Gadigal Country/Sydney

  • Nurses rally for healthier nurse to patient ratio

    For the second week in a row, nurses held lunchtime rallies outside their hospitals in support of the NSW Nurses Association campaign for a mandated minimum nurse to patient ratio of 1:4 in public hospitals. This ratio has been mandated in Victoria for 10 years but NSW lags behind. Lower ratios in NSW have meant poorer care for patients and have also placed nurses in danger.

  • Socialist Alliance condemns attack on NSW Greens’ offices

    In response to an unprovoked and grotesque attack on the NSW Greens’ offices, discovered as staff arrived to work on November 8, the Socialist Alliance released the following statement. * * * The NSW Socialist Alliance condemns the cowardly attack, involving faeces, on the offices of the NSW Greens sometime over the night of November 7-8. Such actions have no place within a democratic society and should be rejected by all supporters of democracy.

  • Conference plans ‘red-green’ election campaign

    Seventy people from across New South Wales took part in the Socialist Alliance state conference on October 7 to discuss politics and political campaigns in NSW and plan for the March 2011 state elections. The conference decided to run a “red-green” election campaign based on the slogan “NSW not for sale, community need not corporate greed!”

  • UNSW staff to impose results bans

    The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has voted for further industrial action, as vice-chancellor Fred Hilmer still refuses to negotiate in good faith on improvements to job security, pay and other conditions for staff. A November 10 NTEU meeting voted for an indefinite ban on processing student results at the end of the second semester. This is the second time staff have voted to carry out results bans this year. The dispute made headlines in July after management’s decision to stand down about 70 staff without pay.

  • End of an era for the Redfern Block?

    The last Aboriginal residents of the Redfern Block will be evicted on November 19 to make way for a new development by the Aboriginal Housing Corporation. Aboriginal Housing Corporation CEO Mick Mundine told ABC TV’s November 8 Lateline that the development involved commercial interests, which would put money back into the corporation to support affordable housing for local Aboriginal people.

  • Sydney 'shoes away' US war criminals Clinton & Gates

    Sydney Stop The War Coalition organised "Shoe Away The War Criminals" lunchtime protest outside the US Consulate in Martin Place Sydney as US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and US Secretary for Defense (War, actually) met with PM Julia Gillard & Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd in Melbourne on November 8, 2010.

  • Sydney welcomes new Cuban ambassador

    The Cyprus Club was packed out at a special “Viva Cuba” solidarity dinner on October 31. About 180 people welcomed the new Cuban ambassador to Australia Pedro Monzon Barata, the new Cuban consul general Reinaldo Garcia Perera and new Cuban consul Maribel Espinosa Begueri. Tim Anderson, senior lecturer in political economy at the University of Sydney, gave a sneak preview of his new documentary about Cuban medical and education projects in East Timor. Cuba is training more than 900 doctors as part of the programs.

  • Fiesta raises money for Latin America

    The annual Latin America Solidarity Fiesta was a success, raising much needed money for social projects in Latin America and maintaining Green Left Weekly’s coverage on the progressive developments unfolding in the region. Organised by the Latin America Social Forum (Sydney), the October 31 fiesta was held at the Great Hall in the Addison Road Community Centre. Pocho Man, Danny Sanchez, DJ Av El Cubano and Jorge Martinez provided music on the night.

  • Workers rally for safety

    Construction workers marched through the Sydney CBD on November 3 to call on the state government to protect pay entitlements and safety standards on the $6 billion Barangaroo development on Sydney’s former wharves.

  • Rally for disability support funding

    "Is it fair that disability support workers earn less than workers who stack supermarkets shelves?" Australian Services Union NSW secretary Sally McManus asked 2000 protesters, including people with disabilities and disability sector workers. "Is it fair disability workers are forced away from Sydney because they can't afford to pay the rent?"