On August 19, about 170 people skipped dinner and found someone to care for the kids so they could attend the High School for Coburg (HSC) forum at Coburg Town Hall.
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The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission interim report was released on August 17. It found government and fire authorities failed to properly manage the deadliest bushfires in Australia’s history.
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More than 500 people attended the launch of the Victorian chapter of the Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) on August 15.
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Members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at the University of Melbourne protested outside the vice-chancellor’s office at lunchtime on August 11 as part of a half-day strike.
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In the midst of enterprise bargaining, members of the National Tertiary Education Union at the University of Melbourne were shocked by a management proposal to cut at least 220 full-time positions by the end of 2009. The university claimed the sackings were due to the economic crisis.
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Construction giant John Holland was the first employer to lodge an application with Labor’s new Fair Work Australia industrial umpire. It asked FWA to rule on which union has coverage at its controversial West Gate Bridge site in Melbourne.
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Canice Lynch was sacked from his job at the West Gate Bridge strengthening project on July 24. Lynch was the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) shop steward at the site.
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MELBOURNE— Locked-out Hazelwood power station workers and supporters staged a protest outside International Power’s offices on July 31. The Latrobe Valley emergency service officers employed by contractor Diamond Protection, were locked out after taking industrial action over a claim for pay parity.
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Environment groups are organising a “peaceful community mass civil disobedience” at the Hazelwood coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley on September 13.
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Victoria’s record six-month dry spell has raised fears that the summer of 2009-10 will be worse than last year, when hundreds died in the Black Saturday bushfires and the record-breaking heatwave that preceded them.
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British filmmaker Ken Loach’s decision to withdraw his film Looking for Eric from the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) has led to a storm of debate.
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Around 60 people protested outside parliament house on July 25 in solidarity with recent democracy protests in Iran. They demanded the release of political prisoners, an end to censorship and the rejection of the recent presidential elections as a fraud.