From the left and the right of Labor, progressive MPs, members, unions and voters within the party are fighting back against Prime Minister Julia Gillard鈥檚 homophobic views on marriage. At the same time, huge 91自拍论坛 of Labor鈥檚 support have shifted toward the Greens, or toward more radical, anti-capitalist alternatives.
On November 10, Paul Gibson became the 14th NSW Labor MP to announce he would not contest the March election. He said the ALP had abandoned its platform, and was simply driven by polls rather than principle.
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The last Aboriginal residents of the Redfern Block will be evicted on November 19 to make way for a new development by the Aboriginal Housing Corporation.
Aboriginal Housing Corporation CEO Mick Mundine told ABC TV鈥檚 November 8 Lateline that the development involved commercial interests, which would put money back into the corporation to support affordable housing for local Aboriginal people.
Tasmanian Greens leader Nick McKim will introduce a bill into state parliament this week in a third attempt to have same-sex marriage legalised in Tasmania.
Labor Premier David Bartlett said he would not support the bill, believing same-sex marriage is a federal rather than a state issue. The latest Galaxy opinion poll showed 62% of Australians support equal marriage rights.
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has voted for further industrial action, as vice-chancellor Fred Hilmer still refuses to negotiate in good faith on improvements to job security, pay and other conditions for staff.
A November 10 NTEU meeting voted for an indefinite ban on processing student results at the end of the second semester.
This is the second time staff have voted to carry out results bans this year. The dispute made headlines in July after management鈥檚 decision to stand down about 70 staff without pay.
GasLand
A film by director Josh Fox
In Palace cinemas from November 18
www.GasLand.com.au
In September 2006, theatre director and part-time banjo player Josh Fox received an unexpected letter in the mail: a natural gas company offering him $100,000 for permission to explore his family's upstate New York property, in the lush Delaware River Basin area.
The Refugee Advocacy Network organised a rally against mandatory detention on November 7, in response to the federal Labor government鈥檚 huge expansion of the system. About 400 people attended the protest.
A keynote speaker at the rally was visiting Afghan activist Malalai Joya. She drew the link between the occupation of her country (in which Australia takes part) and Afghans becoming refugees.
鈥淎fghans are leaving because of catastrophe in their country鈥, she said. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 bring democracy with occupation.鈥
A Union and Community Summer School, Winning Our Rights, will be held over December 10-11 at Melbourne Trades Hall.
Most left political traditions will take part in the school, which aims to strengthen unity on issues for which there is agreement.
The approach will be one of problem-solving. To usefully tackle the big challenges confronting the union movement 鈥 such as the fight against anti-union laws and the struggle for a sustainable economy 鈥 it begins by setting out the concrete questions these challenges pose to unions and labour movement activists.
More than 100 people attended a Brunswick candidates鈥 forum about planning issues on November 11. The high attendance reflected anger at the many high-rise buildings planned for the inner-Melbourne area. Six state election candidates addressed the meeting.
Socialist Alliance candidate Trent Hawkins said residents must be involved in decision-making. Planning minister Justin Madden has "called in" 230 projects so far this year, allowing him to overrule local council decisions. Hawkins said development decisions must involve the community.
The Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) released by treasurer Wayne Swann on November 9 shows that Labor is betting on the minerals boom continuing. While admitting that the global economy remains tenuous, and that the whole house of cards could collapse, it has no 鈥減lan B鈥.
鈥淭he update forecasts strong growth, falling unemployment and a big pipeline of investment that鈥檚 gathering momentum鈥, Swann said.
A November 4 World Bank and International Finance Corporation report, Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs, ranked Colombia as the 39th most 鈥渂usiness friendly environment鈥 in the world.
Colombia鈥檚 鈥淒oing Business鈥 score, which measures how much the country has improved for business, showed Colombia as the best improving economy in the region.
Missing from the report were the more than 500 unionists killed in Colombia over the past eight years, making up 60% of all unionists killed globally.
Federal Liberal/National Coalition leader Tony Abbott left Normanton, in far north Queensland鈥檚 gulf country, on November 10, having failed to win Aboriginal elders' backing for his bill to repeal Queensland's Wild Rivers legislation.
The existing Wild Rivers legislation aims to protect the wilderness rivers of the tropical north, and provide Aboriginal control of employment and economic development in the region.
The easy view to adopt after the drubbing received by the Democrats in the November 2 midterm elections would be that we鈥檙e back to normal, and Americans are just mental.
That is because the people leading the hatred of US President Barack Obama are characters such as Glenn Beck, spokesperson for the right-wing Tea Party. Beck hosts a TV show in which, during the last 18 months, he鈥檚 likened Obama to Hitler 349 times.
Every night, he must tell viewers that Hitler started out with a healthcare plan, then things spun out of control so he invaded France.
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