Partly due to luck, and partly due to the heroic efforts of severely overstretched firefighters, the huge bushfires that swept southern Western Australia in early February resulted in no loss of life. These devastating fires also provide a glimpse into our future on a warming planet unless we cut carbon emissions fast.
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This joint statement was issued by unions and campaign organisations on February 10.
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Australia’s universal health insurance scheme, Medicare, has ensured world-leading public health care is accessible for all, for over 30 years. The availability of bulk-billing has delivered a health system that is more cost-effective and equitable than in many comparable OECD countries.
Three Muslim students were shot dead in what appears to be a hate crime at the University of North Carolina on February 10. Democracy Now said the next day the victims were killed when a gunman opened fire at a residential complex in Chapel Hill.
Voices of the Valley released this statement on February 6.
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Latrobe Valley residents’ group Voices of the Valley has released new data and analysis regarding probable deaths resulting from the coalmine fire which began one year ago in the Victorian town of Hazelwood.
SCOTLAND AND WALES BAN FRACKING
The National Assembly of Wales banned shale gas fracking in Wales on February 4. It follows an announcement on January 28 that the Scottish government will temporarily ban fracking until a public health assessment is completed.
Early last year British Prime Minister David Cameron said his government was going "all out for shale".
Police attacked students with pepper spray during a protest against university fee deregulation in Sydney on February 13. About 30 students gathered to protest against education minister Christopher Pyne, who was giving the Inaugural Hedley Beare Memorial Lecture at the Sydney Masonic Centre. He planned to “outline the Australian government’s achievements in schools since coming to office”. Police sprayed students to stop them entering the lecture to take part in an advertised Q&A with Pyne.
Ten student activists from the NSW Education Action Network were trapped in the small elevator at prime minister Tony Abbott's Manly office on February 9 for more than half an hour. They were told by police and firefighters that the elevator had being switched off while they were inside it.
Students were midway through a protest of the Coalition government's attempts to push university fee deregulation through the Senate again.
A statement released by the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) in Diyarbakir says the union has 12,000 members who have pledged their willingness to assist in the reconstruction of Kobanê following the offensive from ISIS which left much of the city in ruins.
In response the attempted blackmail by the European Central Bank (ECB) of Greece's new anti-austerity SYRIZA government in response to its bid to renegotiate its crippling debt and austerity programs, the Party of the European Left has called for mass demonstrations from February 11-17 in support of Greece. You can read about the latest developments in Greece's battle with the European elites here.
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