British-based multinational corporation Serco Group is bidding for more contracts with Australian federal and state governments. Worth 拢4.3 billion ($6.6 billion), Serco markets itself as a 鈥渟olution to government鈥, which takes over government services and runs them for profit.
It has run Australia鈥檚 disastrous and increasingly unstable refugee detention centres since 2009, owns two Australian super-prisons and took over Western Australia鈥檚 court security and custodial services in June.
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The 鈥淪ay No to Government鈥檚 Income Management: Not in Bankstown, Not Anywhere鈥 campaign coalition released the petition below in August.
To sign the petition, visit www.sayno2gim.info.
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To the honourable president and members of the senate in parliament assembled:
We the undersigned are opposed to the federal government鈥檚 income management system, which quarantines between 50% to 70% of Centrelink payments so they can only be used to buy 鈥減riority items鈥 at government-approved stores.
Chanting 鈥渟hame Barry, shame鈥, 35,000 people from dozens of unions and their supporters rallied in Sydney鈥檚 Domain on September 8 to oppose savage cuts to public services and job conditions.
Contingents of teachers, nurses, firefighters, police, rail and bus workers, and public sector workers swelled the ranks of the protest, the largest union rally in the state in 20 years.
The rally, held just two days after the O鈥橣arrell government handed down its budget, was almost double the size predicted by Unions NSW.
Last month the Remuneration Tribunal awarded to the heads of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Australia鈥檚 media, already saturated with gas and mining company propaganda, are about to be bombarded with more 鈥済ood news鈥 about coal seam gas (CSG). A campaign called 鈥淲e want CSG鈥 was launched on September 4. It includes television, radio, newspaper and online advertisements. It is backed by some of Australia鈥檚 largest energy companies, including AGL, Santos, and Origin Energy, under the banner of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA).
Sixty people rallied outside Western Australia鈥檚 Parliament House on September 8 in a protest organised by the homeless rights supporters. The rally called on the Barnett Liberal government to provide proper funding to the state鈥檚 homeless people and support and shelter all year round.
The state government has set aside $112,500 for temporary accommodation and meals for homeless people during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in late October.
Fundamentalist Christian street preachers faced stiff opposition from activists who rallied against their public sermons in Adelaide鈥檚 Rundle Mall on September 2.
Members of the right-wing religious group found themselves surrounded by a large crowd of activists who rallied for more than five hours.
The rally鈥檚 theme was 鈥渓ove not hate鈥.
The rally aimed to show solidarity for those who have received verbal abuse and suffered violence, particularly homosexual youths often targeted by the fringe Christians.
The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) has slammed the Queensland Labor government over its decision to approve a 100% fly-in, fly-out workforce for the Caval Ridge coalmine near Moranbah, central Queensland.
The union has about 10,000 members in the state鈥檚 coalmines. It said it would fight the Bligh government's decision in the lead up to the Queensland election, due early next year.
鈥淲e will ensure our members and the communities they live in are not left behind,鈥 said CFMEU state secretary Jim Valery, the September 7 Courier Mail reported.
released the statement below on September 9.
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In August, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young wrote an in The Age arguing that 鈥渢he fight for marriage equality should be above party politics, which is a vital reason to give members of parliament a conscience vote on the matter鈥.
About 160 people gathered at The Gap State High School on September 8 for a community forum on the potential impacts of the coal seam gas industry.
Gubbi Gubbi elder Nurdon Serico gave a welcome to country, saying he had seen what mining can do to country and community, and highlighting that this industry will lead to the destruction of sacred Aboriginal sites as well as farming land.
For many years we were regular contributors to 麻豆传媒 Weekly and proud supporters of the paper. We鈥檝e now decided to resume writing for GLW and we urge other former contributors to consider doing the same.
In May 2008, we and about 50 other former members of the Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP) launched the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the monthly paper Direct Action (DA) following a bitter internal dispute in the DSP that centred on the Socialist Alliance.
The released the statement below on August 26. It was delivered by Ngarla Kunoth-Monks, CLC executive member, and Rob Roy, CLC member, at the 45th anniversary celebrations of the Wavehill walk-off at Kalkaringi, the Northern Territory.
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Kalkaringi, NT 鈥 We are the Central Land Council and we have been elected to speak for our Land, our Law and our Culture.
We demand that the government permits us to take the future in our hands.
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