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Vale Rosie Scott, writer and human rights supporter

Rosie Scott, the well-known writer and human rights supporter, died on May 4, after a long battle with cancer. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1948, she was the author of seven books of fiction, beginning with the collection of poetry, Flesh and Blood, in 1984.

In 1988, she published her first novel, Glory Days, which depicted the lives of Auckland social fringe-dwellers. The last of her seven works was Faith Singer, published in 2003, which explored the tumultuous world of the people who dwelt in Sydney's Kings Cross.

Geelong tells Liberals to keep penalty rates

Unionists held a protest in favour of penalty rates on May 27 outside the Liberal member for Corangamite Sarah Henderson鈥檚 Geelong office. Adele Welsh, a social worker and member of the Australian Services Union and Geelong Trades Hall Executive, gave this speech at the protest.

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Anger in WA as Labor reneges on gas promises

Residents across south-west Western Australia reacted angrily to a state government admission that unconventional gas exploration and mining could still go ahead despite an election promise to ban fracking in the state.

Balmain residents outraged over plans for more motorway tunnels

On the evening of May 22, more than 300 residents packed out Balmain Town Hall for a public meeting on the NSW聽Liberal government's proposed Western Harbour Tunnel toll road. This proposed聽6km tunnel will connect to the fiercely contested聽WestConnex tunnel interchange in Rozelle going under the Balmain peninsula, then under Sydney Harbour before connecting to the Warringah Freeway.

The meeting was called by NSW Greens Balmain MP聽Jamie Parker聽who condemned the project as "yet another polluting, destructive, private tollway."

Britain: Corbyn鈥檚 poll surge panics establishment

What seemed at first to be a depressing and predictable British election, with the hard right Tories under Prime Minister Theresa May set for a larger majority, has become a fascinating election contest.

Labour鈥檚 support has surged to the point where something unthinkable just weeks ago 鈥 a Jeremy Corbyn prime ministership 鈥 is now at least an outside chance.

Sydney bus drivers hold 'fare-free day'

Bus drivers across Sydney implemented a "fare-free day" on June 1 as part of their campaign of industrial action against the NSW government's plan to privatise buses in the inner west. Drivers from 12 depots around the city turned off their Opal Card machines and wore plain clothes to draw the attention of passengers to the threat to public bus services.

Queensland Labor: stop supporting Adani

For the briefest of moments 鈥 and to everyone's great surprise 鈥 it seemed like the Queensland government was finally going to do one thing right in relation to the Adani coalmine.

Anti-war coalition: 鈥楳ore troops not the answer鈥

On May 30, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was the first of the 鈥渃oalition of the willing鈥 to declare he would support US President Donald Trump鈥檚 request for more occupying troops in Afghanistan. Sydney Stop the War Coalition issued this statement which is abridged below.

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Sydney Stop the War Coalition opposes the Turnbull Coalition government鈥檚 decision to take up US President Donald Trump鈥檚 request and send more Australian troops to the quagmire in Afghanistan.

New national refugee action network formed

The Australian Refugee Action Network (ARAN) held its inaugural conference on May 20-21 at the Australian National University in Canberra. It brought together more than 150 activists and representatives of 48 refugee advocacy and activist groups from around the country.聽

Participants included a large number of activists from Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) groups. RAR held its own national meeting over the conference, and elected a new leadership. The proposal to form ARAN came out of discussion at last year鈥檚 RAR conference.

How the rich avoid tax and stay rich

French economist Thomas Piketty argued in his bestselling book Capital in the Twenty-First Century that capitalism arose from feudalism and is in many ways reverting to it.

Philippines: Duterte imposes martial law in new authoritarian step

Filipino police and military forces in the small city of Marawi on the island of Mindanao attempted to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf criminal gang, on May 23. By the end of the day, President Rodrigo Duterte鈥檚 government had declared martial law throughout the island for 60 days and launched a military assault.

By June 2, that ongoing assault, including air strikes, had killed at least 160 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

This dramatic escalation represents the further slide of Duterte鈥檚 administration towards authoritarian rule and a betrayal of his election campaign promise to pursue a negotiated end to Mindanao鈥檚 multiple insurgencies.

Lasting solutions to sexual violence on campus require real student input

In March last year, I ended an 18-month relationship that had become a physical and emotional torment. Although more than a year has passed since then, the harsh reality is that I 鈥 like so many other women 鈥 have been harassed my whole life simply because I was born female.

In Year 5, I was a topic of conversation among my male classmates because I was the first girl in class to start wearing a training bra. They would snap my bra straps every chance they got.