad, a commander with the armed group Islamic Jihad, on July 8.
More than 45,000 people rallied against the federal budget in cities around the country on July 6, with sizeable crowds in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
The 鈥淏ust the Budget鈥 Sydney rally was organised by Unions NSW. Union flags were prominent in the crowd, which reached more than 10,000, making it one of the bigger union mobilisations in recent times.
Victorian planning minister Matthew Guy approved stage one of the East West Link toll road on June 30, ignoring key recommendations from the planning panel to reduce impacts from the project.
Guy said he had granted relevant approvals for the project on the condition that the Linking Melbourne Authority redesign parts of the project.
If there is one thing Prime Minister Tony Abbott will not stand for, it is attempts by the powerful to bully the weak.
Reports recently emerged that 10 mothers jailed indefinitely in the Christmas Island detention centre had attempted to take their own lives. With sick children, the women apparently believed the children might have greater chance of better treatment if they were unaccompanied.
Days of Israeli bombings had killed more than 100 people in the Gaza Strip by July 11, ElectronicIntifada.net said that day. The dead included many children. It comes after large-scale raids and many arrests in the occupied West Bank.
In response to this drastic escalation in 鈥渃ollective punishment鈥 of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) national committee issued the statement below.
A front page article in the Australian on July 11 reported claims that 鈥渁sylum-seekers are coached and encouraged to attempt self-harm by refugee advocates who then use the incidents as political capital鈥.
The allegations were made by former director of offshore processing Greg Lake, who said when he worked at what is now the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, 鈥渟ome refugee advocates were clearly urging asylum-seekers to self-harm as a form of protest so they could put out a press release about it鈥.
The Nordic Model is touted as a way to abolish the sex industry without harming or criminalising sex workers. Under the Nordic Model, at least in theory, providing sexual services in exchange for money is not criminalised, but paying for sexual services or living off the earnings of another鈥檚 sex work are criminal acts.
Pasi Sahlberg is an educator and past policy advisor in Finland, author of books on education and currently a visiting Professor of Practice at Harvard University鈥檚 Graduate School of Education. He spoke to a meeting of teachers and union activists in Melbourne on June 19.
He agreed with what Australian teachers have argued for years: that great schools are well funded on a needs basis, are not publicly ranked for performance, have small classes, have teachers that are highly regarded and trusted and value all subject areas equally.
A recent death on the Melbourne waterfront on May 20 was the latest fatality in the stevedoring industry in Australia, and the latest safety issue on a workplace controlled by Toll Holdings.
Statistically, waterside workers are more likely to be killed on the job than any other Australian worker.
Not a week, nor even a day, goes by without a new outrage from the Tony Abbott government. One recent outrage was when Abbott declared that Australia was 鈥渦nsettled鈥 before the British invasion 鈥 taking us back to the days of terra nullius.
Women鈥檚 crisis shelters in New South Wales are in a state of upheaval. There are concerns that critical services are about to be shut down.
In inner-Sydney there will be no women鈥檚 only, specialist refuges operating in the near future. The New South Wales government鈥檚 鈥淕oing Home Staying Home鈥 reform plan will force at least in metropolitan Sydney 20 specialist women鈥檚 shelters to close so that more services in regional areas across the state can be opened.
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