Privatisation
The Sydney Morning Herald's campaign against state government corruption is missing one notorious breeding ground of corruption 鈥 government fire sales of public services, known as privatisation.
The SMH's April 14 article
748
The April 11-13 Climate Change-Social Change conference ended with the production of a statement that tries to specify the elements of a strategy against global warming that would actually have a chance of success.
On April 2, the Queensland industrial relations departments鈥 Workplace Health and Safety agency issued a breach notice against the state government鈥檚 Queensland Health (QH) department for providing unsafe accommodation to nurses working on the Torres Strait islands.
The Noongar people聮s native title claim to an area encompassing metropolitan Perth suffered a setback in a decision of the Federal Court full bench on April 23. The court upheld an appeal by the federal and state governments against a 2006 Federal Court decision that favoured a claim brought by the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC).
The following is an abridged version of a talk given by Terry Townsend at the recent Climate Change 聴 Social Change Conference in Sydney. Townsend is a long-term member of the Democratic Socialist Perspective and the managing editor of Links online journal (<http://links.org.au>).
In an unannounced visit to Baghdad on April 20, US Secretary Condoleezza Rice praised Nuri al Maliki, Iraq鈥檚 Shiite prime minister, for 鈥渙rdering鈥 a military offensive last month in the Iraqi seaport city of Basra against anti-occupation Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr鈥檚 Mahdi Army militia.
The 2020 summit was two days of political theatre for the new Rudd government. For 48 hours over April 19-20, film stars brushed white-board markers with Australia聮s richest, and politicians mixed with Indigenous people, unionists and youth delegates.
On April 24, as day broke over Canberra, red flags with yellow stars moved in columns throughout the city, held in the hands of marchers, fluttering from car aerials and hanging in the windows of hundreds of buses.
On April 23, Chicago-based aerospace and military contractor Boeing reported a 38% jump in first-quarter profits for 2008, amounting to a whopping US$1.2 billion. 鈥淲e鈥檙e off to a good start in what we expect to be another strong year of financial performance for Boeing鈥, chairperson, president and CEO Jim McNerney said.
Around 50 protesters occupied the construction site of Newcastle鈥檚 third coal loader at Kooragang Island on April 19, forcing work to be stopped for around an hour and a half. The protest was organised by the climate change group Rising Tide Newcastle.
I鈥檓 not going to yet another ritualised May Day march this year. But neither is anyone else in Sydney!
The following statement was initiated by the participants in the Climate Change|Social Change conference, held in Sydney, Australia on April 11-13, 2008. Anyone who agrees with it is welcome to add their signature, and an updated list of signatories will be issued on a regular basis. The statement is being distributed to environmental, trade union, Indigenous, migrant, religious and community
organisations to help build the movement against global
warming
Links to all audio and video recordings from the conference can be found at http://socialisteducation.blogspot.com/2008/04/audio-and-video-guide-to-cliamte-change.html
- Page 1
- Next page