Farida Iqbal gave this speech on behalf of the March Australia committee in Perth on May 18.
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This is a budget founded on lies. There is no budget emergency. The whole thing is a complete fabrication. The budget deficit is 34.5% of GDP, compared to the average of 117% among OECD countries.
But that wasn’t the only lie. Treasurer Joe Hockey told us we have to cut back the safety net because we are a nation of lifters, not leaners. When he said that, he lied to us about who is doing the lifting and who is doing the leaning in this country.
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Australians took part in an international March Against Monsanto on May 24. Hundreds of events in 50 countries protested against the world's biggest agricultural biotechnology company.
Workers cooperative EarthWorker demonstrated their newly made heat pumps and water storage tanks at Melbourne’s Trades Hall on May 18.
The cooperative aims to create local jobs and provide clean energy to help fight the climate crisis at the same time. It has just launched its first solar hot water systems, made at a worker-owned factory in Morwell.
During the event at Trades Hall, members of the cooperative were happy to demonstrate and explain the capabilities of their new systems.
More than 2000 teaching staff and students took part in a joint protest outside the University of Technology Sydney on May 21.
A strike called by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) was supported by a picket line formed by students, who were engaging in a national protest against the federal governments harsh education cuts.
The protest received extensive media coverage, including the Daily Telegraph, the ABC and Channel 7.
Thai army general Prayut Chanocha declared martial law on May 20 without consulting the caretaker government or any other elected representatives. Soldiers took over all radio and TV stations and are positioned along major road intersections in Bangkok.
Despite the fact that Prayut claimed that “this is not a coup”, his actions smell, taste and look like a coup. This is from a man who has blood on his hands.
Despite an ongoing outcry by a large group of her supporters, Judge Ronald Zweibel sentenced Occupy Wall Street activist Cecily McMillan to 90 days in jail on May 19.
McMillan had been found guilty of assaulting a police officer during the operation to close down an Occupy protest at Zuccotti Park in March 2012. McMillan says she elbowed police officer Grantley Bovell after he grabbed her breast, leaving it bruised.
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