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In the lead-up to the federal election, your guide to what’s really happening behind the spin of the official campaign.

Vladimir Villegas, Venezuela’s foreign affairs vice-minister for Asia, Oceania and the Middle East, met with members and affiliates of the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network at Casa Latina on October 22. Villegas, who had just completed a week of meetings with government leaders in the Pacific about how Venezuela could provide development assistance for their ailing economies and environments, spoke about the progress of the Bolivarian revolution, and outlined Venezuela’s plan for strengthening cooperation with the countries of Asia Pacific based on solidarity, respect for sovereignty and collaboration in the areas of energy diversification, health services and education, in particular. The next day, Villegas was joined by solidarity activists and representatives of other Latin American governments at a tribute held at the bust of Simon Bolivar in the Plaza Iberoamerica.

Gabriela Ngirmang, Mirair of Palau, who was instrumental in giving the world its first nuclear-free constitution, passed away peacefully at 12.10am on October 10 (Palau time). Gabriela had been sick for some time.

Twenty-one years ago Jackie Kriz, an Australian Nurses Federation job representative, took part in Victoria’s landmark nurses’ dispute of 1986. As a young Geelong nurse she remembers the long campaign where nurses went from being professionals who would never strike to industrial campaigners.

Carrying signs reading “Police are the real terrorists” and “Free all political activists”, up to 1000 people rallied outside the Rotorua District Court on October 25 to protest against police raids that resulted in the arrest of 17 people a week earlier, as three of those arrested had their court cases transferred to Auckland.