The Victorian government has backed down on its plan to transfer Aboriginal teenagers from a youth detention centre to a maximum-security prison.
The government had planned to transfer 40 children in youth custody to a segregated wing of Barwon prison while the Melbourne Youth Justice Centre at Parkville was being repaired.
Hundreds of days of protests by refugees on Nauru, landmark court decisions, the Nauru Files, politicians鈥 offices occupied, parliament interrupted, suicides in detention, damning international reports and many more people becoming active in the campaign for refugee justice is the story of the refugee campaign this year.
The significant growth of campaign groups and the development of new ones means we are in a better position to end the indefinite and cruel mandatory detention of asylum seekers and refugees.
At a packed meeting on November 25, National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) members at Murdoch University in Perth expressed no confidence in the university bargaining team and called on the Vice Chancellor to intervene in the negotiations.
They voted unanimously to begin industrial action with a stop work between 8.30am and 12.30pm on December 7.聽
They will be聽the first university workers in this round of collective bargaining to take industrial action.
NSW Premier Mike Baird鈥檚 vision of 鈥淣SW Inc鈥 is under increasing fire as the year ends. Dubbed the 鈥淪miling Assassin鈥, 鈥淢ike the Vandal鈥, and 鈥淩obert Askin with a smiling face鈥, Baird鈥檚 approval ratings have plummeted as a number of his pet projects face rising opposition.
The former Liberal NSW Premier Askin was notoriously corrupt, renowned for his dodgy dealings with developers and his demand that his driver 鈥渞un over the bastards鈥 during an anti-Vietnam War protest in 1966 against visiting US President Lyndon Johnson.
Earlier this year Fremantle City Council decided to cancel its Australia Day fireworks next month, describing them as 鈥渃ulturally insensitive鈥. Instead, the council announced plans to hold a free concert in Fremantle鈥檚 Esplanade Park on January 28.
The event, titled 鈥淥ne Day in Fremantle鈥, features a concert headlined by John Butler, Dan Sultan and Mama Kin and will celebrate diversity and multiculturalism in Australia today.
Hundreds of service workers were while striking for a US$15 minimum wage and the right to form a union in cities across the United States on November 29. Organisers say the strikers remain undaunted.
Supporters of the NSW Hunter Valley community of Wollar held simultaneous rallies in Sydney and Mudgee on November 29 against a coalmine expansion that threatens to wipe out the village.聽
The NSW Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) is reviewing the proposal to extend the Wilpinjong coalmine. It held a public hearing about the project in Mudgee but Wollar residents and supporters boycotted it and protested instead. They said the process is stacked against them and the community鈥檚 legal rights have been taken away.聽
Residents responded to ambulance workers鈥 calls to protest the proposed shut down of Fairfield鈥檚 Ambulance Office, with about 200 people gathering on November 26 to show their opposition to the NSW government鈥檚 plans to close it down.
The government plan involves basing all local ambulances at a new 鈥渟uperstation鈥 at Bankstown, to coordinate with outlying paramedic response points.
Nearly 10,000 people attended two sold out Frack Off! concerts at Margaret River over the weekend of November 26鈥27, highlighting the growing opposition to unconventional gas across Western Australia.
The concerts included performances by John Butler Trio, Mama Kin, Pigram Brothers and Ten Cent Shooters.
There were speakers from the three regions threatened by unconventional gas 鈥 the South West, Mid West and Kimberley.
The nearly two-year struggle against the Perth Freight Link (PFL) freeway project is entering what may be a decisive period. While the campaign on the street has quietened somewhat, that may soon change.
While the Colin Barnett government beat a strategic retreat on Stage 2, it has declared its intention to push ahead with Stage 1 (Roe 8) through the Beeliar Wetlands. The Premier even claims that construction may begin before Christmas.
Tamils throughout the north and east of the island of Sri Lanka have defied police harassment and threats from government ministers to remember those who died fighting for an independent Tamil homeland.
November 27 is Tamil Eelam Heroes Day. In past years, people have been arrested for taking part in commemorative events.
Fast food workers, many of whom are young, have been left without a union fighting for decent wages and conditions.
On November 21, a new union 鈥 the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) 鈥 announced its formation. It is a rival in more ways than one to the conservative Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees Association (SDA).
The SDA, long led by Labor Party officials, has been at the centre of a national wages scandal in which 250,000 people are being paid less than the award by major employers including Coles, Woolworths, Hungry Jack鈥檚, KFC and McDonalds