Anger and concern is spreading as people become aware of the scale of the cuts to the TAFE sector. The Baillieu government said it would slash $300 million from the TAFE sector in Victoria.
At a public meeting titled “TAFE Cuts, Education and the Capitalist Crisis”, the president of the National Tertiary Education Union’s University of Ballarat branch, Jeremy Smith said 57 courses were being totally axed at Ballarat TAFE.
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Bimblebox is an 8000-hectare nature refuge in the Galilee Basin in central-west Queensland. It is an important site of biodiversity and is being used as a site for many long-term research projects in land management. It also lies in the path of what is planned to be Australia’s largest coalmine.
Nine huge mines have been proposed for the Galilee Basin. Waratah Coal, owned by billionaire Clive Palmer, has an exploration permit over the entire Bimblebox refuge.
Rupert Murdoch is a bad man. His son James is also bad. Rebekah Brooks is allegedly bad. The News of the World was very bad; it hacked phones and pilloried people.
British prime ministers grovelled before this iniquity. David Cameron even sent text messages to Brooks signed "LoL", and they all had parties in the Cotswolds with Jeremy Clarkson. Nods and winks were duly exchanged on the BSkyB deal.
Shock, horror.
Offering glimpses of the power and petty gangsterism of the British tabloid press, the inquiry conducted by Lord Leveson has, I suspect, shocked few people.
In what was an important milestone for the anti-capitalist community in Adelaide, Left Unity held its inaugural AGM on May 26.
The group collected membership fees, elected an executive and established working groups. It also chose a new logo. The AGM culminates several months of careful discussion towards consolidating the organisation.
Left Unity formed in May 2010. Its goal was to unite class-conscious radical left forces through common struggles against the ecological and social evils of our increasingly brutal and irrational economic and political system.
If Australia were a democracy and governments had no choice but to carry out the will of the majority, we’d be well on our way to a 100% renewable power grid.
Recent polling organised by climate action groups around the country found that 94% of 12,000 people polled said they wanted big solar power stations built in Australia. And 93% of those polled said the government should invest public money to make that happen.
Private-detention centre operator Serco and the department of immigration have taken steadily more aggressive action to prevent refugees in detention from speaking out about their conditions. They have done this by moving to restrict and curtail visits to detainees, and have banned several individuals.
Traditional owners across Arnhem Land will resist the federal government’s proposed 10-year extension of the Northern Territory intervention by refusing to surrender Aboriginal land through 40 year leases.
When the five-year leases imposed by the government’s declared "emergency" end in August this year, the most respected Aboriginal leaders across the Top End will not enter into any new land lease agreements until the draconian and discriminatory Stronger Futures legislation is shelved.
Two rallies were held in Brisbane on May 31 to support WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange following the British court decision to validate the extradition order, opening the way for him to be sent to Sweden, and probably from there to the US.
The rallies, organised by Brisbane WikiLeaks Defence, were held outside the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) office in the city at lunchtime and in the afternoon peak hour.
Hastie workers axed via SMS
Victorian secretary of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) Dean Mighell said up to 3000 workers at engineering company Hastie Group could lose their jobs, after the company went into administration on May 28. Many workers discovered their fate via text message.
About 160 people gathered at two actions on May 31 in Melbourne to call on the Australian government to assist Julian Assange.
Several thousand people rallied in King George Square on May 30 to defend same-sex civil unions and oppose cuts to the Queensland Healthy Communities program. The protesters marched through city streets to state parliament for a further rally. The emergency rally was called by Equal Love Brisbane under the theme, “Defend Civil Unions! Save Healthy Communities.”
Victorian TAFE teacher and student Tashara Roberts released the open letter below on May 29.
* * *
Dear Mr Baillieu,
I would like to tell you my story. I am of English, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. I had an abusive childhood; my parents divorced when I was about 12 years old and we had moved around a lot until I was about 15. I went to 5 different primary schools and 2 different high schools.
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