Gadigal Country/Sydney

In the run-up to the NSW elections both major parties are claiming to be able to run the economy better. But the release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ December quarter figures on March 7, which revealed that NSW is not technically in a recession, is likely to help the state ALP government’s lead over Peter Debnam’s Liberals on March 24.

Political fervour, passion and a fighting spirit marked the “Fighting racism in the NSW state election” forum held by the Socialist Alliance Parramatta branch on March 6.

SYDNEY — More than 50 people joined the Socialist Alliance contingent in the Mardi Gras parade on March 3, chanting “What do we want? Marriage rights! When do we want it? Now!” For more photos visit <http://www.socialist-alliance.org>.

On March 7, 60 people joined with three “comfort women” survivors — Jan Ruff O’Herne AO, Hsie Mei Wu and Gil Won Ok, from Australia, Taiwan and Korea — outside the Japanese Consulate in Martin Place.

Some 40 Sydney University students held a speak-out outside the army recruitment stall during orientation week on February 28, drawing attention to campus anti-war sentiment. Sydney University anti-war activists passionately poured their knowledge of the war’s criminality into the megaphone and the action was a spectacle of peaceful dissent.

Several NSW unions have decided to endorse the March 17 Sydney rally against the war in Iraq, organised by the Stop the War Coalition. They are the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA); the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; the NSW Fire Brigade Employees Union; and the National Tertiary Education Union.

The reason for the existence of the Redfern-Waterloo Authority (RWA) can be summed up in just two words: corporate greed.

On March 5, maintenance department workers employed at James Hardie Ltd’s Rosehill site took protected industrial action for 24 hours. They were supported by activists from Worker Solidarity, who organised a community picket on the day

“Comfort women” survivors and their supporters will rally in Sydney on March 7, as part of a global day of action, to protest against the human rights abuses suffered by hundreds of thousands of women during World War II. An estimated 200,000 women in were forced into sexual slavery and continually beaten, tortured and raped by Japanese soldiers during the war.

After an epileptic seizure on December 15, Sharif Assad, a Syrian being held in Sydney’s Villawood immigration detention centre, was transferred to Bankstown hospital against his will and tied to a bed.

The NSW Public Service Association and Unions NSW have called a rally on March 15, in the lead-up to the NSW elections, against job cuts. The PSA is highighting Liberal leader Peter Debnam’s threat to cut 20,000 public service jobs if elected, and is circulating a petition calling on all candidates to “maintain public sector job levels in real terms as at 2006 state budget levels”.

On February 23, representatives of the Murray and Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN) and the NSW National Parks Association (NPA) signed an agreement for shared protection of the ecology of the Murray and Lower Darling areas.