GLW issue 745, published 2008-04-02.

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Bass Coast council quits desal talks

The seven-member Bass Coast Shire Council, on whose land the Victorian Labor government plans to build a $3.1 billion desalination plant, voted on March 19 to drop its support for the project. In a March 20 media release, council CEO Allan Bawden

Qld Aboriginal wages stolen again

Members of the Stolen Wages Working Group (SWWG) walked out of a meeting with Queensland Indigenous affairs minister Lindy Nelson-Carr on March 25 when they were told that $21.2 million in promised extra compensation payments would be redirected to

Students march for a better future

SYDNEY — Hundreds of students from at least five university campuses joined the ’Demand a better future’ rally organised by the National Union of Students on March 19. The rally called on the new Labor government to increase education funding and to scrap the Voluntary Student Unionism legislation that has significantly undermined student organising. A speaker from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union extended solidarity from the trade union movement. The march dwarfed a pro-VSU counter-demonstration organised by Liberal students. There was a rally in Melbourne of 150 people and actions in other cities on the same day.

A rare and remarkable opportunity

Events such as the April 11-13 Climate Change — Social Change conference occur very rarely in the intellectual and political life of an Australian city. This gathering in Sydney will bring together an extraordinary range of speakers to tackle the theme of social action to stop climate change.