Magan-djin/Brisbane

  • Queensland campaign for Indigenous rights to continue

    The Queensland Police Union (QPU) has launched a series of radio advertisements that accuse the state Labor government of political interference in the case of Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley. A jury returned a verdict of not guilty for Hurley on June 20 in the Townsville Supreme Court. Hurley had been charged with the assault and manslaughter of Mulrunji Doomadgee, a 36-year-old aboriginal man, at the Palm Island police watch-house in November 2004.

  • 'War games a threat to the region'

    Jim McIlroy, the Socialist Alliance candidate for the Brisbane seat of Griffith, called on Labor leader Kevin Rudd to condemn the Talisman Sabre war games being held at Shoalwater Bay.

  • Cleaners rally against Caruso

    Chants of, “Hey Brisbane, listen up; the cleaners are standing up!” and “Caruso workers´ rights, worth fighting for!” rang through the Brisbane CBD on June 15, as 60 cleaners, members of the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, marched from the LHMU office to the offices of Caruso Cleaning.

  • Students rally to support suspended academics

    On June 13, 100 students and staff rallied in front of the administration building at Queensland University of Technology’s Gardens Point campus to protest the suspension of two QUT academics, Dr Gary MacLennan and Dr John Hookham, on charges of misconduct.

  • Oodgeroo honoured

    On June 1, around 150 people, including elders, family members, Noonuccal people of North Stradbroke Island and supporters of Aboriginal rights, gathered at Queensland University of Technology to pay tribute to Oodgeroo Noonuccal. This warrior woman’s life as poet, political activist, artist and educator was honoured with the inaugural public lecture and awarding of scholarships in her name.

  • Socialist Alliance challenge to Rudd in Griffith

    The Socialist Alliance has decided to run long-time socialist activist Jim McIlroy in Labor leader Kevin Rudd’s seat of Griffith in Brisbane’s central-south in the federal election. Its nationwide election campaign themes are “People before profits!” and “Planet before profits!”

  • 'Allow justice to prevail' in Hurley trial

    Hundreds of Aborigines and community supporters will wear bright yellow wristbands to the Townsville court on June 12. They will be gathering to observe the trial of Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, who has been charged with the manslaughter and assault of Mulrunji Doomadgee on November 19, 2004, on Palm Island.

  • Rally backs free speech at QUT

    On May 28, 30 people picketed an administration building at the Queensland University of Technology s Gardens Point campus to support Dr Gary MacLennan, a long-time radical activist and academic at QUT, who was facing disciplinary charges over his criticism of a PhD film project mocking disabled people.

  • For free speech and ethical research

    “There are two big issues in this dispute: the right of academics to free speech and the question of QUT [Queensland University of Technology] conducting unethical research”, left-wing academic Dr Gary MacLennan told Green Left Weekly on May 24.

  • Rohingya refugees from Burma held on Nauru

    A group of Rohingya people, a Muslim ethnic minority from western Burma’s Arakan state, is being held indefinitely at the Australian government detention centre on Nauru.

  • Australia's poor human rights record

    BRISBANE — “Australia is the only Western democracy without human rights legislation”, James Whelan from Amnesty International told a public forum attended by 50 people on May 23.

  • Court allows Palm Islander to withdraw plea

    In a Brisbane court on May 25, Palm Island resident Lex Wotton was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea in relation to riot charges, after Judge Phil Nase found that Wotton had been asked to plead illegally.