About 150 people took to the streets of Brisbane on May 24 to protest against biotechnology corporation Monsanto, one of the foremost proponents of genetically modified (GM) technologies.
The event was part of an international day of action that called for all products with genetically modified organisms to be labelled, Monsanto products to be banned in Australia, and a more transparent handling of GM products by the Australian government.
Speakers described the history of Monsanto and neoliberal laws and free trade agreements that help the corporation.
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If you were to take Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Coalition on face value, they appear to be against debt.
All the pain imposed on the poorest in society by the federal budget and all the cuts to education, health and welfare are justified as being necessary βmedicineβ to solve a horrendous debt problem left to them by previous Labor governments. Yes, we've heard that line over and over again.
Never mind the fact that the government's debt as a proportion of gross domestic product is one of the lowest among the developed countries and lower than it was in the 1950s and 1960s.
Members of a number of unions rallied outside Brisbane Magistrates Court on May 26 in support of Electrical Trades Union (ETU) Queensland and Northern Territory branch secretary Peter Simpson, who was facing charges under the Transparency and Accountability Act.
Introduced last September, the law requires unions to conduct a ballot of all members before spending more than $10,000 on political campaigns and to publicly declare all expenditure (either on a union website or the Industrial Commissionβs site).
Organic farmer Steve Marsh has lost his case in the Western Australian Supreme Court after seeking compensation for his crops being affected by genetically modified (GM) seeds.
Organic farmers fear the case will have dire consequences for non-GM farmers everywhere.
In a case which was the first of its kind, Marsh brought legal action against his neighbour Michael Baxter, who took advantage of changes in state legislation and began growing GM canola on his adjacent farm in 2010. Some seeds blew over the road onto Marshβs property.
Students and staff at Jaffna University lit candles on May 21 to remember the Tamils who died in May 2009 when the Sri Lankan army carried out a genocidal onslaught in the final days of the island's decades-long civil war.
Tens of thousands of men, women and children were killed as Sri Lankan government forces bombarded them from land, sea and air.
Trade unionists and community activists held a forum called "After the budget, build the fightback" in Melbourne on May 24 organised by the Socialist Alliance to discuss joint actions to campaign against the federal budget.
You know Australian politics has reached a low point when a lunatic billionaire coal magnate driving a Rolls Royce manages to appear less heartless and out-of-touch than the government.
Lock the Gate released this statement on May 28.
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The nationβs air quality has declined dramatically in the past decade and coal mining has been identified as the biggest source of harmful respiratory particles in our air, a new federal government report finds.
The National Pollutant Inventory report found Queensland is the most polluted state in terms of the levels of particulate matter with eight of the nationβs top ten particle emitting coal mines located there.
Why would the victim of a brutal military dictatorship appoint someone accused of covering up the regimeβs crimes as ambassador to the country in which she once sought exile?
This is the question many Chileans are asking after the new government of President Michelle Bachelet named James Sinclair as Chileβs highest diplomatic representative in Australia.
In response, several groups have begun organising a campaign against the appointment.
More than 250 people gathered outside the office of the Northern Land Council in Tennant Creek and marched to the local Peko Park on May 25, protesting against the proposed radioactive waste dump at Muckaty in the Northern Territory.
The Muckaty site is part of a Land Trust, which is shared by five interrelated groups β Milwayi, Ngapa, Ngarra, Wintirku and Yapayapa.
Traditional owners call the Muckaty Land Trust βManuwangkuβ. Members of all five groups were present at the rally.
The Australian governmentβs review of the February violence on Manus Island leaves critical questions unanswered and does not call for the detention camp to be closed.
Robert Cornallβs 107-page administrative review, released on May 26, includes a detailed account of 23-year-old Reza Beratiβs death and identifies a Salvation Army employee as instigating the attack.
Aboriginal people and their supporters took to the streets on National Sorry Day on May 26 to protest against government departments taking Aboriginal children from their families. Actions took place in 15 towns and cities around the country.
The rally in Sydney was organised by Grandmothers Against Removals, Indigenous Social Justice Association and the Stop The Intervention Collective Sydney.
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