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NSW budget confirms privatisation push

The NSW budget was handed down on June 16. NSW state treasurer Eric Roozendaal tried to spin it as a “beacon of hope” for the state.

DET burning out TAFE teachers

One hundred New South Wales TAFE teachers packed the hall outside Wollongong Labor MP Noreen Hay’s office on June 17 to reject new plans from the Department of Education and Training (DET) to change TAFE teachers conditions.

Qld to sell $15bn of public assets

Citing the dubious need for Queensland to keep its AAA credit rating, on June 2 Premier Anna Bligh announced the state would sell off $15 billion of public assets.

CPRS politics — cynicism in the face of disaster

Climate activists in Newcastle, already the world’s biggest coal port, have been campaigning to stop a planned upgrade. The upgrade will double the port’s coal export capacity and worsen climate change, they say.

Bill criminalises defence of safety

“Some may be disappointed in some parts of this bill”, deputy prime minister and workplace relations minister Julia Gillard told parliament on June 17.

Lethal weapons: Ban Tasers now!

“Tasers are not the ’non-lethal’ weapons the QPS [Queensland Police Service] leadership claims”, former state MP and former police officer Peter Pyke told the media in April. He predicted a Queenslander would die in 2009 from a Taser.

Calls made to not forget the Tamils

A seminar at NSW Parliament House on June 16 discussed the current dire situation for Tamils in Sri Lanka and the need for the Rudd Labor government to step up and help protect human rights there.

G20 trials — a call for solidarity

Below is a statement from the Sydney G20 Solidarity Collective.

Banks cry poor (again)

On June 15, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) raised the rate of its standard variable mortgage by 0.1%. For home buyers with the typical $300,000 mortgage, this means repayments go up by $18 a month.

Sex, lies and privatised war

State of Play
Directed by Kevin Macdonald
Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Tony Gilroy
With Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn, Helen Mirren
In cinemas

Australia's greenhouse mafia — a new dirty dozen

Environmental author and commentator Clive Hamilton first compiled a list of Australia’s top greenhouse mafia dons in 2006.

Big business calls for tax 'reform'

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) — representing Australia’s largest 100 corporations — has called for a higher consumption tax and for the company tax to be halved. It did so in a submission to the federal government’s review of taxation (the Henry review) made public on June 14