Ecuadorean indigenous groups鈥 years-long court battle to force oil giant Chevron to pay US$9.5 billion in damages for the environmental disaster known as the 鈥淎mazon Chernobyl鈥 began a new phase on September 12 鈥 this time in Canada.
Plaintiffs from Ecuador have been trying for years to collect damages it won in its 2011 lawsuit against Chevron in a court in Ecuador, where the multinational oil giant no longer has assets that can be seized.
THE Queensland government announced on September 7 that it will move all 17-year-olds out of adult prisons within 12 months of new laws being passed.
It plans to pass legislation in the Parliament by the end of this year to facilitate the change.
There were 48 17-year-olds in the state's adult prisons at the time of the announcement.
The move means 17-year-olds will no longer be viewed as adults by the courts. However, 17-year-olds currently before the courts would be placed in adult prisons, if sentenced to jail time, until the laws officially change.
On the 43rd anniversary of the coup that ousted the elected government of President Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973, a forum 鈥淐risis in Venezuela: An Eyewitness Report鈥 drew parallels with the current situation in Venezuela.聽
The forum was hosted by the Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network (AVSN) Brisbane and Australian Solidarity with Latin America (ASLA).
The Labor opposition has voted for the $6.3 billion in public spending cuts over four years proposed by the Malcolm Turnbull government. The opposition agreed to support 20 of the 24 cuts originally proposed by the government in its "Omnibus Bill" and put forward more cuts of its own to prove how committed Labor is to 鈥渂udget repair鈥.
Conservationists who gathered outside the Land and Environment Court on September 13 were extremely disappointed by the court decision to allow the continued discharge of polluted mine water into Sydney's drinking water supplies. They chanted "Wild rivers, not waste water" and "Clean water, not coal water" after the ruling.
Colong Foundation for Wilderness Director Keith Muir said: "4nature has failed to overturn the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) decision that allows Centennial Coal to discharge polluted water from the Springvale mine into the Coxs River.
The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) announced on September 13 plans to close its permanent research station on the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, which has been operating since 1948, and instead use a network of field huts to be used by seasonal staff.
The AAD said an independent engineering investigation had concluded there were increasing occupational health and safety risks, environmental contamination and risks from ocean inundation at the ageing base unless it underwent a major upgrade.
Mapuche Indigenous communities in the Argentine Patagonian province of Neuquen have denounced fracking in the Vaca Muerta shale reserves, which they claim are contaminating their land and groundwater, killing their livestock.
In a reaction to the NSW government banning greyhound racing, Racing NSW announced on September 13 that it will introduce a 1% levy on the $204 million it pays in prize money to look after horse welfare.
Racing NSW will form a new department, including vets and staff to retrain racehorses and place them within the horse community beyond their time on the track.
Its role will be to establish partnerships with riding schools, pony clubs and other equestrian organisations to promote re-homing of thoroughbreds.
The campaign to Save Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) has forced the Dean of the College to resign. It was a major demand of the fight to retain Sydney University鈥檚 unique, studio-based arts college in the heart of Callan Park 鈥 the jewel of Sydney's inner west.
Colin Rhodes announced his resignation on September 13. He will be replaced by SCA teacher Margaret Harris.聽
The announcement came as the student occupation of SCA's administration building entered its third week 鈥 the longest occupation against management dictates, in USYD history.聽
Aboriginal candidate Yingiya Mark Guyula has won an upset in the seat of Nhulunbuy, toppling sitting member and deputy-chief-minister-to-be Lynne Walker after preferences and recounts on September 9.
Guyula聽delivered the NT Labor Party its only defeat in the August 28 election 鈥 it now holds a whopping 18 seats in the 25-seat parliament. The seat was previously seen a safe one for the popular Walker.
Newly elected Senator Pauline Hanson gave her maiden speech in the Senate on September 14 鈥 20 years after her first appearance as a parliamentarian in 1996.
Her incendiary聽speech outlined a far-right agenda of racist bigotry, misogyny and attacks on welfare rights.
Suspected leftists held by the military during the mass killings that followed the Western-backed 1965 Indonesian military coup.
East Timor鈥檚 decision to take Australia to the Hague over Australia鈥檚 refusal to obey international law 鈥 and grant East Timor its legitimate share of oil and gas resources 鈥 comes just weeks after a tribunal at the Hague found Australia was complicit in the murders in Indonesia in 1965.