NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli announced that Aboriginal languages will be offered as an HSC subject from 2016, a decade after the NSW Indigenous Languages policy was introduced.
Students have been able to take Aboriginal language courses from Kindergarten to Year 10 since 2005, giving teachers time to prepare for teaching the HSC course.
Of the 35 Aboriginal languages in NSW, 19 are currently being offered as language courses across the state.
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In our “A World to Win” series, Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance members have expressed their desires for a different future.
From universal basic income, green economies and reproductive rights, we have discussed demands that can change the trajectory of our current world towards somewhere greener, freer and more just.
In this final article of the series, Angus McAllen raises the demand of “Everything for Everyone”, an idea of a society without classes, inequality and poverty.
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Over the past few months, refugees who were once deemed by ASIO to be a threat to national security have been gradually released from indefinite detention. It appears that one of Australia's most internationally criticised immigration detention policies is being quietly abandoned.
The most high-profile victims of this policy, Ranjini and her son, who was born in detention and had never known a day of freedom, were released on November 13.
On November 22, the Australian Greens launched their updated renewable energy plan Renew Australia.
The plan improves on their 2013 Clean Energy Roadmap, which was light on detail, merely calling for the Renewable Energy Target (RET) to be raised to 90% by 2030, more funding for the commercialisation of renewable energy technology and improved coordination and planning of the electricity grid.
ADELAIDE
Join us at the Green Left Weekly end-of-year party. Vegetarian-friendly BBQ lunch. Drinks available. No BYO please. Saturday December 19 at 12pm. Black Forest. For address phone Laura 0402 435 891.
BRISBANE
Come to a forum on Ecosocialism: A planet to save, a world to win. Hosted by Socialist Alliance. Saturday December 12 at 12pm. Brisbane Activist Centre, 74b Wickham St, Fortitude Valley. Ph Angus 0431 935 576.
CANBERRA
“We, the developing countries, are dignified and sovereign nations and victims of a problem that we didn’t cause.”
This statement was made six years ago, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) at the Copenhagen Climate Conference.
Family members and supporters gathered on December 2 outside the inquest into the death in custody of 22-year-old Ms Dhu. The protest was a response to the shocking evidence of neglect and institutionalised racism revealed at the inquest and the fact that the conclusion of the inquest has been delayed so that police testimony won't be heard until at least March 2016.
British parliament sat late into the night on December 2 before eventually voting up Prime Minister David Cameron's proposal to join the US-led air war in Syria.
Opposition Labour Party leader and veteran anti-war activist Jeremy Corbyn argued strongly against bombing Syria, as did protesters outside parliament. However, many right-wing Labour MPs supported the government.
We have all heard the story of when, during a visit to the United States, a journalist asked Mahatma Gandhi what he thought of Western civilisation, and Gandhi is said to have replied that he thought it “would be a very good idea.”
Former Greek finance minister and outspoken opponent of the savage austerity programs forced on Greece, Yanis Varoufakis recalled Gandhi’s words in the talk he gave at the University of Sydney on November 26.
Varoufakis’ message was clear: Like Western civilisation, European democracy would indeed be a very good idea.
Even with protests banned in Paris ahead of the United Nation's COP21 climate talks, about 2300 climate protests sent a global message to leaders at the talks. Hundreds of thousands of people joined climate change protests, marches and other events around the world on November 29 to send a message to leaders on the eve of COP21 that the world is waiting for climate change action. The 2300 climate actions included 175 countries.
The right wing's attacks on women's access to abortion once again turned deadly on November 27.
Colorado Spring police arrested Robert Dear six hours after he entered a Planned Parenthood facility wielding an AK-47 rifle. By then, he had murdered three people and wounded nine.
Viewers of the ABC TV documentary Hitting Home, screened to coincide with the International Day against Violence Against Women on November 25, could be forgiven for thinking Australia’s “domestic violence crisis” is finally being taken seriously.
Produced by ABC TV's Sarah Ferguson in cooperation with NSW Police and the NSW Department of Justice, Episode 1 of the two-part series took viewers inside DV refuges, specialist police units and courtrooms and featured interviews with incredibly courageous survivors. Their message to victims, and Ferguson’s, was clear: “Get out. Now”.
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