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The Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation and the University of Tasmania have joined forces for a refreshing new study on Black鈥搘hite relations in Darwin.

is the 鈥渇irst study to undertake comprehensive research on how Aboriginal people view settler Australians and settler Australian culture鈥, according to UTas鈥檚 announcement of the study鈥檚 early findings.

South Korea is currently in a vortex of an unprecedented political crisis.

President Park Geun-hye is under huge pressure to resign after a series of exposures of her shameful scandals related to Choi Soonshil, her friend of 40 years and daughter of Reverend Choi Tae-min who allegedly dominated a young Park after the 1975 assassination of her mother.

The existence of drug markets 鈥 and the struggles around them 鈥 raise a number of important sociopolitical and structural issues for analysis.

The expansion of markets for psychoactive substances was a strategic initiative by European companies in the development of capitalism, slavery and imperialism. Initially there were no illicit markets but the licit industries included the critical sugar (and rum) industry in Haiti, Jamaica, Colombia and other countries and the tobacco industry in the US South.

As the year draws to a close, Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing British Labour Party leader, might give a short sigh of relief. After one of the stormiest year in British politics for generations, he is one of the few who will enter 2017 in a stronger position.

Refugee rights protesters in Parliament on November 30.

The date November 30, 2016 will surely go down in infamy through all history 鈥 or at least until the developing ecoholocaust being worsened by Australian government policies destroys the basis for human civilisation and renders meaningless the concept of history. So until about 2030, at least.

On that day, in Canberra, a terrible assault on democracy took place. It pains me to write this, but Parliamentary Question Time 鈥 that institution all freedom loving people throughout the world hold so dear 鈥 was delayed for 40 minutes by chanting protesters in the public gallery.

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.

The Zika virus, borne by the mosquito Aedes aegypti, was declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on November 18 to no longer be a global emergency, to the dismay of many health workers around the world. This decision will minimise the amount of research and public vigilance against Zika infection.

Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale has pledged to introduce a private senator鈥檚 bill by the end of the year for a 鈥渟ugar tax鈥 which he estimates would claw $500 million from the country鈥檚 shopping list each year.

The legislation which Di Natale has hailed as an 鈥渙besity prevention strategy鈥, has raised ire among his own ranks who have labelled the policy a 鈥渃aptain鈥檚 call鈥.