News

Water buybacks for the Murray Darling basin will be capped at 1500 gigalitres after Labor joined with the Coalition to pass a bill in the Senate on September 14. The bill was backed by the National Farmers' Federation and means the government will be able to buy back only 1500 gigalitres of water entitlements from farmers each year.

How to get active ARMIDALE Join Women in Black in a silent vigil for peace, mourning the victims of violence around the world. Saturday September 26 at 10.30am. Outside the Old Courthouse in the Mall. BRISBANE Come to the Sunshine Coast Climate Change Relay. Organised by Sunshine Coast Environment Council. Saturday September 26 at 10.30am Sunshine Beach, 12.15pm Kings Beach, 5.45pm Cotton Tree Park. MELBOURNE

Three separate domestic violence deaths just days apart in south-east Queensland have prompted Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to fast-track the implementation of the recommendations of the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence. The deaths of a child and two women between September 7 and 10 occurred less than a month after the government published its response to the Task Force’s report, Not now, not ever: Putting an end to domestic and family violence in Queensland.

Popular Melbourne community radio station Triple R has been given a reprieve by the Victorian state government. The government intervened to stop a high-rise development next to the station's East Brunswick headquarters. The development threatened to block the station's signal from reaching a transmitter on Mount Dandenong. Planning Minister Richard Wynne set up an independent panel to adjudicate. The panel agreed that it was too expensive for Triple R to move its radio mast and recommended a smaller building.

Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance will host its second Radical Ideas Conference over December 4 to 6 in Sydney. Following the success of last year’s conference, hosted in Geelong, Resistance activists say this conference will help energise young people to struggle against corporate power, environmental destruction and social exclusion. The conference will have workshops and panels including discussions on topics such as combating the austerity agenda of the 1%, fighting back against racism, Islamophobia and colonialism and the struggle for environmental justice.

On September 12, hundreds of people marched in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth against the Turkish state under president Recep Tayyip Erdogan waging war on the Kurdish people. In the last month, severe clashes have taken place in many Kurdish cities, including Silopi, Lice, Şemdinli, Silvan, Yuksekova and Cizre, where civilians have been targeted by state forces. Tens of civilians, guerrillas and members of state security forces have died in the ensuing clashes. Socialist Alliance’s Dave Holmes gave this speech at the Melbourne rally. * * *

Westpac workers have managed to break the link between targets and annual salary in the recent Enterprise Agreement (EA) negotiations between Westpac and the Finance Sector Union (FSU). After two months of negotiations, including a petition signed by workers across the Westpac Group, FSU negotiators reached an “in principle” agreement effective from 2016. The link between targets and annual salary increases has been broken, with staff only required to meet minimum behaviour standards and complete compulsory compliance training — which 98% of staff achieved in the last two years.

The federal government will allow the factory freezer supertrawler the Geelong Star to resume night fishing in the Small Pelagic Fishery, despite no evidence that the vessel will avoid killing more dolphins and seals. The Geelong Star was banned from night fishing by environment minister Greg Hunt in May in response to community outrage at dolphin and seal deaths caused by the supertrawler. It will use a new, untested barrier net, but it is not required to use video cameras.

Protesters rallied outside Queensland’s parliament on September 16 to demand the Palaszczuk government honour its election promises and protect the Great Barrier Reef. This comes after several victories for the environment movement, with major banks pulling out of the Carmichael Coal mining project that, if approved, would greatly increase Australia’s coal production and damage to the Great Barrier Reef.

In the latest blow to the anti-worker industrial policies of the federal Coalition government, staff in the Department of Human Services (DHS) have voted by 83% to reject an enterprise bargaining agreement offer from management. More than 78% participated in the ballot. The overwhelming result in DHS follows strong votes in a number of other agencies recently, including Veterans Affairs, IP Australia and Health, to oppose agreements that would have attacked their rights, conditions and take-home pay.

An Afghan refugee who set himself on fire in a Western Australian detention centre has died. The man, Ali Jafarri who was believed to be in his late 30s, had burns to 90% of his body after the incident at the Yongah Hill detention centre. According to the ABC, detainees and Serco guards found Jafarri barely alive in his room. He is believed to have wrapped himself in a sheet before dousing himself with accelerant and setting himself on fire. Two guards who helped him were also injured.

More than 300 people, and 22 horses, marched on the Northern Territory parliament on September 15 to demand a moratorium on unconventional gas production in the NT as part of the Our Land is Our Life rally. The rally was organised by Frack-free NT and included contingents from Aboriginal communities, unions, farmers and environment groups. Larrikeyah elder June Mills opened with a fiery welcome to country and a smoking ceremony, condemning what she called “white man’s law” that threatened water supplies and livelihoods.