Magan-djin/Brisbane

  • Qld teachers defiant on test bans

    The Queensland Teachers Union (QTU) remains defiant about its ban on conducting the NAPLAN national schools test, despite the state Labor government forcing it to go before the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC), said the April 29 Courier-Mail. The QIRC hearing took place on April 30, after the QTU refused to abide by a direction from the commission, a week earlier, to lift its boycott of administering the tests.

  • Brisbane: Socialists plan campaigns

    “Towards socialism and sustainability” was the theme of the Queensland Socialist Alliance (SA) state conference held at the Activist Centre on April 17. About 40 people gathered to discuss proposals for building the socialist project in 2010.

  • Rally calls for peace, refugee rights

    The annual Palm Sunday peace rally took place in Brisbane on March 28, sponsored by the Rally for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament. The main themes of the rally were: Nuclear-free Australia; oppose climate change; no to uranium weapons; and safe havens for refugees.

  • 'Stop mining Straddie'

    “Save Straddie: National park, not mining”, was the main banner displayed outside the Queensland Supreme Court building on March 26, as Friends of Stradbroke Island, other conservation organisations and Indigenous residents of the island protested against moves to establish an industry to quarry and remove sand from the island.

  • Catholic school teachers march

    Hundreds of striking catholic school teachers marched on March 24 to demand an improved wages offer from their employer, the Queensland Catholic Education Commission. The Queensland Independent Education Union called the strike after rejecting a wages offer similar to that accepted by state school teachers.

  • Human shield launches book

    About 40 were at the Edmund Rice Oceania Support Centre on March 24 for the launch of Donna Mulhearn’s new book, Ordinary Courage: My Journey to Baghdad as a Human Shield. Mulhearn travelled to Iraq before the March 2003 US-led invasion.

  • Feminism: theory and action

    “The feminist movement was one of the strongest parts of the radicalisation of the 1960s and 1970s”, said Carla Gorton, a pro-choice activist and Socialist Alliance member from Cairns. She addressed a March 16 forum called “Feminism: Theory and Action”, presented by Resistance and the Socialist Alliance.

  • Black deaths in custody a 'national disgrace and a tragedy'

    “The Aboriginal community is moving to call for a national day of action against Black deaths in custody on Saturday April 10”, Queensland Aboriginal leader and Socialist Alliance member Sam Watson told Green Left Weekly on March 19. “We are calling on all state and federal governments across Australia to conduct a national audit of the implementation of the recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody.

  • Unionists rally against asset sell-off

    Thousands of workers rallied on March 9 in protest against the state Labor government's plans to privatise public assets. The crowd of 5000 people rallied at the Roma Street Forum, before marching to state parliament.

  • Murris condemn latest death in custody

    Two hundred Aboriginal people and supporters rallied outside state parliament on March 10 to protest the death in custody of another young Aboriginal man in a Queensland prison.

  • Haiti: not just a natural disaster

    “Rebuilding Haiti is important”, El Salvadoran solidarity activist Rafael Pacheco told a public forum on February 23. “But liberating the country is most important in the long run.