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Channel 31 forced off air
SYDNEY — In the Federal Court on April 16, Justice Ronald Sackville upheld the Australian Broadcasting Authority's decision to award TV Sydney with the broadcasting licence previously held by Community TV Sydney (CTS).
After several weeks of deliberation, Sackville ruled that the ABA was within the law to deliver the licence to the education industry training consortium. The ABA gave permission for CTS, which has been managing Channel 31 for 11 years, to remain on air for one more week.
Jill Hickson from Actively Radical TV (a progressive group of producers on Channel 31) told Green Left Weekly: "Our next step will be to approach TVS to try to get them to stick to the guarantee they made to the ABA, to let community groups continue to broadcast." According to Hickson, there are fears that access for community groups will be denied.
Kerryn Williams
@head6 ='End police violence in Redfern'
BRISBANE — Ray Jackson from the Indigenous Social Justice Association and Brisbane Murri activist and Socialist Alliance Senate candidate Sam Watson addressed meetings in Brisbane and Inala, and at the University of Queensland on April 5 and 6.
The tour, attended by more than 100 people, was organised by the Socialist Alliance. A large number of Murris participated in the Inala meeting, generating a lively discussion about the problems of police violence and harassment in all cities.
Jackson discussed the Redfern community's evidence indicating that a police chase resulted in the violent death of a young man from Kamilaroi in Waterloo on February 14. He called the "riot" which followed in Redfern as a police "set-up".
Jackson said that Aboriginal communities from around the country were planning to converge on Sydney in July for the coronial inquiry.
Watson said that "Aboriginal families across Australia are very vulnerable to police terrorism". He drew a comparison between the recent Redfern tragedy and the police killing of Daniel Yock in 1993 in Brisbane.
He described the struggle against racism as a "big opportunity" for the Socialist Alliance to develop a strong campaign in the coming federal election. "We need a system where the police who are killing our children are brought to justice", Watson concluded.
Bill Mason
Nurses, ambulance officers reject pay offers
HOBART — Public sector nurses rejected a 21.5% pay offer on April 14. The next day the Health and Community Services Union refused to even put an offer for a 27.38% increase over three years to ambulance drivers. In both cases, the government's refusal to negotiate over conditions caused the rejection.
"Ambulance drivers will not be dazzled by dollars", HACSU assistant secretary Tim Jacobson told the April 16 Hobart Mercury. According to Jacobson, the big issues for ambulance drivers are excessive overtime; the loss of penalty rates in long service leave pay; insufficient sick leave; and inadequate uniform supplies.
The Australian Nursing Federation has given the government until April 29 before industrial action will be taken in support of the nurses' demands.
Kamala Emanuel
From Green Left Weekly, April 21, 2004.
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