Sue Bolton

Police harassment of Melbourne’s Indigenous community will likely increase as a result of a new law banning public drinking in the City of Yarra. The City of Yarra includes the suburbs of Fitzroy, Richmond and Collingwood.

Justice and Freedom for Ceylon Tamils is a human rights action group based in Melbourne. It was formed in 2007. A spokesperson for the group, Nagamuthu Wickiramasingham, told Green Left Weekly that Tamil refugees had good reason to flee the brutal Sri Lankan regime by boat.

Workers at Autoliv, a manufacturer of automotive safety equipment in Melbourne, took industrial action in early September for better wages and conditions. The second stoppage ever for the workers delivered an early finish each week of one hour and five minutes; redundancy payments; payout of all sick leave if workers leave the company; and a pay increase of 4.2% over two years, up from 2%.

MELBOURNE — Ambulance workers in Victoria have stepped up their campaign for a 10-hour break between shifts and for wage justice. A mass meeting of 400 ambulance officers voted on August 4 that they would not work on their days off.

British filmmaker Ken Loach’s decision to withdraw his film Looking for Eric from the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) has led to a storm of debate.

About 5000 people turned out for the government-organised Harmony Day march through Melbourne on July 12.

Echoing some of the slogans of protesters in Iran, about 80 Iranians from Melbourne and Sydney chanted “Rockets, guns and Basiji [state-run militia] do not scare us anymore” and “Khomeini you are Pinochet, Iran is not Chile” outside the Iranian embassy in Canberra on July 9.

On May 31 in Melbourne, 5000 angry students marched against the increasing number of violent attacks on Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students.

Telstra workers took their campaign for a new enterprise bargaining agreement to the streets on May 27, with a farewell to former Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo.

Palestinian supporters in Melbourne and Sydney rallied on March 15 to commemorate 61 years since the Palestinian Nakba — the day of the catastrophe.