News

Federal indigenous affairs minister Jenny Macklin announced on October 23 that the Labor government will not implement the key proposals of the independent review into the Northern Territory intervention. Aboriginal critics have described the decision as the government turning its back on Aboriginal people.

New legislation granting parenting rights to same-sex couples was passed in the Senate in October 16. The legislation grants legal recognition to children of same-sex parents born through IVF or surrogacy.

The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) — the secretive body formed by the Howard government in 2005 to police the construction industry — has ratcheted up the use of its compliance powers in the last six months, workplaceexpress.com.au reported on October 20.

Three hundred and fifty staff at Victoria University held a mass meeting on October 21 to consider industrial action in response to the announcement of a plan to sack more than 250 staff in VU’s Higher Education and TAFE divisions.

Long-term Resistance activist Leigh Hughes has been recognised by the Australian Capital Territory Conservation Council for his leading role in the Canberra environment movement. The "Leading Light Award" was one of three "Local Hero" awards announced at the Conservation Council's annual fundraising dinner on October 17, and recognises the "most outstanding environmental effort of an individual under the age of 30". Hughes, who is also a member of the Democratic Socialist Perspective, joined Resistance as a high-school student in 1998.

This year, Green Left Weekly has been running a regular Arabic-language supplement called The Flame. It aims to cover news from the Arabic-speaking world as well as news and issues from within Australia. The current issue of The Flame, as PDFs, can be read here

“How can we maintain a safe and habitable climate? That’s the question we need to pose to build this movement”, Kirrliee Boyd from the Adelaide Hills Climate Action Group told a workshop at the Climate Emergency — No More Business as Usual conference on October 10-11.

Environment groups are calling for the dredging of the Yarra River to stop immediately until there has been an investigation into whether there is radioactive waste in sediments of the river.

Train drivers employed by Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore operations in transporting iron ore in the Pilbara struck on October 11 and will stage a 24-hour stoppage on October 22 .

The Parramatta Climate Action Network (ParraCAN) will stage a Walk Against Warming (WAW) in Parramatta CBD on November 15, as a lead-in to the city-wide event being organised at 11am.

Socialist Alliance candidates for local council elections in Geelong and Queenscliffe in late November are calling for “climate action councils” that will stand up against polluting industries and big developers.

Around 600 members of the Australian Tamil community converged on Canberra on October 14 to protest Sri Lankan foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama’s visit to Australia to meet with foreign minister Stephen Smith. Bogollagama was addressing an invite-only audience of Australian journalists inside the National Press Club.