In the first two weeks of hearings at the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, further claims were made against Labor leader and former national secretary of the Australian Workers Union (AWU) Bill Shorten.
Former Health Services Union (HSU) official Marco Belano told the commission that Shorten donated $5000 to his 2009 union election campaign when Shorten was parliamentary secretary for disabilities in the Labor government.
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A glaring omission from the strategy debate over how to fight the budget has been any solid discussion from most union leaders about how and when to deploy industrial action.
At the packed out mass delegates' meeting in Sydney on June 12, National Tertiary Education Union activist Susan Price moved two amendments to the official motion that, judging from the room, had they been put would have committed Unions NSW to do just that.
Nine days before the Senate changeover, the High Court ruled that immigration minister Scott Morrison鈥檚 cap on the number of protection visas he could grant was invalid.
In March, using his arbitrary ministerial powers, Morrison limited the maximum number of protection visas to be granted in the financial year to 2773 鈥 the exact number already given. This was in response to Labor and the Greens uniting in the Senate to block the reintroduction of temporary protection visas (TPVs).
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance released this statement on June 23.
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The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), the union and professional association for Australia鈥檚 journalists, condemns the verdict of the Cairo court in the case involving journalists from Al Jazeera English and calls on Egyptian authorities to urgently intervene to free the three journalists who have been detained for simply doing their jobs.
In the Shadow of Gallipoli
By Robert Bollard
NewSouth, Sydney 2013
On April 25, 1915, Australian troops landed at Gallipoli on Turkey鈥檚 coast. They were part of a British imperial force aiming to capture Constantinople (now called Istanbul) and the land alongside the narrow waterway linking the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.
It was hoped this would enable British ships to enter the Black Sea and bring supplies to allied Russia.
The Summit of the Group of 77 plus China, marking the alliance鈥檚 50th anniversary, closed in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on June 15 with the adoption of a declaration entitled 鈥淔or a New World Order for Living Well鈥.
There were delegates from 104 nations out of the 133 from the global South that now make up the Group of 77 plus China. Bolivia is chairing the alliance this year, and its president, Evo Morales, hosted the summit.
An Egyptian court sentenced three Al Jazeera journalists to seven years in prison on terrorism-related charges on June 23.
Baher Mohammed, the team鈥檚 producer, received an extra three years for possession of ammunition, a charge concerning a souvenir spent shell found in his possession, Morning Star said that day.
The verdicts against Australian Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian Mohammed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohammed came after a five-month trial that Amnesty International described as a 鈥渟ham鈥, calling the rulings 鈥渁 dark day for media freedom in Egypt鈥.
Breakthrough 2014, National Climate Restoration Forum, held over June 21 to 22 in Melbourne, brought together scientists, economists, engineers, business leaders and climate activists.
In some regards, the forum represented an important step forward for the Australian climate movement. It highlighted the urgent need to respond to the climate crisis and discussed the possibility of restoring a reasonably safe climate in which human civilisation could continue.
Under intense lobbying by big electricity companies, the Tony Abbott government is attempting to scrap the Renewable Energy Target (RET) which aims to have 20% of Australia鈥檚 electricity come from renewable energy sources by 2020.
In response to this threat, a new community group called Solar Citizens is campaigning to defend existing solar power and extend solar to even more households. They have held public meetings in Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne.
Three Muslims were killed and about 10,000 made homeless after attacks by Sinhalese Buddhist mobs during the week starting June 15.
Violence began in the town of Aluthgama after a rally by the Sinhalese-Buddhist chauvinist group Buddhist Power Force (BBS). It then spread to several other towns.
Muslim-owned shops, houses and vehicles were burnt by the mobs. Police were sometimes present, but did nothing to stop the violence.
The BBS has been engaging in a campaign of anti-Muslim propaganda and violent attacks for several years.
鈥淭he rising sea levels caused by global warming threaten the very existence of some of our neighbours,鈥 Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama (PIDF).
鈥淜iribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands 鈥 and are already swamping the coastal areas of many Pacific nations, including Fiji.鈥
LIFE FOR MOST AUSTRALIANS IS GETTING HARDER, WHILE POLITICIANS SERVE THE WEALTHY. BUT PUBLIC BACKLASH IS BREWING INTO A MOVEMENT TO CHALLENGE THIS SYSTEM, WRITES SUSAN PRICE.
In handing down its first budget, the Coalition government echoed its National Commission of Audit, warning that a 鈥渂usiness as usual鈥 scenario for public spending on welfare, pensions, public services, health and education is 鈥渦nsustainable鈥, even 鈥渋rresponsible鈥 in Australia today.
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