Building workers walk off over safety
BRISBANE Building workers walked off 100 major construction sites in south-east Queensland on April 4 in response to the death of a worker. Unions demanded a safety audit of all building projects worth more than $3 million. The stoppages continued until a full safety audit had been completed on each site and potential risks resolved.Builders Labourers Federation state secretary Greg Simcoe said on April 3 that the action was the start of a union policy of automatic safety stoppages in the wake of any construction fatality.
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union state secretary Wally Trohear condemned the state government's failure to implement 72 recommendations of an industry health and safety review.
Torres Strait Islanders demand fishing rights
BRISBANE Indigenous leaders at a sea rights summit held on Thursday Island on March 24-25 have demanded commercial fishing boats leave Torres Strait Island watersNorth Queensland Aboriginal leader Murrandoo Yanner said the four-day summit had sent a clear message to commercial fishermen and government agencies that traditional owners were taking direct action to claim their rights.
Sea rights summit co-ordinator Ngagalaig Nona said the issue was simply a matter of traditional customary rights. A traditional system thousands of years old was thrown away when Captain Cook arrived, he said.
The conflict over fishing rights was brought to a head in March when a Cairns District Court found two Murray Islanders not guilty of robbing a licensed fisher of his catch, on the grounds that the accused had believed they had traditional rights to the fish and therefore were not acting unlawfully.