News

Nicole Hilder, Wollongong Residential developer Stockland Development was found guilty on December 16 of disregarding planning rules after dumping thousands of tonnes of landfill on top of a sacred Aboriginal site at Sandon Point in northern

Alex Bainbridge, Hobart Woodchipping giant Gunns Limited issued a writ against 20 environmental activists and organisations on December 13, claiming their actions had hurt its business. Two days later, up to 700 people protested in Hobart to

Chris Latham, Perth In a ballot of nurses employed in Western Australia's public health system, two-thirds voted to reject the state Labor government's offer of a non-union agreement. The clear rejection of the government's attempt to sideline the

Brendan Rosser & Lucy Palmer, Newcastle On December 10, 30 activists gathered outside the army recruitment centre for an international human rights day "die-in", in solidarity with the people suffering in Iraq. The protest proceeded to the

Tamara Pearson &Norman Brewer, Sydney On December 6, 300 people rallied in the inner- city suburb of Redfern to protest against the sale of Aboriginal Housing Company (AHC) land and the local public school under the NSW Labor government plan

On schedule "I noticed today that the elections are on schedule for June the 30th." — Emperor George Bush II, November 20, referring to the US-dictated January 30 Iraqi parliamentary elections. Free enterprise "A third or more of the

Bronwyn Powell, Sydney In February 1965, a group of Sydney University students called Students for Aboriginal Rights, led by Aboriginal students Charles Perkins and Gary Williams, set out in a bus across regional Australia to expose and confront

MELBOURNE — On December 10, 300 asylum seekers and refugee-rights activists marked Human Rights Day with a march to draw attention to the plight of refugees, in particular the threatened deportation of Sri Lankan asylum seekers, some of whom

Nicole Hilder, Wollongong Land prices in the Illawarra region have quadrupled in the past five years, fuelled by a land shortage and an influx of Sydney "sea-change" buyers, according to the December 9 Illawarra Mercury. There has been a rush by

Jim McIlroy, Brisbane Some 1500-2000 Aboriginal people and their supporters rallied at the Roma Street Forum on December 11 and marched in solidarity with the Palm Island Indigenous community. The rally coincided with the funeral service on the

Dave Riley Palm Island is 70 kilometres north-west of Townsville. The Indigenous settlement was established in 1918 after a cyclone blew away the Hull River reserve near Tully. While it was one of the last settlements to be created under the

BRISBANE — Thousands of Centrelink call-centre staff attended lunchtime meetings around the country on December 9. The meetings were called by the Community and Public Sector Union to condemn management's introduction of a new computerised