At an April 7 combined delegates and shop stewards meeting, 500 members from the Building Industry Group (BIG) unions decided in a unanimous vote to hold a mass protest on April 28.
Analysis
The following open letter was sent to Greens Senator Bob Brown on April 16, the day before Brown met with Tamil hunger strikers.
In an era of climate change, global warming, high carbon emissions and with renewable energy coming to the fore, it is astounding that a proposal for another “open cut” coal mine is set to reach the NSW planning department.
The article below is abridged from the speech delivered by M. Saraswathy, deputy chairperson of the Socialist Party of Malaysia, to the final plenary of the World at a Crossroads conference. The conference, hosted by Green Left Weekly, was held in Sydney over April 10-12.
On March 26, the NSW Legislative Council passed the motion by Greens NSW MP John Kaye that called on the government to drop its demands that TAFE teacher conditions be slashed to pay for salary increases.
A medical professional from the Sunrise Health Service has attacked the Rudd government for continuing with the NT intervention policy. Instead of closing the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal health outcomes, the intervention has made Aboriginal people less healthy, she says.
Every week it seems as if a new law in NSW is passed which rolls back civil liberties. This time it is “anti-bikie” gang laws which, despite assurances, can be used against any sort of organisation, including activist or pressure groups. Other states have said they may copy the laws.
On March 31, Western Australian treasurer Troy Buswell announced a cap on wage rises for public sector workers.
“I’m a huge supporter of the civil society and the internet is the Wild West at the moment”, federal communications minister Stephen Conroy told SBS’s Insight on March 31. Conroy and the Labor Party remain determined to fence the internet in, joining a short list of countries that attempt to censor it.
The Building Industry Group (BIG) unions have decided to up the ante on the campaign to abolish the undemocratic Australian Building Construction Commission (ABCC).
Green Left Weekly’s Simon Butler spoke to Karen Cieri, one of the founders of Top End Transition group based in Darwin.
The federal government’s report on the future of the Australian Building Construction Commission (ABCC), released on April 3, was met with disappointment by unionists.
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