Australia

Muslim Association Thanks Skaters For Standing Up To Bigotry

October 15, 2014 Ashleigh Gleeson, www.theherald.com.au Create! Australia, ISIS, Religion, Solidarity

THE men who took a stand against an alleged act of bigotry last week in Newcastle have been formally thanked by members of the city’s Muslim association. Patrick Burgess and Justin Lanz visited Newcastle Mosque on Saturday where they were also invited to a community open day that will be held at the mosque, which is located in Wallsend, this upcoming Sunday from 10am to 3pm. The men were skating with four other friends last Monday when they came to the aid of a Muslim mother and daughter who were being attacked in an alleged bigoted tirade on Smith Street, in Newcastle West. The incident occurred at a time of increasing community unrest and concern Australia’s mission against Islamic State in Iraq is fuelling attacks on Muslims in Australia.

Volunteers Tackle Plastic Trash On Beaches

October 10, 2014 Michael Green, www.smh.com.au Create! Australia, Environment

Nicko Lunardi, from Newport, is wearing a black T-shirt with two skulls on it. He is 27 years old, an electrician, and a drummer in two punk bands. He's also the leader of a small group of volunteer beach cleaners in Melbourne's west. It's Sunday morning and a dozen people have slipped through a gap in the fence to the Jawbone Reserve in Williamstown, the closest marine sanctuary to the CBD. Parks Victoria's website describes it as an "unspoilt place" and a "haven for coastal and marine life". It is full of trash. Lunardi picks up a fistful of sandy debris, shot through with countless plastic chunks, lumps and specks. "What can we do with that?" he asks.

Protests Against Abbott Government Held Across Australia

September 1, 2014 Rebecca Sullivan, www.adelaidenow.com.au Resist! Abbott, Australia, March In August, Protest

THOUSANDS of Australians have rallied at March in Australia protests around the country this weekend, protesting against the Abbott government after almost one year in power. Protest organisers say around 40,000 people have marched at 31 locations, including capital cities and tiny regional towns. The wide range of issues being supported by the protesters was summed up by a sign that read: “For stronger public health and education, for addressing climate change, for asylum seeker rights, for real reconciliation, for equitable access to university, for protecting the environment, for international aid based on need not trade, for greater equality of wealth, for cultural diversity, for these reasons and more we march and shout, ‘Boot the Liberals Out!’” These anti-Abbott protests are known for their hilarious posters and signs, featuring cheeky appropriations of the Prime Minister’s face. The August protest did not disappoint.

Australia Wants To Dump Nuclear Waste On Indigenous Land

August 25, 2014 Oliver Milman, www.theguardian.com Organize! Australia, Indigenous Rights, Land, Nuclear Waste

Australia could end the disadvantage endured by its Indigenous population by opening up traditional lands as dumping sites for nuclear waste from around the world, a former prime minister, Bob Hawke, has said. Hawke said he was confident that the answer to long-standing indigenous socioeconomic problems was to allow radioactive waste to be stored on Aboriginal land, and use the revenue to improve living standards. Speaking at the Indigenous Garma festival in the Northern Territory, Hawke said he had met Adam Giles, the territory’s chief minister, to discuss the idea and had got a favourable response. “We need to do something substantial to finally eliminate these disgraceful gaps in well-being and lifetime opportunities,” Hawke said. “I have no hesitation whatsoever in putting the situation in very specific terms because I believe I have the answer. “I’ve discussed this proposal with Adam Giles, who tells me he’s been approached by a number of elders who, like himself, are keenly supportive of the proposal.” Despite having some of the largest deposits of uranium in the world, Australia has maintained a long-standing opposition to nuclear power and storing radioactive waste from overseas.

An Aussie’s Reflections On Occupy NATGAT 2014

August 9, 2014 Katharine Dawn, www.interoccupy.net Organize! Australia, Mass Movement, Occupy, usa

NATGAT 2014 was my first Direct Experience of the movement and the Heroes and Sheroes that are dedicatedly keeping this highly significant socio-political evolutionary process ALIVE. My dear #Occupiers : you are a testimony to the indestructibility of the human spirit. You have not relinquished your authentic humanity to the dominant paradigm of greed and selfishness. Rather, as abundantly clear at NATGAT 2014, the outstanding and unifying quality of this movement is that its champions CARE : we actually CARE – about everyone and everything. #Occupiers CARE about the world and the Quality of Life that we will bequeath to future generations. Echoing the words of Leonard Peltier, ’I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart to the top of my soul’ (The Nuclear Resister, No. 174). The best I can do here is to offer some flashing glimpses of the bright lights of creativity, exciting projects and initiatives, common-sense visioning and awareness-raising endeavors that filled and over-filled the 4 days of NATGAT 2014. Deep breath, and here we go! From the Indigenous Nations Network, Lakota man William Underbaggage set the tone for the Gathering opening the event with his impassioned words of fire and truth, calling forth our humanity to act now with integrity and dedication so as to effectively address the many very real issues of our times.

Australia, Indonesia Attack WikiLeaks For Publishing Censorship Order

August 1, 2014 Nadia Prupis, www.commondreams.org Resist! Australia, Censorship, Indonesia, Malaysia, Wikileaks

After WikiLeaks released a secret gag order in Australia blocking the country's media from reporting on a massive political corruption scandal, international leaders are evading culpability and scrambling to control the narrative. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose name was included in the gag order, denied involvement in the case and asked Australia to be transparent in its investigation, which implicates several Australian bank executives and international heads of state in a multi-million dollar bribery scheme. “We are shocked by the report by WikiLeaks," Yudhoyono said in a press conference. "Given the facts I have obtained, the report is hurtful." The court order, issued by the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, blocked news agencies from reporting on the investigation looking into subsidiaries of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and government officials in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. RBA subsidiaries Securency and Note Printing Australia are accused of paying off high-ranking officials from 1999 to 2004 to secure the supply of Australian-style polymer bank notes to the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries.

Wikileaks Publishes Court’s ‘Blanket Censorship Order’

July 31, 2014 Wikileaks, www.wikileaks.org Resist! Australia, Censorship, Corruption, Wikileaks

Today, 29 July 2014, WikiLeaks releases an unprecedented Australian censorship order concerning a multi-million dollar corruption case explicitly naming the current and past heads of state of Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, their relatives and other senior officials. The super-injunction invokes “national security” grounds to prevent reporting about the case, by anyone, in order to “prevent damage to Australia's international relations”. The court-issued gag order follows the secret 19 June 2014 indictment of seven senior executives from subsidiaries of Australia's central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The case concerns allegations of multi-million dollar inducements made by agents of the RBA subsidiaries Securency and Note Printing Australia in order to secure contracts for the supply of Australian-style polymer bank notes to the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries. The suppression order lists 17 individuals, including "any current or former Prime Minister of Malaysia", “Truong Tan San, currently President of Vietnam", "Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (also known as SBY), currently President of Indonesia (since 2004)", "Megawati Sukarnoputri (also known as Mega), a former President of Indonesia (2001–2004) and current leader of the PDI-P political party" and 14 other senior officials and relatives from those countries, who specifically may not be named in connection with the corruption investigation.

Thousands Rally Across Australia

July 8, 2014 Lucinda Kent, www.abc.net.au Resist! Austerity, Australia, Budget, Inequality, Labor

Thousands of people have attended rallies across Australia to protest the Abbott Government's first budget. Large Bust the Budget protests were held in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin. Smaller rallies took place in regional areas including Lismore in New South Wales, and Wodonga in Victoria. Union groups including the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) marched at the protests. ACTU secretary Dave Oliver says a wide range of people, including families, students, retirees and pensioners, were marching to send a strong message to the Government. "This budget is going to hit the most vulnerable in our society," he said. "What this budget is doing is sending our country down the same path to where the United States is today ... they have a country that is divided by a nation of haves and have-nots."

The Corporate-Right Wing Attack On Public Broadcasting

May 21, 2014 Anthony Loewenstein, www.theguardian.com Educate! Australia, Corporatism, Journalism, Media

The war on public broadcasters by corporate media is currently enjoying a resurgence. Britain’s Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre has long loathed the BBC, accusing it of supporting “cultural marxism”. In a 2007 lecture, he said the organisation attempted to undermine “the values of conservatism, with a small ‘c’, which, I would argue, just happen to be the values held by millions of Britons.” To Dacre, the BBC is a “closed thought system operating a kind of Orwellian Newspeak … perverting political discourse and disenfranchising countless millions”. In reality, it would be hard to find any media group in Britain more polarising than the Daily Mail, constantly railing against refugees, Muslims, single women and anybody who threatens its view of the world. We can look forward to the same outlook when it formally launches in Australia this year. Dacre’s comments on the BBC were little different to Rupert Murdoch’s Australian editorial last weekend on the ABC, that alleged managing director Mark Scott had “failed to address bias issues at the national broadcaster, lift standards or impose accountability.” Furthermore (and Dacre would have been proud of this line), “the ABC has an endless list of progressive journalists and hosts sharing their perspectives and an absence of hosts or programmers who are mainstream or, heaven forbid, conservative”.

March In May Protesters Gather In Capital Cities

May 20, 2014 Melanie Kembrey, Peta Doherty, www.smh.com Resist! Australia, Protest

Thousands of protesters across the country have rallied against the Abbott government's budget in a vocal display of discontent at cuts to health and education. As state and territory leaders attend an emergency meeting to discuss measures designed to cut $80 billion from health and education spending over the next four years, voters have voiced their anger under "March in May" banners in capital cities including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The gatherings, a sequel to the "March in March" rally held earlier this year, were not limited to budget discontent. Protesters also showed their objection to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's stance on human rights, environment and industrial relations. Social media was awash with #marchinmay and #bustthebudget posts. Sydney protest organisers said they turned down offers by the Greens, the Labor Party and the Socialist Party to speak at the rallies. Protesters started meeting at Sydney's Belmore Park from 1pm, with police estimating 8000 people were present by 2.45pm. The protesters marched to Victoria Park, arriving about 4.30pm.

Still Falling: The Fight To Preserve Tasmania’s World Heritage Forests

May 19, 2014 The Sparrow Project, www.sparrowmedia.net Resist! Australia, Environment, Protest

Miranda Gibson has devoted years of her life to defending Tasmania’s old growth forests. Holding Australia’s record for longest tree sit, Miranda is no stranger to the long haul of tenacious grassroots campaigns for eco-defence. Miranda’s Observer Tree sit lasted 449 days and her six and a half years working on the Florentine Forest blockade has awarded World Heritage Protection status for the otherwise doomed Florentine eucalyptus stand. Miranda is apprehensive of the word “victory” as she sees her struggle as an ever-poised and vigilant stance against creeping, rapacious development. Despite Miranda’s laundry list of victories for the forests of Tasmania, the Australian government is attempting to delist several forests from World Heritage Protection status, Tasmanian trees are Still Falling, and these forests need your help.

Australia Risks War With China Unless US Military Ties Cut Back

April 26, 2014 Mark Kenny, www.canberratimes.com.au Educate! Australia, China, Wars and Militarism

Australia risks being pulled into a disastrous war against China because successive Australian governments have surrendered the nation's strategic independence to Washington, former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser has warned. With tensions rising in the East China Sea between China and Japan, Mr Fraser said there was a real danger of conflict and that he had become "very uneasy" at the level of Australia's compliance with the US's strategic interests. "Our armed forces are so closely intertwined with theirs and we really have lost the capacity to make our own strategic decisions," Mr Fraser said. He said the high level of military integration, including through bases such as Pine Gap, meant Australia would have difficulty convincing the world that it was not taking part in a US-led conflict even if, formally, Canberra tried to stay out of it. The comments represent the most serious questioning by a current or past government leader of the dominant assumption in Australia's foreign policy since World War II – namely, that an ever closer US alliance is inherently in Australia's security interests.

Angel Of Peace Arrives At Bentley Blockade Of Coal Gas Drilling Site

March 30, 2014 Marie Cameron (A woman with a camera), www.echo.net.au Resist! Australia, Blockade, Coal, Gas

The Bentley blockade has completed its second month and CSG miner Metgasco has yet to get anything through their front gate. Two weeks behind schedule, and with increased blockade pressure, Metgasco can only rely on the force of the police to get its equipment in. Monday saw a carnival atmosphere at the all-important Rosella gate A when the Peace Angel arrived. In the heavy dawn mist people waited to greet her. As the sun rose over the range, there she stood, peaceful and playful on top of a bamboo tripod. Silhouetted in the ball of light she unfurled her wings and peace rolled over the blockade and farmlands.

Account from Inside Parliament as Anti-Protest Bill Passes in Australia

March 17, 2014 Nicola Paris, www.counteract.org.au Resist! Australia, Direct Action, Police abuse

So this evening I paid a visit to the Victorian State Parliament with a group of around 30 other people. A diverse mix of folk – amongst them unionists, lawyers, environmentalists, people who could get their house bulldozed for the East West tunnel, people who care about peace, refugees and transparency and democracy. We were there to watch the Summary Offences and Amendments Sentencing Bill (Anti Protest Bill) get passed. A law which will allow police unprecedented discretionary powers to ‘move on’ peaceful protesters, and others they might suspect of a fairly broad range of things, from public places.

In Response to ‘Anti-Protest’ Law, Tens of Thousands Protest Across Australia

March 16, 2014 Steve Lillebuen, www.smh.com.au Resist! Australia

It's about asylum seekers. Unions. The environment and animals. The postal service or the ABC. And there's even a bit of dancing. The March for March protest snaked through Melbourne with tens of thousands demanding action on a mixed bag of issues. Some danced on Sunday while shouting, "We demand better!" and "Not in my name!" while others held placards that stated: "Abbott, you're a disgrace". What united them was anger and frustration at everything that's happened since the federal election. "I'm really angry about a number of things," said Jenni James, 59, who helped organise the Melbourne protest with three others.

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