Five thousand people attended the vibrant Climate Emergency Rally in Melbourne on June 5. Grassroots environment activists and groups came from all over Victoria to protest numerous environmentally destructive projects currently underway or proposed, demanding action instead be focused on renewable energy and public transport.
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Professor Ross Garnaut鈥檚 draft review of climate change policy options for the Australian government was released on July 4, with climate change minister Penny Wong due to release a green paper canvassing policy options on July 16. Garnaut鈥檚 report looks at the 鈥渃osts鈥 and 鈥渂enefits鈥 of mitigating drastic climate change through a carbon polluting trading scheme. It suggests tax cuts and 鈥渨elfare reform鈥 to compensate low-income households, which will be hit hard by energy price rises.
On July 3, 95% of NSW Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) members voted to take action on pay and conditions in the next 30 days, not ruling out disrupting World Youth Day.
These are some of the corporations currently doing business with the Burmese military junta. For a full list, see the Burma Campaign UK鈥檚 鈥淒irty List鈥 of corporations in Burma.
While the NSW teachers have won some concessions, they are continuing to campaign against the state government聮s abandonment of the state-wide staffing transfer system. The NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) decided at its June 14 state council meeting on a two-hour stopwork the week beginning August 25.
Below was posted at http://climateandcapitalism.com.
Venezuela聮s environment ministry has proclaimed sweeping restrictions on mining in the Imataca Forest, in Venezuela聮s south-east, according to a June 27 Venezuelanalysis.com article. Despite this, negotiations over mining permits continue with affected companies.
In Sydney, for the month of July, you can be arrested and charged $5500 for causing 鈥渁nnoyance鈥 or 鈥渋nconvenience鈥 to others (but mainly to the pope, or his supporters) in more than 600 places across Sydney 鈥 including railway stations, schools and tourist icons, such as the Harbour Bridge.
Adelaide City Council聮s zero-emissions solar electric bus, Tindo, which is the Kaurna Aboriginal word for sun, is a great example of what sustainable public transport looks like.
Hundreds of building workers took their demand for the secretive Australian Building and Construction Commission to be abolished to its headquarters on St Kilda Road on June 26. The protest was timed to coincide with the compulsory hearing of four crane workers, all members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).
The last month in Afghanistan has seen the anti-occupation Islamist Taliban forces stage a jailbreak of 1200 of prisoners in Kandahar, threats by the US聮s puppet Afghan President Hamid Karzai to attack Pakistan (the major US ally in the region), the killing of 11 Pakistani soldiers in a border clash with occupation troops, pro-Taliban insurgents reach the Pakistani city of Peshawar and the highest number of casualties for both US and other occupation forces for any month since the October 2001 invasion.
On July 2, an operation by the Colombian military succeeded in freeing French-Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who had held her prisoner since 2002. Betancourt was the highest-profile FARC-held prisoner and the action, which also liberated 14 other prisoners, captured world headlines.
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