Australia

Stop CSG Illawarra released the statement below on September 12. * * * Along with yesterday’s release of the NSW Strategic Regional Land Use Policy, came the offer to renew 22 coal seam gas (CSG) exploration licences in NSW, including four in the Illawarra. These licences cover more than five million hectares in NSW. A new CSG production licence was also granted in Casino, and the freeze on fracking was lifted.
Australian lawyer and human rights activist Kellie Tranter gave the speech below at a September 12 forum at NSW parliament house titled "Assange, WikiLeaks & the Law in a Post 9/11 World". The forum was hosted by Greens MLC David Shoebridge with the Support Assange and WikiLeaks Coalition and the Sydney Stop the War Coalition. * * *
The Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network (DASSAN) released the statement below on September 11. * * * The Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network (DASSAN) has condemned Minister Chris Bowen’s announcement that asylum seekers will be moved to Nauru from the end of this week.
The Lock the Gate Alliance released the statement below on September 12. * * * The Barry O'Farrell government yesterday opened the floodgates to coal seam gas mining in NSW with Minister for Resources Chris Hartcher moving to renew 22 coal seam gas exploration licences including many of the most controversial and hotly contested titles in NSW.
The newly formed Rainbow Youth Collective was officially launched in Adelaide at a social gathering at the activist centre on September 7. The event also marked Wear It Purple Day — a national youth day against homophobia. About 50 young people from a variety of backgrounds attended throughout the evening. The launch provided an excellent opportunity for networking between people involved in different queer groups in Adelaide with a rich variety of interests, contacts and specialty areas.
The Socialist Alliance released the statement below on September 10. * * * The Socialist Alliance condemns the Australian government’s ongoing support for Indonesian security forces, particularly the Detachment 88 “counter-terrorism” unit implicated in human rights abuses in the occupied nation of West Papua and elsewhere in Indonesia.
The Lock the Gate Alliance released the statement below on September 11. * * * The Lock the Gate Alliance reacted to today’s announcement of the NSW government’s Strategic Regional Land Use Policy by saying that gates across the state would remain locked to coal and coal seam gas mining.
Stop CSG Illawarra released the statement below on September 11. * * * The NSW government today released its Strategic Regional Land Use Policy; plans the public was told would protect land and water. Stop CSG Illawarra has described the plans released today as a disaster and a broken election promise; and one that fails to protect drinking water catchments.
The Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA) and the Support Assange and WikiLeaks Coalition released the statement below on September 9. * * *
In richest-woman-in-the-world Gina Rinehart's twisted moral universe, workers in Australia need to work harder for less to compete with African mine workers (including an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 child miners in West Africa) who slave for $2 a day. She says that's what competition in the “global market” dictates.

Activists from the Refugee Rights Action Network WA and the WA Network for Human Rights in Tamil Eelam and Sri Lanka protested outside the Perth office of deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop on September 7.