Campaigners against the mining companies鈥 push to open up the Kimberley region in WA to vast gas and mineral exploitation told a public meeting on April 19 that this was the 鈥淔ranklin Dam campaign of our time鈥.
The forum 鈥淪aving the Kimberley: Our Land or Gasland?鈥 was organised by Stop Coal Seam Gas, Sydney.
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Pay Justice Action released the statement below on April 19.
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Pay Justice Action (PJA), a grassroots activist group campaigning for equal pay, applauds the initiative of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) for making insecure work a focus for the whole union movement.
About 240 people attended a forum on 鈥淲ikileaks, Assange & defending democracy鈥 on April 19.
Presented in partnership with the WikiLeaks Australian Citizens' Alliance (WACA), the forum argued that conversations about WikiLeaks and its editor-in-chief Julian Assange are about much more than the organisation and the individual behind it. They encompass freedom of speech and the press, whistleblower protection, government transparency, the underlying tenets of our democracy and civil rights.聽
鈥漀o new coal! Save the Great Barrier Reef!" was the main theme of the rally held outside Queensland parliament on World Heritage Day, April 18. Six Degrees and Greenpeace Brisbane called the rally, which attracted about 50 people.
The rally came after the April 12 announcement by deputy premier Jeff Seeney that Gladstone harbour, which is facing environmental destruction due to coal industry development, might be removed from World Heritage listing.
Prime minister Julia Gillard鈥檚 April 17 speech on Afghanistan was widely heralded as a change of policy. It is and it isn鈥檛.
It does set out a schedule for a partial withdrawal of troops 鈥 thereby bringing Australia belatedly into line with the US drawdown of troops by 2014. But it also affirms that Australia, like the US, will not withdraw all its troops.
About 50 people attended an April 17 rally in King George Square to mark a global day of action against military spending. The rally, organised by , called for Australian military funding to be radically cut back in the upcoming federal budget.
鈥淚f the world cut military spending by just one-half of 1%, we could save the lives of 6 million children," Peter Arndt, from the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, told the audience.
Tasmania is facing a series of big, interlinked problems. These include:
鈥 a health system in crisis,
鈥 job losses in other public services causing big service inadequacies and unacceptable workloads and stress on frontline staff,
鈥 bleeding of skilled professionals and new graduates to other states,
鈥 the highest unemployment rate in the nation,
鈥 an economic recession, and
鈥 a rising cost of living.
At 2.36am, in the early hours of April 19, the student and Occupy Dataran encampment in Kuala Lumpur was violently ambushed by a big group of men. After the ambush, everyone sat down, and victims of violence started to tell stories of what happened. Here is a brief summary of the stories.
The 鈥 which means 鈥渃lean鈥 in Malay) called for a mass sit in on April 28. It did so due to suspicions that the country鈥檚 Barisan Nasional (BN) government was about to call a general election before addressing widespread electoral irregularities. The irregularities were confirmed by a review forced on the government by the .
crashes a Mantle Mining general meeting on April 16. One activist made it into the meeting to ask Mantle's directors how they justify trying to destroy Bacchus Marsh farmland for coal exports. The results are admittedly excruciatingly awkward to watch, but must-see viewing.
The Support Assange and WikiLeaks Coalition .
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The Attorney-General Nicola Roxon will be speaking on the subject of 鈥淩ule of Law and the Commonwealth Principles 鈥 Terrorism, Emergency Laws and Human Rights鈥.
Hundreds of committed citizens of Keerrong and The Channon form a human map of our roads and creeks. The legal system and governments have failed us. Now we're taking a stand. We won't let gas miners contaminate our water, air and land with toxic chemicals.
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