1102

The Finance Sector Union has just signed a new agreement that covers workers in the National Australia Bank. This comes after widespread consultation with National Australia Bank staff and months of negotiations with the bank. The new agreement guarantees 3% increases; removes the link between sales targets and fixed pay; incorporates the outcomes of the ABA review into product payments over the life of the agreement; and introduces regular forums with NAB decision makers to resolve workplace issues, such as workloads, staffing and relief.
Australia desperately needs high-speed rail, if for no other reason than short-haul aviation is a major source of rising greenhouse emissions. This does not mean, however, that the Consolidated Lands & Rail Australia's (CLARA) proposal to build a high-speed line from Sydney to Melbourne, along with eight new “smart cities” along the route should be welcomed. Any proposal for a privately built, privately operated railway should be suspect. CLARA's proposal is particularly so.
A joint review by Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance members. This year's Students of Sustainability (SOS) conference, organised by the Australian Student Environment Network (ASEN), took place in Musgrave Park, Brisbane on Jagera and Turrbal country July 7-11. SOS started in Canberra in 1991 and is the longest running, annual student conference in Australia.
“The Party of the European Left declares its solidarity with the friends and families of the more than 80 people killed in the incomprehensible attack on July14 in Nice,” the group of left-wing parties across Europe said in a statement that day. “On its national day, France witnesses another violent attack despite all its anti-terrorist security measures.
NAIDOC Naarm/Melbourne 2016

About 1200 people marched through Melbourne on July 8 in the annual National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) march. The rally demanded "Treaty Now", "Land Rights" and "Stop Deaths in Custody".

The media and advocates of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement have repeatedly described opponents of the deal as opposed to trade itself. For instance, after US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pressed his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton to swear off passage of the deal, the New York Times said Trump was embracing “nationalistic anti-trade policies”. The Wall Street Journal said Trump expressed “protectionist views”. US President Barack Obama warned that you cannot withdraw “from trade deals” and focus “solely on your local market”.
Amid chaos in Turkey with an ongoing coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the co-chairs of left-wing Kurdish-led People's Democratic Party (HDP) — itself a target of undemocratic erpression by Erdogan's government — released the brief statement below opposing the coup and insisting on a democratic resolutuion to Turkey's conflicts. ***
A public forum on abortion decriminalisation held at James Cook University in Cairns attracted more than 80 people on July 13. The night before, a public forum also took place in Brisbane organised by Young Queenslanders for the Right to Choose, attracting about 150 people. The JCU meeting was organised by Pro Choice Cairns to inform the discussion around the Abortion Law Reform (Women's Right to Choose) Amendment Bill 2016 which was tabled in parliament on May 10 by Cairns MP Rob Pyne.
In a moment of devastating irony, former immigration minister Philip Ruddock, the man responsible for “children overboard” and the architect behind what became the anti-terror laws, has been nominated as Australia's UN Special Envoy for Human Rights. On July 12, Ruddock was given a platform at the Wheeler Centre — which claims he has “been a vocal advocate on several human rights issues” — to talk “human rights, the death penalty, and the changing Australian political landscape”.
Twenty-five per cent of Australian Rules football players are now women and girls, a figure that has doubled in the past five years. From February next year, eight new women's teams will compete in a national, six-round, AFL competition. Announcing the women's league last month, AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick said it would “change the game forever, [… uneasy pause …] for the good”.
Western Australia’s marine environment is unique. It has two world heritage areas, the largest fringing coral reef in Australia and more than a thousand kilometres of underwater forests, supporting incredible wildlife, important fisheries and tourism.
A 700 kilometre stretch of mangrove shoreline in the Gulf of Carpentaria has died, James Cook University Professor Norm Duke told the Australian Mangrove and Saltmarsh Network Conference in Darwin in early July. Duke, a spokesperson for the Australian Mangrove and Saltmarsh Network, said the scale and magnitude of the loss was "unprecedented and deeply concerning" and he had no doubt the dieback was related to climate change.