The NSW Coalition government's proposed private North West rail link, from Chatswood to Rouse Hill, will be "unfit for the purpose" it is intended for, according to Gavin Gatenby, co-convener of .
Instead of being a more efficient mode of mass commuter transport, the planned single-deck line would be an "entry wedge for the privatisation of the city's rail system鈥.
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More than 80 people attended a community forum and organising meeting at the Ingleburn Community Centre in Sydney鈥檚 south west on June 29 in opposition to coal seam gas (CSG) mining.
Stop CSG Illawarra spokesperson Jess Moore, Doctors for the Environment鈥檚 Helen Redmond and Australia Institute researcher Mark Ogge addressed the meeting.
Moore presented a brief introduction to the nature of the CSG industry and detailed the environmental catastrophes that have followed the industry from the US to Australia.
Venezuela: Social programs expanded in poorest communities
The Venezuelan government has initiated its policy of expanding social programs in the country鈥檚 most deprived areas in a bid to eradicate extreme poverty, on June 30.
The initiative, called 鈥淩ed Sundays鈥, involves teams of social program workers visiting poorer communities every Sunday to diagnose which households are deprived of certain basic needs and which social programs are required to attend to these needs.
About 120 Sydney residents, concerned about the impact of the proposed WestConnex motorway, met at the Annandale Neighbourhood Centre on June 25.
The meeting heard that WestConnex, the biggest and most expensive motorway in the Australia, will not reduce congestion and is just an excuse for a developer land grab along Parramatta Road.
The Party of the European Left is a European-wide political grouping that unites 26 parties to the left of social democracy, such as SYRIZA in Greece. It released the statement below on July 2. For more information visit .
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We consider the main factors in the Ukraine crisis to be the imperial atttitude towards the country, as shown by all major powers involved: the deliberately provocative and bellicose moves by the US, NATO and European Union, as well as the aggressive steps taken by Russia.
When I was in Brazil for those first days of the World Cup, I was 鈥 with many other journalists 鈥 tear gassed by military police. I saw sleek, urban-outfitted tanks in the streets and I felt concussion grenades send subsonic shrapnel crashing into my eardrums.
I didn鈥檛 see the drones flying overhead, but then again, no one without a Hubble telescope is supposed to see the drones.
Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Sri Lanka, gave a talk on 鈥淭he challenge of moving from post-war to post-conflict in Sri Lanka鈥 at a June 21 meeting held in the Darebin Intercultural Centre in Melbourne. The following is a summary of his talk compiled by Michael Cooke. *** The end of the war [between the Sri Lankan state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009] does not mean the end of conflict. The guns are silent, but the sources of conflict remain, and are being reproduced.
Sri Lanka has confirmed plans for asylum seekers from its persecuted Tamil ethnic minority to be directly handed over by Australia at sea. Although the Australian government has refused to confirm or deny such plans, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on July 3 that Sri Lanka was 鈥渁 society at peace鈥 that had made 鈥渕uch progress鈥 on human rights.
That day, the Tamil Refugee Council released a statement explaining the true situation in Sri Lanka that included the ive points below.
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Kavita Krishnan is a socialist activist and a well-known international spokesperson for the movement against sexual violence in India.
Diary of a Foreign Minister
Bob Carr
Newsouth, 2014
502 pages
Too often, Bob Carr鈥檚 diary sounds like an episode of Grumpy Old Ministers.
An 18-month stint as foreign minister in the doomed Rudd-Gillard-Rudd federal Labor government, the globe-trotting Carr gripes about the dead prose of his departmental talking points, the lifeless food and draining jetlag of plane travel, the awfulness of hotels, Canberra (鈥渢he City of the Dead鈥) and contracting viruses from shaking hands all day on the campaign trail 鈥渨ithout a hand sanitiser in the car 鈥 damn!鈥
For controversial sporting bans for violating 鈥渃ommon decency鈥, forget Luis Suarez and his four-month ban from all football-related activities after the Uruguayan striker decided to taste a little Italian. If you want a really outrageous penalty for a sporting star, it is hard to overlook .
鈥淭he Australian government has reached a frightening new low as a human rights鈥 denier and perpetrator,鈥 the Tamil Refugee Council said on July 3.
The council was responding to 鈥渃redible media reports鈥 about immigration minister Scott Morrison's 鈥渁bhorrent act of secretly sending back a boatload of Tamil asylum-seekers to the certainty of a Sri Lankan jail and the probability of rape and torture鈥.
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