300 rally for Medicare
MELBOURNE — On November 7, a lunchtime rally protested the cuts to Medicare and called for the public health care system to be extended.
The speakers included Dr Tim Woodruff; Sharan Burrow, the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions; Martin Kingham, the Victorian state secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; and Dr Joseph Toscano, a co-covener of Defend and Extend Medicare Australia.
The rally was attended by more than 300 people, with a large showing from construction workers. Speakers highlighted the hypocrisy of the $2.2 billion subsidies for private health insurance while the federal government de-funded Medicare. The next rally has been called for 12pm on December 13.
Buskers beat Christmas ban
MELBOURNE — On November 5, 25 performers who busk on the street for a living protested outside the Melbourne Town Hall against a recent decision by the Melbourne City Council to ban busking in the Bourke Street Mall during the Christmas period. On November 8, the council was forced to rescind the ban.
Protest organiser Lyndsay Buckland, a well-known busker, spoke about the cultural value that buskers add to the city. Another busker claimed that the Christmas ban will be a huge disencentive for many buskers to continue working at all, as they rely on the lucrative holiday period for an income into the new year.
The protest marched down the Bourke Street Mall and held a performance/speak-out in the middle of the mall to highlight their capacity to attract large crowds.
$475,000 awarded following police assault
SYDNEY — John Fitzpatrick was awarded $475,000 in compensation on November 7 from NSW police following his claim that he was badly assaulted by three police officers.
In 1998, Fitzpatrick reported that he was punched, kicked, struck with batons, flung down a set of stairs, handcuffed and kicked in the groin. He was 17 at the time.
As part of the settlement, the police have refused to admit that the officers did anything wrong. Fitzpatrick was not convicted of any offence following the arrest, according to the November 8 Sydney Morning Herald.
From Green Left Weekly, November 12, 2003.
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