In early September, most abortions performed in Queensland health facilities came to a halt. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists had passed on a legal opinion to their members that said doctors were still at risk of prosecution while abortion remained in the criminal code.
Analysis
I am part of Critical Climate, an Adelaide activist group advocating a “sustained mass civil disobedience” response to the climate emergency.
On October 9, 100 people gathered at the Manning Clark Centre at the Australian National University, to hear about the Northern Territory intervention and the inspiring Alyawarra people’s walk-off at Ampilatwatja in the NT.
In a sick mockery of the rising boatloads of refugees coming to Australia, the federal government will pay one of the world's biggest advertising agencies to spread fear and propaganda among Tamils escaping genocide in Sri Lanka.
Outspoken anti-war and democracy campaigner Malalai Joya was suspended from the Afghan parliament in 2007 for speaking out against corruption and the domination of the country by warlords. US current affairs weradio show Democracy Now has called her “the bravest woman in Afghanistan”.
Below is an abridged statement from Joya to Australian anti-war campaigners. The statement was read out at the national protests against the Afghanistan war on October 7.
*****
Average world temperatures will rise by a perilous 4° Celsius by mid-century, a team of 130 climate scientists said at a September 28-30 conference in Oxford sponsored by Britain’s Met Office (the national weather service).
The Australian right has long staked a proprietary claim over the nation’s First World War experience, holding up the “diggers” as models of conservative virtue.
The following letter is in response to a Sydney Morning Herald editorial. It was sent to that paper but not published.
* * *
In May, the New South Wales Labor government introduced a new law lowering the threshold for public intoxication before which a person could be “moved on” or potentially arrested by police. The threshold was changed from “seriously drunk” to “noticeably drunk”.
On October 6, the Reserve Bank of Australia lifted the official interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.25%. Explaining the bank’s decision, RBA governor Glenn Stevens said “the risk of serious economic contraction in Australia” had now “passed”.
The rise of the religious right in Australia and New Zealand can be linked to the development of organisations in the United States that emerged in the 1970s.
The following statement is from the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU) Queensland.
* * *
- Previous page
- Page 512
- Next page