Boorloo/Perth

Activists from the Refugee Rights Action Network WA and the WA Network for Human Rights in Tamil Eelam and Sri Lanka protested outside the Perth office of deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop on September 7.

Presentation by Brian Senewiratne at Fremantle Town Hall reception room on 1 September 2012. The forum was organised by a new network called "Human Rights in Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam".

Dozens of students protested an appearance by Prime Minister Julia Gillard at Perth’s Curtin University on September 5. The PM sneaked in through a back door while large numbers of police guarded the front. Invitations to the function to launch a new building were issued only to a select few. Protesters argued the case for equal marriage rights and to free the refugees. One person spoke out against the ongoing crime of the war in Afghanistan. The rally was organised by Equal Love Perth and was supported by the Curtin Refugee Rights Action Network.

Around 50 students protested an appearance at Curtin Uni by Julia Gillard on September 5. The prime minister sneaked in through a back door while large numbers of police guarded the front door.

In a "stunning victory for civil liberties", the Barnett government has announced that they will introduce legislation to enable police officers to enter private houses without a search warrant and without the permission of the property owner.

Carolus Wimmer is a widely respected Venezuelan political scientist, educator and writer, lecturer and columnist nationally and internationally. Elected to the Latin American Parliament in 2005 he served as Vice-President from 2008 to 2011.

Shamikh Badra, youth leader of the Palestine People's Party, speaking at a forum in Perth. Badra is touring Australia thanks to socialist youth group Resistance.

Protesters gathered in Perth on August 11 as part of a national day of protest that called on the Australian government to reject the FV Margiris, one of the world's biggest fishing trawlers, from fishing in Australian waters.

This video shows the reasons for and some of the actions in Perth's largely successful campaign for free speech. See more videos by Green Left TV.

The Western Suburbs Alliance (WSA) released the statement below on June 29. * * * WSA has been formed by members of community groups and individuals in Claremont, Cottesloe, Mosman Park, Peppermint Grove, Nedlands and Subiaco concerned about the growing wave of fear, anger and alienation across the western suburbs resulting from the erosion of our democratic rights and the threats to our communities and built and natural environment by the Barnett Government.

A community protest of up to 30 people was held outside a global shale industry conference in Perth on June 28. Campaign group No Fracking WAy organised the protest. The two-day conference on global shale gas development put on by the Electric Utility Consultants, Inc (EUCI) at the Seasons of Perth Hotel, 37 Pier St, Perth. The protesters held up banners, sang anti-fracking songs and heard from several speakers about the problems with the shale gas industry, which is expanding rapidly in Western Australia.

The prosecution of two activists dubbed the “Christmas Carol Criminals” collapsed when a Perth magistrate dismissed all charges on June 29. Alex Bainbridge and Miranda Wood from the group Friends of Palestine WA (FOPWA) had been charged with trespassing during a December protest outside Israeli cosmetics company Seacret. Seacret benefits from the illegal occupation of Palestine by stealing minerals and resources from the Dead Sea to use in its products.