ASIO has delayed the release of 900 refugees from immigration detention because it had not carried out security checks, a Senate estimate hearing on February 24 revealed.
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Refugees can be held indefinitely after their visa approval until checks on their background, family networks and 鈥渞isk鈥 level are complete.
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Lateline said on March 1 that it took an average of 66 days to process one person. But some refugees have been held for 12 months or longer.
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The released the statement below on February 26.
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The Socialist Alliance extends its full solidarity to the people of Libya now being brutally repressed for demanding an end to the corrupt and unjust regime of dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Their courageous struggle, launched on February 15, for democracy and economic and social justice, has resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of people being killed.
Ireland鈥檚 governing Fianna F谩il (FF) party and its Green Party coalition partner were massacred in a general election revolt on February 26. The most successful establishment party in Western Europe for the past 80 years, FF was demolished 鈥 reduced from 77 to only 20 seats on the back of public outrage over austerity measures and social spending cuts.
The protests that began on February 14 in Madison, Wisconsin against an anti-union bill have continued to grow. On February 26, an estimated 100,000 people defied sub-zero temperatures to rally against the bill. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker鈥檚 bill would outlaw collective bargaining for public sector workers, as well as slash pay and conditions. However, several events have combined to compound pressure on public sector workers and unions resisting the attacks. It remains to be seen whether this pressure will result in the proposed bill becoming law.
National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) members at Macquarie University in Sydney took rolling industrial action across four faculties during the first teaching week of semester.
The industrial action was part of a campaign for a new collective agreement for academic staff.
Three hundred staff and students rallied on March 3 to hear about the bargaining impasse. Issues of concern for staff include overcrowded classes, lack of facilities, workloads, budget cuts and job security.
Many millions of tonnes of coal have been exported since activists dubbed the Rising Tide Seven temporarily shut down coal loaders in Newcastle in September last year.
They were convicted on January 31 of 鈥渞emaining on enclosed lands鈥. Each was fined $300, plus $79 in court costs.
However, on March 3, they were vindicated when magistrate Elaine Truscott rejected the Port Waratah Coal Services鈥 (PWCS) $525,000 鈥渃ompensation鈥 claim.
One hundred people, including many from the Latin American community, ex-ALP members, members of the Greens, plus members of Newcastle, Wollongong, and several Sydney branches of Socialist Alliance, helped launch the SA鈥檚 campaign in the NSW state election on February 26 at St Lukes Hall in Enmore.
Hosted by lead SA Legislative Council candidates Peter Boyle and Jess Moore, the night featured music, theatre, political speeches and more.
The night was also about people-powered culture, with performances from the Freedom Fighters and Newcastle-based band GRCO.
The Global Economic Crisis: The Great Depression of the 21st Century
Edited by Michael Chossudovsky & Andrew Gavin Marshall
Global Research, 2010
The Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), based in Montreal, runs a website that publishes in-depth analysis of economic and strategic issues aimed at countering that offered by the mainstream media.
The self-immolation of Tunisian Mohamed Buazizi in December triggered off protests that brought down a 24-year-old dictatorship in that country and inspired similar protests in neighbouring countries.
HOBART 鈥 About 20 people attended an Aboriginal rights forum organised on February 24 by the Socialist Alliance.
The forum heard from a panel of representatives from the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and explored a range of issues they are campaigning around, including the Brighton Bypass, heritage issues and the NT intervention.
The Greens candidate for Heathcote in the NSW elections, Phil Smith, has renewed his party鈥檚 call for a moratorium on coal seam gas mining in the state.
He said gas extraction poses real risks for communities throughout the Heathcote electorate, a seat that spans from southern Sydney to the northern Illawarra.
The Labor state government recently approved 15 coal seam gas wells in the northern Illawarra region.
鈥淭he Greens are leading the call for an immediate moratorium,鈥 Smith told 麻豆传媒 Weekly.
A NATO airstrike killed nine children collecting firewood in eastern Afghanistan on March 2, Afghan officials have said.
A March 2 WashingtonPost.com article said the deaths in Konar province 鈥渂ecame the latest irritant in the tense relationship between President Hamid Karzai and the international force in the country鈥.
The top NATO commander, US general David Petraeus, issued an apology for the error, which the occupying forces blamed on 鈥渇aulty communication鈥.
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