On May 31, the nine Sydney men who were arrested in raids on their homes in November 2005, and who have been incarcerated in Goulburn maximum security prison since, finally faced a hearing in the Supreme Court. The nine men pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiring to organise a terrorist act under the Howard government’s so-called anti-terror laws.
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On May 31, 300 people packed the Wesley Uniting Church in Melbourne’s CBD for a public meeting organised by the LinkUp Melbourne campaign for the city’s train and tram systems to be put back under public ownership when the contracts with the current private operators expires in November.
On May 30, the crown prosecutors opened their argument in the trial of Bryan Law, Jim Dowling, Adele Goldie and Donna Mulhearn from Christians Against All Terrorism (CAAT) in the Alice Springs courthouse. The “Pine Gap Four” were charged under the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952.
On May 28, 30 people picketed an administration building at the Queensland University of Technology s Gardens Point campus to support Dr Gary MacLennan, a long-time radical activist and academic at QUT, who was facing disciplinary charges over his criticism of a PhD film project mocking disabled people.
On May 12, 400 people from the NSW mid-north coast packed the Kempsey Anglican Hall for a public meeting organised by the Macleay Nuclear Free Alliance (MNFA). With the theme Nuclear power not the answer to climate change, the afternoon forum had as its featured speakers anti-nuclear campaigner Dr Helen Caldicott and NSW Greens MP John Kaye.
More than 400 people protested against Prime Minister John Howard’s anti-union government outside Bathurst’s Carrington restaurant on May 25. Howard was in town to address a fundraiser, part of a desperate attempt to save Liberal MP for Macquarie Kerry Bartlett from likely defeat at the federal election.
Friends of the Earth Australia has called on the Australian government to commit $1.8 billion a year in funding for adaptation to climate change following the release on May 29 of an Oxfam International report Adapting to Climate Change: Whats Needed in Poor Countries, and Who Should Pay.
On May 29, a public meeting was held at Shellharbour, south of Wollongong, to oppose the NSW Labor government’s plans to allow private development in the Killalea State Recreation Park. The meeting was attended by 160 local residents, unionists, environmentalists and Indigenous people, following a call by the South Coast Labor Council.
On May 24, the Peel Hotel in Collingwood was granted an exemption to the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act, allowing the venue to refuse entry to all women and heterosexual men.
A new report on the effects of the cluster bombs used against Lebanon by Israel during its July-August invasion last year was launched at the Northcote Town Hall on May 29. Around 100 people attended, including members of the Lebanese community, politicians, local councilors and activists.
KATOOMBA — David Bradbury’s latest anti-nuclear documentary, Hard Rain, attracted more than 40 people to a screening in the Blue Mountains on May 28. Bradbury’s film thoroughly debunks the many myths now being pushed hard by big business and the major parties, and documents how immensely dangerous and destructive to human beings and the natural environment both uranium mining and nuclear power are. The film prompted a wide-ranging discussion about alternatives to nuclear power and solutions to global warming. The event was organised by the Socialist Alliance and Green Left Weekly.
More than 55 people met at the University of Technology, Sydney on May 28 discuss the upcoming Stop Bush! demonstrations, which will be held during the September APEC summit in Sydney. The meeting was a promising sign that people believe APEC is an important opportunity to build the campaigns that can challenge Prime Minister John Howard and US President George Bushs neoliberal agenda.
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