You鈥檝e probably heard The Ballad of 1891 about the Queensland shearers鈥 strike. You can probably sing Kev Carmody鈥檚 From Little Things Big Things Grow about the Gurindji Walk Off at Wave Hill in 1961. But do you know the story of the Jobs for Women campaign at the Wollongong steelworks in the 1980s? Check it out at the Sydney Film Festival, writes Karen Fletcher.
Karen Fletcher
Tanya Louise Day was a strong Yorta Yorta woman who stood up for Aboriginal families whose loved ones had died in prison or police custody. She died from head injuries sustained in Castlemaine police station, in regional Victoria, on December 22, 2017.
A bill to enable trans and gender diverse adults and children to obtain birth certificates that record their self-identified sex 鈥 male, female or a descriptor of their choice 鈥 looks set to pass the Victorian parliament, despite opposition from conservatives and trans-exclusionary radical feminists.
The Andrews鈥 Labor government allocated $1.8 billion in the state budget on May 27, to build 1600 new prison cells in Victoria and less than one sixth of that amount 鈥 $209 million 鈥 for 1000 social housing units.
But the capital expenditure is just the tip of the iceberg. The annual recurrent cost of imprisoning a person in a Victoria is about $125,000, while housing a family in a public housing dwelling costs about $6400.
Critics are alarmed that the Queensland state government has announced plans to turn the Southern Queensland Correctional Centre, run by notorious British company Serco, into a private women鈥檚 prison.
A seminar to discuss the challenges, achievements and lessons of the Kurdish-led feminist revolution in northern Syria, in Victoria University on November 4, attracted more than 80 people. It was the second seminar to be organised this year by solidarity activists and the Victorian Kurdish community in Melbourne.
More than 600 local residents and traders rallied at the Preston Market in Melbourne鈥檚 north east on May 6 to tell Minister for Planning Richard Wynne to 鈥渃all in鈥 a development application for multi-storey apartments and a generic shopping centre that risks destroying their much-loved community hub.
The unexpectedly large turnout spilled out onto the road, prompting police to tell organiser Lori-anne Sharp, of the Save Preston Market group, to 鈥減ick a bigger site next time you call a protest鈥.
Viewers of the ABC TV documentary Hitting Home, screened to coincide with the International Day against Violence Against Women on November 25, could be forgiven for thinking Australia鈥檚 鈥渄omestic violence crisis鈥 is finally being taken seriously.
Produced by ABC TV's Sarah Ferguson in cooperation with NSW Police and the NSW Department of Justice, Episode 1 of the two-part series took viewers inside DV refuges, specialist police units and courtrooms and featured interviews with incredibly courageous survivors. Their message to victims, and Ferguson鈥檚, was clear: 鈥淕et out. Now鈥.
In an article in on October 28, Antony Loewenstein says that he does not write about feminism because he fears being 鈥渁ttacked by women for questioning a consensus position on feminist issues鈥.
鈥淲riting about feminism when male is like gate crashing a party,鈥 he said, 鈥渁nd I鈥檓 concerned I鈥檒l be slammed for daring to arrive without an invitation.鈥
Criminal lawyer Rob Stary has represented many people accused under Australian 鈥渃ounter-terror鈥 laws. 麻豆传媒 Weekly鈥檚 Karen Fletcher spoke to him about the police raids in Sydney and Brisbane on September 18.
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Last week you commented that the raids gave you a sense of 鈥渄eja-vu鈥. What is repeating here?
After four venues cancelled bookings under pressure from protesters, the World Congress of Families announced a fifth venue for its conference in Victoria 鈥 the headquarters of notorious anti-Muslim hate group Catch the Fire Ministries.
A coalition of groups opposing the WCF called a media conference on August 28 to explain why they were determined to stop the right-wing fundamentalist Christian conference from going ahead in Melbourne on August 30.
The federal government鈥檚 budget is a huge economic, social and ideological attack on women. At its heart are government spending cuts aimed directly at depriving working-class women of the means for economic independence.
A report released last week by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) said low-income households headed by women will bear the heaviest burden under the changes proposed in the budget.