PERTH 鈥 鈥榃e are running because the Labor and Liberal parties do not represent the interests of ordinary people鈥, said Socialist Alliance candidate for Perth Alex Bainbridge at the launch of SA鈥檚 campaign.
鈥榃e're struggling to build a movement that can more effectively represent the interests of ordinary people on some of the big issues that we face. These issues include climate change, workers鈥 rights, the shameful policies that governments are taking towards refugees and towards Aboriginal people.鈥
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On August 12, members of the Unite trade union employed at six airports by the privatised British Airports Authority voted to strike by a margin of three to one, rejecting a one percent pay rise offered by BAA. The 6185 Unite members at the six affected airports 鈥 firefighters, security staff, engineers and support staff 鈥 accepted a pay freeze in 2009.
BAA also withdrew a proposed 拢450 bonus for the airport workers and informed all staff that they would lose out on their annual airport incentive payment of 拢700 for 2010.
Thousands of people took part in a demonstration and formed a human chain in the main avenues and plazas of Caracas on August 7. This action, initiated and promoted by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), was a show of support for peace in the Latin American region and friendly relations between the peoples of Colombia and Venezuela.
BRISBANE 鈥 Quien Dijo Miedo (鈥淲e are not afraid鈥), an film about the popular resistance to the military coup that took place in June last year in the Central American country of Honduras, was shown at the Queensland Council of Unions building on August 6.
The screening was sponsored by organisations including the Communist Party of Australia, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the Socialist Alliance, Guatemalan group URNG-MAIZ Australia, the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network, and the El Salvadoran FMLN.
New Zealand鈥檚 National Party-led government announced on July 18 a law that would allow bosses to fire new workers at will, restrict access to unions, cut workers鈥 entitlements to sick leave and holidays, and remove the right to appeal against unfair sackings. On August 21, unions will respond with rallies across the country.
The two most significant aspects of the government鈥檚 plans are the extension of 90-day 鈥渢rial period鈥 and a requirement for union organisers to gain permission from employers before visiting union members or potential recruits on the job.
Thousands of people took to the streets on August 14 in support of legalising same-sex marriage and against the discriminatory policies of both major parties.
In Sydney, Peter Boyle said about 3000 people rallied at Town Hall before marching to Taylor Square. Comedian and host of ABC鈥檚 Gruen Transfer Wil Anderson chaired the event.
On August 12, candidates from the Greens, Socialist Alliance (SA) and newly formed First Nations Political Party (FNPP) spoke to a group of 50 people at La Tropicana cafe in Fremantle.
The forum was organised by SA to highlight environmental and social policies ignored by the major parties in the federal election campaign.
The event was chaired by Fremantle councillor and Western Australian SA co-convenor Sam Wainwright
Kate Davis, Greens candidate for Fremantle, said: 鈥淭he Greens have a renewable energy target of 100% by 2030.
As Colombia launched its new offensive against Venezuela, an emergency summit of Central American presidents on July 20 restored Honduras to 鈥渋ts rightful鈥 status. That status was lost internationally when former president Manuel Zelaya was overthrown in a military coup in June 2009.
Using the pretext of the relaunch of the Central American Integration System (SICA), the presidents of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama agreed to reincorporate Honduras into the regional bloc and encouraged the Organisation of American States (OAS) to do the same.
BRISBANE 鈥 A meeting of about 150 members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at the University of Queensland on August 5 passed a motion of no-confidence in UQ vice-chancellor Paul Greenfield.
The meeting voted to start rolling stop-works within two weeks if they do not receive an improved pay offer from university management.
UQ staff are due to receive only a 3.1% pay increase for 2010. An NTEU leaflet said that, by comparison, the vice-chancellor鈥檚 salary rose by $110,000 in 2009 to $989,999, an increase of 12.5%.
If imitation is the greatest form of flattery, Friends of Palestine (WA 鈥 FOPWA) must be doing something right: Friends of Israel (WA) was launched on August 8.
The group鈥檚 website is a mix of nationalism and barely concealed racism. 鈥淚srael is in the front lines of the global battle between those who love life and those who glorify death鈥, it says.
The launch took place at the Victory Life Centre, a fundamentalist Christian church, in Osborne Park, Perth.
The 一品探花 website has once again been ranked by Hitwise in the top10 most visited Australian websites in the category Lifestyle 鈥 Politics.
Hitwise ranked the website number eight for the six-month period to June 2010. 一品探花 was also in the top 10 in the previous six months, and has won several such awards in the past.
The interest in, and dire need for, independent, alternative news is obvious. But it doesn鈥檛 come cheap. If you are an online reader, please consider taking out an e-subscription to ensure this important publication continues.
If you are not at least a little bit scared about the Russian heatwave or the huge floods in Pakistan, then you really should be. Extreme and dangerous weather events will be far more common in a warmer world.
These devastating fires and floods are a taste of our future climate 鈥 unless we can force a political breakthrough on climate change and cut greenhouse gas emissions sharply.
The disasters of the past few weeks sound an unmistakable warning: we鈥檝e emitted so many greenhouse gases already that we are losing a safe climate.
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