Twiggy could dodge tax for five more years
Billionaire Australian mining tycoon Andrew Forrest boasted on May 3 that he may pay nothing in tax for the first five years of the federal Labor government鈥檚 new Mining Resources Rent Tax (MRRT), which comes into effect in July.
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The Victorian Liberal government has taken to the state鈥檚 public sector with a razor blade and announced huge cuts in the 2012 budget.
Victorian TAFE institutes in particular will be hard hit. GippsTAFE chief executive officer Peter Whitely told ABC Radio that his institute faces a loss of 10% of its operating budget. TAFE courses that are not in high demand are expected to be slashed.
The fourth Climate Action Summit was held on the weekend of April 27 to 29 at the University of Western Sydney. This annual summit brings together climate activists and environmentalists from across Australia to discuss campaigns and issues relating to grassroots action on climate change.
Historians will look back at this year鈥檚 two parliamentary inquiries into marriage equality as the beginning of the end of the religious right鈥檚 disproportionate influence on Australian politics.
On April 13, the Senate marriage equality inquiry announced it had received 75,000 submissions with 44,000 or almost 60% in favour.
The Yolngu Nations Assembly, which represents 8000 Aboriginal people in the western, central and east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, released the statement below on May 2.
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To the Leaders of the Australian federal and Northern Territory parliaments:
1. The Yol艐u Nations reject the Stronger Futures Bill (and those associated) and call on the Senate to discard these bills in full. We have clearly informed you that we do not support the legislation.
released the statement below on May 3.
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A large crowd of close to 200 people turned out for a special coal seam gas forum at the Armidale Town Hall to hear from experts who talked about the risks to water, health and the environment from coal seam gas mining.
鈥淭he great turn-out for the Forum highlights again the wide and growing community opposition to coal seam gas mining,鈥 said Carmel Flint, spokesperson for Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas (AACSG).
The Australian Education Union (AEU) .
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The huge funding cuts announced by the Victorian government to its TAFE institutes will damage the TAFE sector in Victoria and the Victorian economy and community. They will also change the national Vocational and Education Training (VET) system forever.
Late in 2011, the Victorian government ripped millions out of TAFEs budgets. Private providers were left largely untouched.
Sydney鈥檚 May 1 rally, called by the NSW Farmers Federation , represented an incredible diversity and unity from communities across NSW. Organisers said 8000-10,000 people took to the streets, making it easily the biggest action to stop CSG to date in Australia.
About 350 members of the Health And Community Services Union (HACSU) attended a state-wide meeting and marched to Parliament House on May 2.
The event was held in defiance of the state government鈥檚 attempt to shut down the union's campaign against government attacks by using legal processes in Fair Work Australia.
The HACSU has been campaigning to defend jobs and ratios in the mental health system that will be slashed under proposed government cuts.
About 50 supporters of 鈥 Melbourne Palestine solidarity activists being prosecuted in the wake of a protest in July last year 鈥 gathered outside the Melbourne Magistrates鈥 Court on May 1 to show their support for the defendants at the beginning of their trial.
One of the defendants, Jerome Small, read out a statement on behalf of the accused. The statement appears below.
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Bring Back the Buses Campaign released the statement below on April 30.
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Epping bus campaigner Helen Said confronted Dysons Bus Company Metropolitan Services Company Manager Greg Deacon today accusing Dysons of putting Melbourne鈥檚 northern suburbs school children at risk when it introduced sweeping changes to local bus services on April 22.
A case of the unspeakable, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, in pursuit of the unsinkable? It is actually rather fitting that the multi-billionaire mining 鈥渕agnate鈥 Clive Palmer should be drawn to the idea of recreating the ghastly Titanic experience.
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