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.
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A man from the remote indigenous community of Warburton caught fire after WA Police used a Taser on him on July 20. He was airlifted to a Perth hospital with burns to 20% of his body. The July 21 Age said he was in a critical condition in the hospital burns unit.
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More than three months after a fatal explosion on an asylum seeker boat, only one new detail has come to light: Northern Territory police still have not formally identified the five people killed from the blast, ABC Online said on July 18.
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The following open letter was sent to the Australian Youth Climate Coalition from Resistance. It is in response to the Power Shift 2009 conference in Sydney on July 11-13.
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As the Australian Labor Party holds its 2009 national conference, there’s an old union saying that’s never been more apt: if you don’t fight, you lose.
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Brisbane International Film Festival30 July — 09 AugustVisit www.stgeorgebiff.com.au, phone (07) 3007 3003
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The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) hosted a forum on the jobs crisis in Sydney on July 20. The Jobs Summit: Pathways to Recovery brought academics, economists and trade unions together to discuss the effects of the global financial downturn on working people, and solutions to the resulting jobs crisis.
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Fifty people attended a rally at Redfern station on July 18. The protesters said Railcorp’s proposed staffing cuts were unjustified and put commuters at risk.
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The picket against construction company Thiess in Rhodes, Western Sydney, has continued for more than a month. On July 23, protesters gathered at the picket in support of the four recently sacked workers.
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On July 16, satirical ‘Billionaires for Coal’ group rallied in Wollongong Mall to welcome a raft of state government decisions that will benefit the rich. The billionaires congratulated the NSW ALP government on its plans to expand coal mining and burning.
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Aboriginal leaders have questioned the motives behind the NT intervention policy after the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) failed to find evidence of organised pedophile rings — a key motivation of the policy produced by then-Aboriginal affairs minister Mal Brough in 2007.
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Former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was among a group of activists who made international news when they were seized from their boat, the Spirit of Humanity, and imprisoned by the Israeli military on June 30.