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Around the world, disturbing new evidence of rapid global warming has come to light in the past few weeks. Past temperature records have tumbled. The warming is consistent with climate change predictions. Victoria and Tasmania had their hottest 12-month period recorded, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said on May 3. Victoria鈥檚 weather was warmer than average month-by-month for year to April. Tasmania was warmer for 11 of the 12 months.
Kalgoorlie MP John Bowler said public housing is 鈥渘ot a right鈥 but a 鈥減rivilege鈥, after the federal government passed legislation that will shift community housing from a federal to a state responsibility in Western Australia. The state Liberal government will get about $500 million to fund new, and upgrade existing houses. The takeover has been defended by Bowler, who says the change will encourage better treatment of the housing by tenants.
"An American-based company accused of bulldozing trees in koala habitats in Victoria has emerged as the buyer of Queensland's major forests in a $603 million deal with the State Government鈥, said the May 19 Courier-Mail. 鈥淭he deal is the first major privatisation of state assets by the Bligh Government.鈥 This is the first of several fire-sales of public assets, including forests, rail, ports and motorways, proposed by the state Labor government since last year. Unions and community groups have strongly opposed the privatisation plan.
MELBOURNE 鈥 Protesters added their voices to the international day of solidarity with the democracy movement in Thailand on May 20, gathering outside the offices of Thai Airways. May 20 is the anniversary of the end of Black May in 1992, when the Thai government used the military against thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The rally demanded the military end its repression, not just for the sake of Thai workers, but because it gave confidence to other governments to use force against workers everywhere.
Gunns Limited and the entire forest industry in Tasmania is in crisis. Gunns chairperson John Gay, and fellow board member and former state premier Robin Gray have resigned from the company鈥檚 board. They were pressured to resign by major shareholders after Gunns posted a 98% loss in half yearly profit in February this year, the April 23 Hobart Mercury reported. Their profit was just $400,000 鈥 down from $33.6 million at the same time last year.
Sam Watson, Aboriginal community leader and Socialist Alliance senate candidate for Queensland, spoke at a May 19 rally outside state parliament. He called for the sacking of police commissioner Bob Atkinson; the charging and conviction of police who kill Indigenous prisoners; for investigation of police to be carried out by an independent, community panel; and for a new Royal Commission into Black deaths in custody.
On March 31, a group of Christian peace activists from the Bonhoeffer Peace Collective entered a secretive military base on Swan Island off the coast of Victoria. Swan Island is a training base for Australia's elite SAS soldiers, who play the most active combat role in Australia鈥檚 deployment to Afghanistan. The activists wanted to shed light on the brutal ongoing occupation and war in Afghanistan. They switched off power to a satellite dish and one sector of the base: a symbolic act to call on the government to 鈥渉it the emergency stop button鈥 on the war.
On the first anniversary of Australia signing a key international treaty outlawing torture, an independent monitor of detention appears no closer, despite a recent surge in custodial deaths. The final report of UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Manfred Nowak, was released in February. It identified a global phenomenon of overcrowding, prolonged isolation and high numbers of pre-trial 鈥 all key issues for Australian custodial detainees.
As Britain鈥檚 political class pretends that its arranged marriage of Tweedledee to Tweedledum is democracy, the inspiration for the rest of us is Greece. It is hardly surprising that Greece is presented not as a beacon but as a 鈥渏unk country鈥 getting its comeuppance for its 鈥渂loated public sector鈥 and 鈥渃ulture of cutting corners鈥 (as the British Observer said). The heresy of Greece is that the uprising of its ordinary people provides an authentic hope unlike that lavished upon the warlord in the White House.
Hundreds of Tamils turned out in Sydney鈥檚 Martin Place on May 18 to mark the first anniversary of the Sri Lankan army鈥檚 capture of the last bit of land held by the pro-independence Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the country. In driving rain, families lined up to place petals in front of a statue of a grieving mother. They heard from community speakers, the Greens, the Council for Civil Liberties (CCL) and the Socialist Alliance.
Right, who knows a way of making 鈥淐onservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition, out out out!鈥 scan properly? Events haven鈥檛 been made easier by the news coverage, which involved reporters telling us: 鈥淥h my God, it鈥檚 historic, and the two of them look so lovely together, and they鈥檙e in the garden, ooohhh, I haven't cried so much since I last saw Breakfast at Tiffany鈥檚."
Tamil and refugee rights groups have demanded the Rudd government reverse its suspension of refugee claims from Sri Lanka. This follows the release of an international report that provided more evidence that the decision to suspend the claims was based on a lie. The International Crisis Group (ICG) released War Crimes in Sri Lanka on May 17, a report into the Sri Lankan Army鈥檚 assault on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the entire Tamil population in the country鈥檚 north and east between January and May last year.