Media reports paint Alice Springs as being in the midst of an out-of-control crime wave.
Action for Alice, a group of local business owners, has produced a commercial for Imparja television. The ad calls for a law and order push to end the alleged crime wave, which it blames on Aboriginal youth.
The level of hysteria reached a new pitch in an article by Nicolas Rothwell in the February 19 Australian. Rothwell claimed that Alice Springs was plagued by rampaging young Aboriginal people, fuelled by alcohol.
Analysis
Daicy Olaya, a resident of Fairfield for 18 years, explained why she decided to stand as a candidate for Socialist Alliance in the March 26 NSW elections.
“Politicians from both major parties have failed miserably in representing the interests of migrants and women here in New South Wales,” she said.
“That is why, as a woman migrant from Colombia, who has worked in the textile and cleaning industries, I have decided to stand as the Socialist Alliance candidate for Fairfield in the coming NSW state elections."
See also:
The Australian proclaimed a “war over the carbon tax” and the leader of federal Liberal party Tony Abbott called for a "people's revolt" against a price on carbon.
What are they thinking denouncing such a positive step forward for action on climate change? What’s wrong with wanting to transition to renewable energy? Why would you want to try to divide people?
Tim Badrick, in an article published in Independent Australia, believes that a carbon tax “con job” will do nothing to reduce environmental damage. I couldn't disagree more.
Below is the resignation letter of two former members of the Labor party in NSW, Jairo Quintero and Edgar Pena (both formerly of the ALP Parramatta branch). This follows the February 17 resignations of Luis Ernesto Almario and Rosendo Duran.
They have decided to support the Socialist Alliance in the March 26 NSW election.
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Attn: Kristina Keneally, NSW state premier
CC: Michael Lee, NSW ALP president, Sam Dastyari, NSW ALP general Secretary, Pierre Esber, ALP candidate for the seat of Parramatta
March 8, 2011
As it stands, the carbon tax proposed by the federal Labor government and the Greens is perfect material for a right-wing scare campaign. But it offers very little real action to cut emissions.
The tax, which is designed to turn into a fully-fledged carbon trading scheme within six years, raises some dilemmas for climate action campaigners.
Despite the policy's weaknesses, pressure is building on the climate movement to support the tax plan to counter the anti-tax campaign led by the Liberal party and the fossil fuel lobby.
See also:
Peter Tatchell is an internationally renowned lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, intersex and queer (LGTBIQ) human rights activist based in England. He was one of eight “heroes” selected to take part in the lead float of the 2011 Sydney Mardi Gras.
Tatchell spoke to Green Left Weekly’s Rachel Evans, Hannah Wykes and Farida Iqbal about his history of activism and the fight for equal marriage rights.
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When did you get involved in activist politics?
Since 2004, a mass mobilisation of popular support for marriage equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people has gained momentum, and now a possible victory is in sight.
But sadly, marriage equality would not mean an end to homophobia or transphobia in Australia.
Lurking behind Australia’s marriage ban is an even more sinister injustice clothed in the language of religious tolerance.
Federal immigration minister Chris Bowen announced plans for a new 1500-bed detention facility on March 3. It is to be located at Wickham Point, an industrial area 35 kilometres south-east of Darwin.
The March 4 NT News said the Darwin Airport Lodge, which currently houses refugees, would also be expanded by 400 beds.
This would bring Darwin’s total detention capacity to 2900, making the city the largest detention location on the mainland — larger even than the notoriously overcrowded Christmas Island facility.
In a July 2010 interview with WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange, TED.com’s Chris Anderson said WikiLeaks had released in just a few years more classified state and military documents than every other media outlet combined.
“It’s a worry isn’t it,” Assange said. “That the rest of the world’s media is doing such a bad job that a little group of activists is able to reveal more of that sort of information than the rest of the world’s media.”
The underlying issue of racism in Australia has been a pervasive feature of national political life ever since the invasion of the First Fleet in 1788.
It was used as an ideological justification for the dispossession of indigenous Australians.
In 1975, the Racial Discrimination Act was implemented in order to enable all Australians, regardless of their racial and cultural background, to enjoy equal rights and to prohibit discriminative behaviour based on racial hatred.
Mining company BHP Billiton’s whopping $10.5 billion profit for the second half of 2010 highlights the shameless greed of those making a fortune out of Australia’s valuable resources.
Remember the tantrum thrown by BHP, Rio Tinto and Xstrata less than a year ago after then-PM Kevin Rudd proposed the Resource Super Profits Tax (RSPT)?
The RSPT wasn’t a radical proposal. Part of the revenue from the modest 40% tax would have been returned to the corporate sector, helping to fund a cut in the already low corporate tax rate and various subsidies to mining.
The Socialist Alliance released the statement below on February 26.
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The Socialist Alliance extends its full solidarity to the people of Libya now being brutally repressed for demanding an end to the corrupt and unjust regime of dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Their courageous struggle, launched on February 15, for democracy and economic and social justice, has resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of people being killed.
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