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Indigenous campaigner wins national environment award

Veteran Aboriginal activist Kevin Buzzacott has been awarded the Australian Conservation Foundation’s (ACF) 2007 Peter Rawlinson Award for his work over two decades highlighting the impacts of uranium mining and promoting a nuclear-free Australia.

Palestinians demand a 'just peace'

More than 30 delegates from around the world attended the Jerusalem Initiative conference held in occupied East Jerusalem to call for an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The three-day conference from June 2-4 was organised by the Palestinian People’s Party and the Communist Party of Israel and was attended by representatives from European, Scandanvian and Australian socialist parties as well as members of the international peace movement, trade unions and women’s organisations from around the world.

Protesters demonstrate to save Anvil Hill

More than 500 protesters from around NSW assembled at a property near the proposed new Anvil Hill open-cut coalmine in the Upper Hunter over the June 2-3 weekend. The state government approved the mine on June 7.

Iraq: Parliament threatens US forces' mandate

On June 5, the Iraqi parliament approved a law giving itself the formal authority to block the extension beyond December of the UN Security Council mandate under which US and allied foreign troops are deployed in Iraq.

Alternative national anthem, to the tune of 'Advance Australia Fair'

Australians all, let us rejoiceFor we are girt by seaWhich makes it very difficultFor would-be refugees,If any of them make it here and it's not a lot We lock them upAnd send them offSomewhere that's very hotWe lock them upAnd send them offSomewhere

Obituary: Greg Heys

Former Newcastle lord mayor Greg Heys died on June 5 after a massive heart attack.

55,000 commemorate Tiananmen massacre

Some 55,000 people demonstrated in Hong Kong on June 4 — the 18th anniversary of the Chinese army’s bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy student protesters at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Where to now for unions and the Anti-Labour Party?

The ALP deserves to be re-badged the “Anti-Labour Party” as historian Humphrey McQueen suggests, and the ALP’s public dressing down and forced resignation of Victorian Electrical Trade Union (ETU) secretary Dean Mighell reinforces this view.

No polluting pulp mill!

Tasmanians from all walks of life are up in arms about Gunns’ proposal to build one of the largest pulp mills in the world in the Tamar Valley, near Launceston.

Pine Gap trial: a case of 'national security'

The trial of the “Pine Gap Four” in Alice Springs is continuing with the Crown lawyer arguing that the jury should not be determining the reasonableness of the activists’ actions. Michael Maurice QC argued that, “Engaging in activities to disrupt the implementation of public policy can never be reasonable”.

Who's afraid of the union movement?

Since federal ALP leader Kevin Rudd outlined Labor’s “Work Choices lite” on April 17 — promising that a Labor government would maintain the Coalition’s ban on strikes outside of bargaining periods and secret ballots — Labor’s full-scale retreat on industrial relations has continued.

Activists condemn plan to make NSW a 'police state'

Activists from the Stop Bush Coalition have condemned moves to make NSW into a “police state” during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in September. The government introduced legislation into NSW parliament on June 7 that will give police extraordinary powers for two weeks around the time of the summit.