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On November 22, the Australian Greens launched their updated renewable energy plan . The plan improves on their 2013 , which was light on detail, merely calling for the Renewable Energy Target (RET) to be raised to 90% by 2030, more funding for the commercialisation of renewable energy technology and improved coordination and planning of the electricity grid.
NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli announced that Aboriginal languages will be offered as an HSC subject from 2016, a decade after the NSW Indigenous Languages policy was introduced. Students have been able to take Aboriginal language courses from Kindergarten to Year 10 since 2005, giving teachers time to prepare for teaching the HSC course. Of the 35 Aboriginal languages in NSW, 19 are currently being offered as language courses across the state.
Anti-racist protesto

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the introduction of the Racial Discrimination Act in Australia, yet we still live in a country where racism runs deep. Legislative change, which was won as a result of the movements for black liberation and for women's liberation, was a step forward.

On November 27 the showing that the Queensland Coordinator General plans to extinguish native title over parts of the proposed Carmichael mining site in the Galilee basin and give the freehold to Adani. The document said: "The Moray Downs Land acquisition includes the takeover of native title rights and interests of the Wangan and Jagalingou people to allow for the leasehold land to be converted to freehold.
ADELAIDE Join us at the 麻豆传媒 Weekly end-of-year party. Vegetarian-friendly BBQ lunch. Drinks available. No BYO please. Saturday December 19 at 12pm. Black Forest. For address phone Laura 0402 435 891. BRISBANE Come to a forum on Ecosocialism: A planet to save, a world to win. Hosted by Socialist Alliance. Saturday December 12 at 12pm. Brisbane Activist Centre, 74b Wickham St, Fortitude Valley. Ph Angus 0431 935 576. CANBERRA

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made some very modest announcements at the COP21 climate change conference. He pledged Australia to the final years of the Kyoto protocol, an agreement that is about to lapse, and $800 million to developing nations for climate adaptation. This money is to come from existing foreign aid, which recent budgets have slashed. In contrast, Canada's new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged $2.5 billion.

British parliament sat late into the night on December 2 before eventually voting up Prime Minister David Cameron's proposal to join the US-led air war in Syria. Opposition Labour Party leader and veteran anti-war activist Jeremy Corbyn argued strongly against bombing Syria, as did protesters outside parliament. However, many right-wing Labour MPs supported the government.
We have all heard the story of when, during a visit to the United States, a journalist asked Mahatma Gandhi what he thought of Western civilisation, and Gandhi is said to have replied that he thought it 鈥渨ould be a very good idea.鈥 Former Greek finance minister and outspoken opponent of the savage austerity programs forced on Greece, Yanis Varoufakis recalled Gandhi鈥檚 words in the talk he gave at the University of Sydney on November 26. Varoufakis鈥 message was clear: Like Western civilisation, European democracy would indeed be a very good idea.
Family members and supporters gathered on December 2 outside the inquest into the death in custody of 22-year-old Ms Dhu. The protest was a response to the shocking evidence of neglect and institutionalised racism revealed at the inquest and the fact that the conclusion of the inquest has been delayed so that police testimony won't be heard until at least March 2016.
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.

Even with protests banned in Paris ahead of the United Nation's COP21 climate talks, about 2300 climate protests sent a global message to leaders at the talks. Hundreds of thousands of people joined climate change protests, marches and other events around the world on November 29 to send a message to leaders on the eve of COP21 that the world is waiting for climate change action. The 2300 climate actions included 175 countries.

The right wing's attacks on women's access to abortion once again turned deadly on November 27. Colorado Spring police arrested Robert Dear six hours after he entered a Planned Parenthood facility wielding an AK-47 rifle. By then, he had murdered three people and wounded nine.