Green Left Weekly

Victorian government fails to stop rail strike

kathy_f — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 08:30:17 +0000

Sat, 05/09/2015

Residents blockade WestConnex asbestos removal

peter_b — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 08:17:52 +0000

Sat, 05/09/2015

Local residents of the Sydney suburb of St Peters successful halted what they suspected was an illegal attempt to remove asbestos from the planned St Peters Interchange site in the ecologically and financially irresponsible $15 billion WestConnex road-tunnel project.

Carlo's Corner: Cruelty battles idiocy in Team Abbot

kathy_f — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 08:13:08 +0000

Sat, 05/09/2015

By Carlo Sands

I am sure we all appreciate the federal government's bid to secure Melbourne's borders, but in the aftermath of its farcical Border Force debacle, I have a tactical suggestion. If you really want to catch visa violators, just invite Liverpool FC back to play another match at the MCG, then round up the 90,000 English visa over-stayers who rock up.

In fact, once everyone is in, just lock the stadium's gates and you have yourself a brand new ready-made detention centre.

Union urges Human Services staff to vote No

kathy_f — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 08:01:31 +0000

Sat, 05/09/2015

By Jim McIlroy

Staff at the federal Department of Human Services (DHS) started voting on a new enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) on September 4. The public service union strongly recommended a No vote.

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has been campaigning hard against new departmental EBA offers that cut wages and conditions.

About 34,000 workers at DHS are set to vote down a management proposal that reflects the Abbott government's hard line against workers and unions in its own workforce, as a test case for wage and conditions cuts throughout all sectors of the economy.

Hutchison assembly stands firm against eviction threat

kathy_f — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 07:49:57 +0000

Sat, 05/09/2015

By Jim McIlroy, Sydney

The community assembly outside the Hutchison terminal at Port Botany is holding firm against a threat by the NSW Port Authority to evict the gathering from the entrance to the facility. There was a similar stand-off at Fishermans Island, Port of Brisbane.

The assemblies have been maintained for more than four weeks to protest against the sacking of 97 waterside workers by the giant Hutchison company, part of the biggest multinational stevedoring corporation in the world.

The British royal knee-deep in fascist mud

stuart_m — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 07:37:21 +0000

Sat, 29/08/2015

By Phil Shannon

Wallis Simpson, Edward of Windsor, Adolf Hitler (fourth, fifth and sixth from left).

17 Carnations: The Windsors, The Nazis & The Cover-Up
By Andrew Morton
Michael O’Mara Books, 2015,
327 pages

Why Naomi Klein wants to thank Tony Abbott

stuart_m — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 07:33:02 +0000

Fri, 04/09/2015

By Pip Hinman, Sydney

Visiting Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein believes she owes PM Tony Abbott “a debt of thanks”.

In Sydney to promote her new book Capitalism versus the Climate: This Changes Everything, Klein said the conflict between what the planet needs and what capitalism needs is exemplified in Australia.

GLW issue number 1068

stuart_m — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 07:30:43 +0000

Tue, 01/09/2015

Metgasco turns up the heat on Mike Baird

kathy_f — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 07:09:12 +0000

Tue, 01/09/2015

By Pip Hinman, Sydney

Gas company Metgasco is so determined to drill for unconventional gas in northern NSW it is prepared to make enemies of old friends — the NSW Coalition government.

On September 1, Metgasco declared it was halting talks with Mike Baird's government and suing it for damages.

Protest against Daily Telegraph's homophobia

kathy_f — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 07:02:10 +0000

Sat, 05/09/2015

By Rachel Evans, Sydney

The Daily Telegraph's Sunday staff were met on August 30 with rainbow banners, chalk, and vibrant queer pride as members of the rainbow community and their friends took a stand against the newspapers vitriol against documentary Gaybe Baby.

Gayby Baby follows the lives of four children with same-sex parents and shows the challenges they face due to homophobia.

Protesters tell AGL to stop fracking

kathy_f — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 06:48:14 +0000

Sat, 05/09/2015

By Pip Hinman, Sydney

Hundreds of people from across NSW gathered outside AGL's HQ on September 2 to mark the 100th week of a protest first initiated by Camden residents angry that AGL is allowed to frack near their homes. AGL first started fracking in Camden, south west Sydney, in 2001.

Speakers included Jennifer Schoelpple; Anne Thompson, an original Knitting Nanna from the Northern Rivers; Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham; and Julie Lyford, president of Groundswell Gloucester.

A look at Rojava's democratic, feminist revolution

stuart_m — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 06:36:58 +0000

Sat, 05/09/2015

By Tony Iltis

An emphasis on women’s liberation that runs through the Rojava's revolutionary movement.

Rojava, the Kurdish-majority liberated zone in northern Syria, is the location of a unique experiment in grassroots, participatory democracy.

It is undergoing a profound social revolution that emphasises social and economic equality, ecology, religious tolerance, ethnic inclusion, collectivity combined with individual freedom and, most obviously, feminism.

Iranian asylum seeker brain dead on transfer to Australia

kathy_f — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 06:23:25 +0000

Sat, 05/09/2015

By Margaret Gleeson, Brisbane

By the time Manus Island detainee Hamid Kehazaei was transferred to Australia he was already brain dead, documents produced at a pre-inquest conference show. He was transferred from Port Moresby in a comatose state and confirmed dead on arrival at Brisbane’s Mater Hospital.

Kehazaei was transferred from Christmas Island to in September 2013. On August 23 last year he was given intravenous antibiotics for a leg ulcer. When it had not improved two days later a request for urgent removal to hospital was made. This was not approved until the following day.

No charges for cop who shot 'skateboard-wielding' Black youths

tony_i — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 06:11:19 +0000

Sat, 05/09/2015

Bryson Chaplin (left) and Andre Thompson.

The white police officer who shot two unarmed Black youths in May in Thurston County, Washington state, will not face criminal charges, the Thurston County Prosecutor announced on September 2, because the youths’ skateboards were said to be “threatening” the officer.

Abbott well roasted

stuart_m — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 06:04:41 +0000

Sat, 05/09/2015

Tony Abbott received a much-deserved roasting on the opening night of the Sydney Fringe Comedy festival on September 1.

Unfortunately no actual fire was involved, but the prime minister — played disturbingly well by Jonas Holt (whose Abbott impersonation has featured on Weekend Sunrise and the At Home With Tones webseries) — was subjected to an amusing grilling.