Vannessa Hearman
About 100 people rallied on the steps of Flinders Street station during rush hour on November 9 to call on Premier Steve Bracks Labor government to make public transport free and put it back into public hands.
The arrival of the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers in Australia in January forced Australians to confront two blights on this country’s history: the government’s appalling treatment of refugees and the same government’s ongoing support for the Indonesian occupation of West Papua. The nation held its breath (and some of us kept up the protests) while Canberra sent the West Papuans off to Christmas Island and decided on what to do next.
The United Nations Independent Special Commission of Inquiry released its report on October 17 into the violent conflict in April and May in East Timor. The 79-page report found that the frailty of state institutions and the weakness of the rule of law were to blame for the conflict that erupted following the sacking of almost 600 soldiers from the Timorese Defence Force.
The third annual national gathering of the Australian Coalition of West Papua Support Groups on September 16-17 affirmed the right of the people of West Papua to self-determination and decolonisation.
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