The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) has demanded that BHP Billiton surrender its lease on the Norwich Park coalmine, near Dysart in Central Queensland. The BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) combine announced early this month that it would shut down the mine because it was allegedly losing money.
BMA has laid partial blame on the long-running industrial dispute with mineworkers in Queensland for losses at Norwich Park and other mines in the state.
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Campaigners against the mining companies鈥 push to open up the Kimberley region in WA to vast gas and mineral exploitation told a public meeting on April 19 that this was the 鈥淔ranklin Dam campaign of our time鈥.
The forum 鈥淪aving the Kimberley: Our Land or Gasland?鈥 was organised by Stop Coal Seam Gas, Sydney.
Pay Justice Action released the statement below on April 19.
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Pay Justice Action (PJA), a grassroots activist group campaigning for equal pay, applauds the initiative of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) for making insecure work a focus for the whole union movement.
All I really want to say is 鈥渢hank you鈥. And there is plenty I want to thank you for.
I want to thank you for not cancelling your April 18 evening conversation with Martin Flanagan at the Melbourne Wheeler Centre to discuss your new book Am I black enough for you?
It was a very powerful and moving event to be part of; a reaffirming lesson of the importance of courage, humility and respect.
As we all found out, it was no easy decision for you to go ahead with the event.
鈥漀o new coal! Save the Great Barrier Reef!" was the main theme of the rally held outside Queensland parliament on World Heritage Day, April 18. Six Degrees and Greenpeace Brisbane called the rally, which attracted about 50 people.
The rally came after the April 12 announcement by deputy premier Jeff Seeney that Gladstone harbour, which is facing environmental destruction due to coal industry development, might be removed from World Heritage listing.
Prime minister Julia Gillard鈥檚 April 17 speech on Afghanistan was widely heralded as a change of policy. It is and it isn鈥檛.
It does set out a schedule for a partial withdrawal of troops 鈥 thereby bringing Australia belatedly into line with the US drawdown of troops by 2014. But it also affirms that Australia, like the US, will not withdraw all its troops.
About 50 people attended an April 17 rally in King George Square to mark a global day of action against military spending. The rally, organised by , called for Australian military funding to be radically cut back in the upcoming federal budget.
鈥淚f the world cut military spending by just one-half of 1%, we could save the lives of 6 million children," Peter Arndt, from the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, told the audience.
Tasmania is facing a series of big, interlinked problems. These include:
鈥 a health system in crisis,
鈥 job losses in other public services causing big service inadequacies and unacceptable workloads and stress on frontline staff,
鈥 bleeding of skilled professionals and new graduates to other states,
鈥 the highest unemployment rate in the nation,
鈥 an economic recession, and
鈥 a rising cost of living.
At 2.36am, in the early hours of April 19, the student and Occupy Dataran encampment in Kuala Lumpur was violently ambushed by a big group of men. After the ambush, everyone sat down, and victims of violence started to tell stories of what happened. Here is a brief summary of the stories.
The 鈥 which means 鈥渃lean鈥 in Malay) called for a mass sit in on April 28. It did so due to suspicions that the country鈥檚 Barisan Nasional (BN) government was about to call a general election before addressing widespread electoral irregularities. The irregularities were confirmed by a review forced on the government by the .
crashes a Mantle Mining general meeting on April 16. One activist made it into the meeting to ask Mantle's directors how they justify trying to destroy Bacchus Marsh farmland for coal exports. The results are admittedly excruciatingly awkward to watch, but must-see viewing.
The Support Assange and WikiLeaks Coalition .
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The Attorney-General Nicola Roxon will be speaking on the subject of 鈥淩ule of Law and the Commonwealth Principles 鈥 Terrorism, Emergency Laws and Human Rights鈥.
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