Australia

Allan Rees, spokesperson for the No Aircraft Noise (NAN) party, believes that the site south of Wilton must be assessed as a replacement airport for Sydney. “This is the only way to end the growing noise nightmare for 100,000 people,” he said on May 9.   NAN has campaigned for decades to get the Sydney airport moved out of the city on the grounds of its detrimental health and environmental impacts.

The statement below was released by the Refugee Action Coalition on May 11. *** A Tamil refugee with an ASIO negative security finding attempted suicide in the early hours of May 11. He is the second ASIO negative Tamil refugee to attempt suicide in less than a month at the misnamed Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) detention centre. The Tamil man, in his early 30s, had attempted suicide by hanging and was dropped down by fellow refugees who found him at around 1.30am this morning.

Residents of St Peters have been shocked to discover the company that planned to drill for coal seam gas (CSG) in their community never had a formal land access agreement with the owners of the proposed site.

Since WikiLeaks raised the ire of the US government in 2010 through the publication of leaked diplomatic cables, PM Gillard’s conduct towards Australian founder Julian Assange has been reprehensible. Gillard is yet to apologise for her inflammatory claims that Assange had acted illegally, despite the Australian Federal Police’s subsequent findings that he had broken no laws. Her remarks were made at a time when she should have been defending Assange from the US politicians calling for his assassination.

Community Action Against Homophobia released the statement below on May 10. * * * Marriage equality advocates are preparing to hit the streets across Australia on Saturday May 12 in a national day of protest, just as US President Obama declares his support for equal marriage rights.

The Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney released the statement below on May 9. * * * Remote NT communities are joining with the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown in a pledge to challenge the implementation of 'Stronger Futures' legislation which is set to be debated in the Senate.

Stop CSG Sydney released the statement below on May 10. * * * Stop CSG Sydney welcomes the ASX announcement today that Dart Energy will not drill in St Peters. However, after 18 months of dealing with Dart Energy they remain cynical and will not abandon their campaign until the well is completely off the table.

An enthusiastic group of twenty people gathered for the inaugural meeting of the local Repower Port Augusta group on May 8 at the Cooinda Club in Port Augusta, South Australia. The group said its purpose was to raise awareness and build broad support in the community for concentrating solar thermal power to replace the ageing coal-fired power stations in Port Augusta. Melbourne-based renewable energy research group Beyond Zero Emissions recently released a report detailing how Port Augusta could become a renewable energy hub.

Green Left Weekly hosted a forum at the Brisbane Activist Centre on May 8 called “Challenges facing the Queensland labour movement: Where to now for the unions under a Liberal National Party government?” The meeting heard from Mark Taylor, a workplace delegate for the Together union in the Brisbane City Council and a state council delegate for the Queensland Greens. It also heard from Marg Gleeson, an Australian Services Union (ASU) delegate in the community housing sector and Socialist Alliance activist.

The National Welfare Rights Network released the statement below on May 9. * * * “The nation’s budget is now in the black but unfortunately more single parent families are in the red,” said Maree O’Halloran, President of the National Welfare Rights Network today in a preliminary response to the May 8 federal budget. “There are some small but significant gains in the budget for people made redundant and for those currently looking for work, studying or/and caring for children.

Louise Steer, public officer for Stop CSG Sydney, made the remarks below at Marrickville Council’s May 8 meeting.

The Australian Youth Affairs Coalition released the statement below on May 9. * * * The peak body for youth affairs in Australia has welcomed last night’s budget measures that support a fair go for young Australians, but continues to call on the Gillard government to ensure that financial assistance is raised to levels that ensure young Australians are not living below the poverty line.