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Write on - Letters to the editor

Coal threatens Queensland

It is not a good look for Queensland internationally and here at home with the Chinese coal ship having run aground on the Great Barrier Reef, leaking oil and about to break up.

The massive mines of the Hancock and Waratah coal companies, together with the coal mines of the Bowen Basin coming through with the Northern Missing Link, mean that upwards of 230 million tonnes per annum of coal will be going through the nationally wetlands of Caley Valley and exported through the newly constructed port at Abbot Point.

We kid you not

A tidal wave of wealth

"Australia's top executives have seen their collective wealth swell by almost three-quarters — or about $15 billion — over the past year, easily outstripping gains by ordinary investors.

"The total wealth of Australia's top 200 business chieftains ballooned to $35 billion in 2010, up from $20.3 billion in 2009, according to the BRW 2010 Executive Rich List ...

"The combined wealth of Australian executives was 72 per cent higher than last year ..."

— March 24 Sydney Morning Herald.

The power of ordinary solidarity

< STRONG>Ordinary Courage: My Journey to Baghdad as a Human Shield By Donna Mulhearn Pier 9, 2010 254 pages, $32.95 (pb) STRONG>Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman who Helped to Hide the Frank Family By Miep Gies & Alison Leslie Gold Pocket Books, 2009 302 pages, $24.99 (pb)

Real youth income support needed

On March 18, the federal government managed to pass its new youth allowance scheme through the Senate. The government’s main aim was to tighten eligibility requirements for students getting youth allowance, so that young people now have to work an average of 30 hours a week for 18 months before qualifying for the benefit.

'No more tailpipes, no more smokestacks'

Resistance’s Zane Alcorn spoke to Matthew Wright, a climate and energy campaigner from Beyond Zero Emissions. Wright is speaking at the Resistance 2010: the World can’t Wait! national conference, which will be held in Wollongong from April 24-26.

Brother Fox has the last laugh

Indigenous and trade union activist Chicka “The Fox” Dixon (1928-2010), was farewelled by more than 1000 people in a state funeral in Sydney Town Hall on March 31.

Can capitalism fix the climate?

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It has taken capitalism about 250 years to generate enough waste and pollution to press dangerously against nature’s limits. With such a damning record, there should be no grounds to expect a different outcome in the future.

What was really said at intervention consultations

This Is What We Said: Australian Aboriginal People Give Their Views on the Northern Territory Intervention. Compiled & published by ‘concerned Australians’ 71 pages, hard cover with Aboriginal cover design, $15

Forum condemns Black deaths in custody

Outraged by the six Aboriginal deaths in custody this year, the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA) organised a public meeting at the Redfern Community Centre on April 9 to tell the stories and call for justice.

Grounded coal ship threatens barrier reef

On Saturday April 3, a fully laden bulk carrier ran aground on Douglas Shoal off Rockhampton, Queensland, producing an oil spill threatening the Great Barrier Reef. The Shen Neng 1, carrying about 65,000 tonnes of coal to China, leaked about two tonnes of oil onto the reef before being contained.

Regional left statement on Thailand: 'Resolve crisis through democracy, not crackdown!'

The following was released on April 10 by the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM), Working People's Association (PRP) of Indonesia, People’s Democratic Party (PRD) of Indonesia, Turn Left Thailand, Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) of the Philippines, Socialist Alliance of Australia

New racist attacks on refugees

The federal Labor government announced a moratorium on processing claims for asylum for people coming from Sri Lanka or Afghanistan on April 9.