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BRISBANE Come to a Red Cinema screening of Pride on Friday August 28 at 6pm at the Activist Centre, 74b Wickham St, Fortitude Valley with special guest, Bob Carnegie, Queensland secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia. The film portrays the inspirational true story of the rainbow community鈥檚 solidarity with the miners鈥 strike in Britain under Margaret Thatcher. MELBOURNE
Did you hear the one about how Vegemite was going to be banned in some alcohol-free remote communities because it was being used to make homebrew? This wasn鈥檛 satire, this was a widely reported story in the mainstream press. It ticked all the right boxes for successful click bait, but there was just one problem: it was bullshit. The source for these claims? The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion.
Son of Nun album artwork.

For Baltimore-based rapper Son of Nun, the forming of Ryan Harvey and Tom Morello's new rebel music record label Firebrand Records offered an opportunity to redeem his rhymes.

After a huge amount of political pressure from the Victorian government, the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) agreed to postpone its August 21 tram and train strike, and Metro Rail and Yarra Trams agreed to return to the negotiating table. Had the strike gone ahead it would have been the first such strike in 18 years. RTBU members were clearly fed up with their respective train and tram companies, with 98% of railway workers and 99.4% of tram workers who returned ballots voting for industrial action.
West Papua supporters held a peaceful rally at the Prime Minister鈥檚 Sydney residence, Kirribilli House, on August 15 to mark the signing of the New York Agreement, which betrayed the people of West Papua. On August 15, 1962 an agreement was signed between the Republic of Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands concerning West New Guinea. A vote on a Dutch/Indonesian resolution on the agreement by the UN General Assembly on September 21, 1962 was adopted and included this statement:

African American singer-songwriter Janelle Monae, who is seeking to use her popularity to speak out against police brutality and racism, had her comments in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement cut from a performance on the NBC's Today show on August 14.

The future of the federal government鈥檚 anti-union, kangaroo court 鈥 the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption 鈥 is in doubt, following media revelations that the commissioner, retired High Court Justice John Dyson Heydon, accepted an invitation 鈥 not once, but twice 鈥 to speak at a Liberal Party fundraiser while serving on the body. The commission first sat on April 9 last year and media reports say Heydon received the invitation to speak via email just one day later, on April 10. He was approached again in March.

Tony Abbott with a funny face.

New polls show that had an election been held in mid-August, Tony Abbott's federal Coalition would have suffered a 7.5% swing against it. The Prime Minister鈥檚 prevarication on marriage equality and the scandal over entitlements are fueling the dissent.

Rally to close the refugee camps, Sydney February 21. Photo: Refugee Action Coaltion Sydney.

Fears are growing for the health of a 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker on Nauru who has been flown to Australia for medical treatment. Nazinan was allegedly raped in May while on day release in the community from the detention centre.

The financial scandal in the Health Services Union (HSU) involving its national president Michael Williamson and former national secretary Craig Thompson ended in the courts when both of them were convicted for fraud and theft offences. It became the trigger for Prime Minister Tony Abbott to announce on February 10 last year that he was setting up a Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption headed by former High Court judge Dyson Heydon.
Asylum seekers from Iran whose claims for refugee status have been rejected are being intimidated into 鈥渧oluntary鈥 repatriation. The Australian government does not have an agreement with the Iranian government which will not accept the forced return of those who have fled the country.
The Victorian government has fined three conservationists from the Goongerah Environment Centre who entered a logging coupe to document illegal rainforest logging. They were each fined $440 for entering a 鈥渢imber harvesting safety zone鈥. In April the three entered an area being harvested by VicForests to investigate concerns that rules designed to protect vulnerable plant communities were being flouted by the government logging corporation.