Last September, Queensland’s acting state coroner Christine Clements ruled that Senior Sergeant Christopher Hurley, a police officer working on the Palm Island Aboriginal community, had caused the death of Aboriginal man Mulrunji while in his custody
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US President George Bush used a January 10 address to the nation to declare that 2007 will be another year of war. His decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq despite opposition from the overwhelming majority of people in the US, including sections of the military indicates his governments arrogance, and its unwillingness to learn any lessons from history.
Pressure is mounting on the federal Coalition government to bring David Hicks home. On January 2, the Australian Defence Force director of military prosecutions, Brigadier Lyn McDade, described the treatment of Hicks as abominable. A week or so later, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock and PM John Howard said that they were concerned that Hicks had still not been tried, but that they were certain he would be charged in the next few weeks.
Several thousand people rallied at Sydney Town Hall before marching to the US Consulate on December 9 to call for the immediate return of Guantanamo Bay prisoner David Hicks. The action marked the fifth anniversary of Hicks’ capture by the US military. Speakers at the rally included NSW Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, former Guantanamo detainee Mamdouh Habib, CFMEU state secretary Andrew Ferguson, and Raul Bassi from Justice for Hicks and Habib and the Stop the War Coalition. Nettle said that the chances are good of getting Hicks home before the next federal election.
The Climate Change, Despair and Empowerment roadshow, which will tour the east coast of Australia from January to March, is based on the highly successful Endangered Species roadshow organised by the Rainforest Information Centre in the run-up to the 2003 NSW state election.
Woodchipping giant Gunns Ltds proposed $1.4 billion pulp mill in northern Tasmania continues to be the subject of controversy. Gunns has expressed impatience over the delays in the assessment process and threatened to axe the project if government approval is not given within six months.
For the first time since the foundation of the National Union of Students (NUS) 15 years ago, Labors right-wing student faction, Unity, was ousted from the office of general secretary at the NUS annual conference, held in Ballarat on December 4-7.
Climate action group Rising Tide Newcastle wants the proposal for the contentious Anvil Hill mine proposal to be assessed under Commonwealth law. Apart from its impact on species and ecosystems protected under the Commonwealth environment act, Rising Tide believes that the proposed mine would impact on World Heritage areas protected under the act.
Three more people, including a teenager, have been charged following the November 19 protests against the G20 financial ministers summit in Melbourne, bringing the total number of participants charged to 11. The following is an abridged version of a statement Resistance issued in response to the arrests.
The Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union (TCFUA) has won its drawn-out dispute over carpet manufacturer Godfrey Hirst’s attempt to force more than 300 Feltex workers to sign AWAs (individual contracts) with reduced rights and conditions in order to keep their jobs.
The 2007 Socialist Summer School was a great success. Sponsored by Resistance and the Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP), both affiliates of the Socialist Alliance, the event was held at Sydney Universitys Womens College from January 4-7. Some 210 people attended the four days of talks, workshops, meetings and social events.
December 14 marked the 100th day since the unfair dismissal of Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) construction division delegate Barry Hemsworth from his job at Botany Cranes. The managers used the federal governments new anti-union laws to sack Hemsworth for the purported crime of insubordination in fact because he was defending the occupational health and safety standards at the company.
George Browning, the Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, said on January 11 that it would not be morally responsible to vote in the next federal election for any party that did not have a credible climate change policy. He was speaking at the Australia as a Neighbour conference in Melbourne, organised by Initiatives of Change, Australia, and attended by 300 people from 17 countries.
The Wilderness Society has called for more government funding and support for the Indigenous Protected Area program following the release on January 9 of an independent report that concludes that IPAs are one of the most effective initiatives in environment protection in Australia.
The decision this month by Bankstown City Council, in Sydneys western suburbs, to cancel the venue for the January 27 Khilafah Conference speaks volumes of the empty rhetoric surrounding the supposed noble epitomes of western liberal democracy, said Wassim Doureihi, spokesperson for Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia, in a January 10 media statement.
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