A key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody asserts that, in dealing with First Nations peoples, the criminal justice system should apply both arrest and imprisonment as sanctions of “last resort”. But like most of its 339 recommendations, this has simply been ignored.
Analysis
On a catastrophic fire day for NSW, November 12, the Liberal-National government had planned to push through a bill to weaken the state’s planning laws, in favour of coal and gas corporations.
A snap action outside NSW parliament that day drew hundreds of people from across the state. They made their opposition to the bill known and expressed support for the NSW Rural Fire Service, which is battling the flames with shortages of equipment and personnel due to budget cuts.
With all hell breaking loose as catastrophic fires ravage parts of New South Wales and Queensland, all Prime Minister Scott Morrison can advise is to pray. It’s a poor excuse from a government that has criminally refused to take action on the climate crisis.
The Darling remains the canary in the coal mine for the Murray-Darling Basin.
Gough Whitlam was a maverick social democrat who believed a foreign power should not be allowed to dictate Australia’s economic and foreign policies. There seems little doubt the US was involved in his sacking.
Federal government attempts to silence environmentalists can, in large part, be explained by the successes of the campaign that has stalled Indian mining giant Adani’s Carmichael coal mine from going ahead.
Could Indian mining firm Adani’s Carmichael coal mine, in Central Queensland, become a stranded asset? A number of recent events indicate the answer could be “Yes”.
We need to understand Morrison’s attacks on “progressivism” and a “new breed of radical activism” as more than just an attack on our right to protest or the right of investors to decide where to put their cash.
The disastrous results of privatisation, outsourcing and deregulation in the aged care sector have been further exposed in the commission’s report. The aged care system, along with health care in general, should instead be placed under public ownership and control, and made accessible to the whole community.
“We have to rely on bottled water to bathe our babies. There is no fresh water to drink,” explained local Wilcannia Aboriginal elder Brendan Adams. "We are all living in Third World conditions.”
Environmentalists are going to have to get a whole lot more radical if Prime Minister Scott Morrison gets his way on proposed new measures targeting anti-mining activism.
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