Australia

Coal & gas endanger shrinking Koala population

The Wilderness Society released the statement below on April 27. * * * Koalas must be included on the national threatened species list as part of Environment Minister Tony Burke’s 30 April announcement, especially in NSW’s Gunnedah region and the Pilliga Forest where they face the additional threat of expanding coal mining and coal seam gas operations, according to the Wilderness Society.

Court rules against Olympic Dam mine challenge

If you are thinking of challenging a mining development in the courts, be prepared to go through the financial wringer. You might think you have an open-and-shut case, that the federal government has shirked its responsibilities under environmental legislation. But if the finding goes against you, the government and the mining industry will see you bankrupt.

Qld Aboriginal rally tells police: ‘Racism has got to go’

Under the theme "Racism has got to go!", Aboriginal protesters and supporters held a rally against police violence outside the Queensland parliament on April 24. About 70 people attended the rally, which coincided with the Sydney march against police assaults on Black youth in that city. Speakers at the Brisbane rally expressed solidarity with the Aboriginal community in Sydney and said similar police racism was rife in Queensland. One activist said police had provoked him many times in the past and taunted him to fight them.

Whittlesea bus service changes lack public consent

Local bus services in the City of Whittlesea in Melbourne’s outer north may be thrown into chaos due to the opening of the South Morang rail extension on April 22. Rather than serving the new station and surrounding housing estates with new bus services, the Baillieu Liberal state government intends to re-route most of the existing Epping and Mill Park bus services to South Morang without public consultation and with little information to the public.

Six reasons to not watch ‘I Can Change Your Mind About Climate’

Queensland climate activist David White gives six reasons why he will not tune in to the ABC show I Can Change Your Mind About Climate. * * * 1. It is well and truly past the time for debating whether or not anthropogenic [human-caused] climate change is occurring. 2. Continuing to debate the issue gives the contrarians’ [deniers] viewpoint a validity and respectability that it should not have. It just encourages those with delusions and paranoia to continue to promote their fantasies.

Farmers tell students: CSG is a big threat

The Student Environment Action Collective (SEAC) of the University of Sydney hosted a public forum titled “Our Water, Our Land, Our Future” on April 19. The forum discussed the effects of coal seam gas (CSG) mining and the campaign against it in Sydney and NSW. Speakers included the NSW Farmers’ Federation’s Brianna Casey and Charles Thomas, along with Jacinta Green of Stop CSG Sydney.

Parliament protest condemns Kings Cross cop shootings

Speeches made at the Protest against the Shooting and Beating of Teenage Aboriginals by Police in Kings Cross on Saturday the 21st of April 2012.

Equal marriage campaigners protest against Margaret Court

Equal marriage rights supporters rallied at Margaret Court's Victory Life Centre on April 24. The centre hosted an anti-equal marriage event that evening.

Peter Boyle speaking at the April 24 rally

Victims of Kings Cross police brutality need justice

The article below is based on a speech by Socialist Alliance national co-convenor Peter Boyle at the April 24 emergency rally called by the Indigenous Social Justice Association to protest the recent police shooting and bashing of two unarmed Aboriginal teenagers in Sydney’s Kings Cross.

Memory and the anti-politics of Anzac

This article is republished from Overland magazine. * * * Anzac Day celebrates forgetting. Its revival, the transformation of a ceremony nearly extinct in the 1980s into today’s turbocharged festival, coincides with the excision from national consciousness of the most important aspects of the Great War.

Immigration dept broke its own rules on refugee prison transfers, says ombudsman

The immigration department ordered 22 asylum seekers be taken to Sydney’s Silverwater jail after protests in Villawood detention centre last Easter. But the department did not keep a complete record and failed to follow its own procedures or visit the detainees within the 24 hours required. On the advice of federal police, the Iranian and Kurdish asylum seekers were forced out of Villawood in the early hours of April 22 last year, accused of being the “ring leaders” of the spate of protests that took place over the Easter weekend.

O’Farrell to abandon NSW's sick & injured workers

The Injured Workers Support Network released the statement below on April 22. * * * The Injured Workers Support Group met in Bathurst with a key agenda item being the announcement of an inquiry into the NSW workers compensation scheme by the Barry O’Farrell NSW government. Injured and ill workers voiced their concerns about Premier O’Farrell’s recent announcement to “reform” the workers compensation system in NSW.