Australia

A student at a Hobart High School was suspended two weeks ago for dying his hair a bright colour.

The latest issue of the Socialist Alliance’s national discussion bulletin, Alliance Voices, is out, in a new web-based format. It can be found at http://alliancevoices.blogspot.com.

On September 30, more than 400 people gathered on the courthouse lawns in Mparntwe-Alice Springs to demand an end to the Northern Territory intervention.

Environment groups are calling for the dredging of the Yarra River to stop immediately until there has been an investigation into whether there is radioactive waste in sediments of the river.

Train drivers employed by Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore operations in transporting iron ore in the Pilbara struck on October 11 and will stage a 24-hour stoppage on October 22 .

HOBART — Overnight on October 12, 20 activists staged a protest against logging operations in the Florentine Valley. The protest was organised by environment group Still Wild Still Threatened.

PERTH — The recent formation of a Liberal-National government in WA has caused the “Say No to GMO” campaign to plan a public rally on October 30 to oppose the conservative parties’ declared support for GM crops.

The vanishing protest The October 13 meeting of the Parramatta Your Rights at Work group received a visit from a young organiser from Unions NSW, whose lamentable job it was to report on the future of the campaign against power

Around 600 members of the Australian Tamil community converged on Canberra on October 14 to protest Sri Lankan foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama’s visit to Australia to meet with foreign minister Stephen Smith. Bogollagama was addressing an invite-only audience of Australian journalists inside the National Press Club.

With the release of its third report into corruption in Wollongong City Council, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) recommended charges be laid against 11 people for 139 criminal offences.

The Queensland Plumbers Union says the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) is a gross waste of taxpayers’ [money] and called for it to be scrapped after a case against the union was thrown out of court.

The Parramatta Climate Action Network (ParraCAN) will stage a Walk Against Warming (WAW) in Parramatta CBD on November 15, as a lead-in to the city-wide event being organised at 11am.