Naarm/Melbourne

Two hundred people protested at Parliament House on May 6 against the Victorian government’s proposed solar feed-in tariff legislation.

Vision Australia announced on May 6 that it will slash more than 130 jobs. This includes cutting 90 jobs in Victoria and the closing of three regional offices.

While federal and state governments focus on the need for state-based reconciliation groups to bring better understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, Reconciliation Victoria Incorporated (Rec Vic) will have to close in July due to a lack of funding.

On April 29, the steps of Victorian Parliament were filled with the stomping feet of angry protesters. They had marched through the city demanding public transport concession fares for international and postgraduate students.

Construction company John Holland and unions are locked in discussions to settle a nine-week-long industrial dispute.

Thousands of workers across the country rallied on April 28, including more that 15,000 in Melbourne. The rallies protested the Rudd government’s maintenance of the anti-union Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), which was established by the previous government of John Howard.

Anti-desalination campaign group Watershed has called a protest for May 9 at the site of the proposed desalination plant in Wonthaggi, Victoria. The slogan of the protest will be, “If they build it, we all will pay!”

Four hundred Tamils and their supporters gathered in Melbourne on April 23 for an emergency protest. It was organised in response to the Sri Lankan government’s latest brutal military escalation in the north of the island.

An April 28 mass protest called by six national building industry unions against the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) in Melbourne has received full support from the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC).

The Dump Connex campaign was launched on March 30, Palestinian Land Day. It was initiated by the Coalition of Palestine Support Organisations, which organised the Melbourne protests against the Israeli assault on Gaza in January and February.

Omar Hassan is the Education (public affairs) officer for Monash University’s student union. He is also a member of Students for Palestine. On March 31, the Monash Student Council (MSC) sanctioned Hassan for his involvement in the group.

The Victorian ALP state government has cynically tried to dress up its attack on public sector workers as an attempt to save jobs. Public sector workers will have their wage rises slashed from 3.25% to 2.5% annually.