News

The March 8 demonstrations commemorating 100 years of International Women’s Day in Cairo, Egypt — flowing on from the inspirational revolution that toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak on February 11 — have highlighted the ongoing struggle for women’s rights around the world. One hundred years ago, more than one million people in four European countries attended the first IWD protest. It was organised in support of the right to vote and equal pay for women.

Environment groups have criticised federal environment minister Tony Burke for ignoring a recommendation to make Tasmania’s Tarkine rainforest a protected heritage area. The Tarkine National Coalition has accused Burke of suppressing a report by the Australian Heritage Council, which said the government should create a Tarkine National Heritage Area. The report has since been leaked.

Householders and small businesses who were victims of the floods that hit Brisbane in January are considering a legal challenge against insurance companies “using region-wide hydrology reports to deny thousands of flood-related claims”, the March 10 Courier Mail said. Insurers NRMA, CGU and Comminsure have used the reports to claim many policyholders were subject to riverine flooding, which is not covered by most insurance policies, rather than stormwater or flash-flooding.

About 150 people rallied in Sydney on March 6 to call for an end to the persecution of WikiLeaks. The protest was organised by the Support WikiLeaks Coalition. The rally also called for the release from jail of US private Bradley Manning. For nine months, Manning has been held in isolation in US military prisons for allegedly leaking more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. On March 2, the US army laid new charges against Manning, including the capital offence of “aiding the enemy”. If convicted, Manning could face the death penalty.

Two hundred people rallied outside the Queensland parliament on March 5 to oppose plans by coal seam gas company QGC to expand its operations near the town of Tara, 300 kilometres west of Brisbane. Friends of the Earth campaigner Drew Hutton chaired the rally. Other speakers included Tara resident Scott Collins as well as campaigners and farmers from the Lock The Gate Alliance — a national campaign to keep coal seam gas companies off private land.

The six-year campaign against Gunns’ proposed Tamar Valley pulp mill in northern Tasmania is entering a critical stage. Federal environment minister Tony Burke approved the three outstanding modules of the mill’s environmental management plan on March 10. However, pulp mill opponents remain staunchly against the project in whatever form and have vowed to organise ongoing protests and blockades to stop it going ahead. A mass protest has been called on the site for March 20.

For every dollar the Australian government spends on cutting carbon pollution, it spends $11 encouraging it, new research from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has revealed. ACF said on March 1 that its analysis showed: “The Australian government spends $11 billion more on subsidies that encourage greenhouse pollution than it does on programs to tackle climate change.”

The Tasmanian environmental campaign group Still Wild Still Threatened has called on Tasmania’s Labor/Greens coalition government to back down on its plan to build the Brighton Bypass and agree to demands from Aboriginal activists to change the bypass route. Still Wild Still Threatened spokesperson Lily Leahy said on March 1 that the group “stands in solidarity with the Aboriginal community in opposing this plan as it will destroy the artefacts and unique values of a 40,000 year-old site.

About 6000 people rallied outside PM Julia Gillard’s Melbourne office on March 12 for an emergency action on climate change. The rally was organised by GetUp! Publicity for the rally did not explicitly refer to the proposed Labor/Greens carbon price. But at the rally itself, the organisers campaigned for the carbon price plan as the most effective way to deal with climate change. Many at the rally had concerns with the proposed carbon tax, but mobilised in spite of this to call for urgent climate action.

This year’s Sydney Mardi Gras gave many people the opportunity to say something about the issues that concern lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and transgendered (LGTBI) people. Most floats in the parade voiced their support for same-sex marriage. Muslims Against Homophobia, a recently-formed support group for queer Muslims in Sydney, made a groundbreaking appearance in the parade. It said something equally important and urgent: “Queer Muslims need acceptance!”

"Women's rights are human rights!" was the theme of a rally and march held in Brisbane on March 5 to celebrate 100 years of International Women's Day (IWD). About 100 people rallied in Brisbane Square and later marched through city streets to Emma Miller Place for a concert. The rally also called for an end to mandatory detention of refugees, an end to the Northern Territory intervention, equal pay, equal marriage rights and the repeal of all anti-abortion laws.

One hundred people rallied in Wollongong on March 5 in solidarity with the peoples’ uprising against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The rally heard from Libyan students who spoke of the brutality of Gaddafi's regime and the need for democracy. They urged the Australian government to pressure Gaddafi to step down.