Scott Morrison’s visa system favours big businesses at the expense of working people. There are workers who have lived in this country for years, who have families and communities here, and every day do the work that keeps our country running - but who are stuck in limbo from temporary visa to temporary visa. Meanwhile, the government has enabled exploitative employers to churn through a vulnerable temporary migrant workforce with limited rights. We need a fair visa system that puts workers over profit, and that gives every worker a fair chance - no matter where we come from.

In a region rife with conflicts, and now battling the health and socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19, UNRWA stands as a vital source of regional stability. UNRWA has been recognised as a major contributor in the containment of the COVID-19 virus, particularly in preventing its spread through densely populated Palestinian refugee camps in the region. Australia has a long history of support to the Palestinian people. Australian aid to UNRWA is a practical and genuine demonstration of our long-standing support for the Middle East peace process. This support provides basic services (education and health), livelihood opportunities and protection for Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Syrian, Lebanon and Jordan. We call on the Australian Government to restore funding for UNRWA and uphold its commitment to Palestinian refugees and peace in the Middle East.

International Students alongside domestic students at Flinders University matter as we continue contributing to enriching the cultural environment, academic fields and economic development of Australia and the world. By supporting International students and standing in solidarity with us, Flinders University not only demonstrates to the State, the country and the world its pioneer and leading responsibility for International communities, but the university will also continue sustaining academically and socially its reputation as the most desirable destination for international students in the world. As an International Students Collective, we need immediate actions to support our fellows and we can do it!

There is unprecedented international funding for public health programs. In countries where asbestos is still used, health infrastructure such as hospitals or clinics built to respond to the Covid 19 crisis may contain asbestos building materials. Economic stimulus around the world is injecting money into infrastructure and construction and in countries that still use asbestos this will result in a boost to the asbestos industry and a toxic health legacy for decades to come. Unless we act to win safe, sustainable and just health and economic stimulus spending then corporations and industry lobbies will take advantage of this moment to advance their own interests. The scale of funding is huge. The World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and other multilateral development banks have announced tens of billions of dollars in grants and additional ‘concessional’ credit to the world’s poorest countries. To match the unprecedented responses by international organisations and governments across the world, we can take a bold step by committing that no recovery or health stimulus funds will be used to purchase asbestos building products. Join this campaign and make sure that the asbestos industry doesn’t profit from this health crisis.

Importantly, online learning does not favour the majority of students for a number of reasons. Our zooms have been crashing, many of our seminars and tutorials are reduced to online forums, attendance is low, and pracs and labs can't take place. Simply, we aren't receiving the same level of education - how can we be expected to receive the same grades? Although no one could have foreseen COVID-19 occurring, La Trobe University need to account for the difficult circumstances we now find ourselves in. We need fair policies regarding WAM and grading - and we need them now!

The loss of these skills will be detrimental to the future of the Deakin as the COVID - 19 pandemic subsides. This is a once in a lifetime event and requires a once in a generation level courage and imagination to support those who make Deakin Worldly .

Aside from the massive economic contribution they make to Australia, International Students are part of the fabric of the Australian community. They are students, neighbours, friends and colleagues. Many face the additional barrier of being new to Australia and not being familiar with its language or institutions. It is beyond heartless that government assistance has not already been extended to these people who work hard and contribute so much to this country. It is unacceptable that they are being abandoned in this way. Something must be done. Not in a week or a month, but now.

This can happen to any visa holder. If you are charged with a crime you did not commit in Queensland you have three options. 1. Accept visa cancellation and deportation without conviction. 2. Accept a criminal conviction and deportation without trial. 3. Wait for in excess of four years remanded in custody, or in immigration detention for a trial date. Whilst you wait for four years you are unable to work and support your family. On conviction in Queensland, most people charged with murder are convicted of Manslaughter, and are sentenced to 8-9 years (2.5-4.5 years of which will be served in prison). This means someone wrongly accused of a crime who is a visa holder, on the most trivial charge, spends longer detained or incarcerated than almost any convicted person except convicted Murderers. This is unlawful, but is accepted best practice in Queensland. Surely no visa should be cancelled prior to a conviction bring recorded. Also a charge may never exceed 12 months progressing to trial for a detained or remanded person. Further, time in detention awaiting trial, should never exceed the base (incarcerated) sentence, let alone the head sentence. The Crown (Federal Government) interfering in a Queensland charge, by cancelling the visa of a defendant was expressly protected at the time the Criminal Code was written. Now QLD Police request that the Federal Government cancel any charged persons visa, as it gains them an insurmountable advantage. Clough v Leahy, Griffith CJ, speaking for the Court, had said[200]: "Nor can the Crown interfere with the administration of the course of justice. It is not to be supposed that the Crown would do such a thing; but, if persons acting under a Commission from the Crown were to do acts which, if done by private persons, would amount to an unlawful interference with the course of justice, the act would be unlawful, and would be punishable."

Australia knows the toxic legacy of asbestos all too well. Sixteen years after the ban came into force in Australia, 4,000 people die of asbestos-related diseases every year. Around the world an estimated 250,000 people die from asbestos-related diseases each year. Still today, 125 million people are exposed to asbestos in their workplace each year. What is the loophole? The Asian Development Bank’s ‘Safeguard Policy’ prohibits investments that include raw asbestos. However, this does not apply to the purchase and use of asbestos cement sheeting where the asbestos content is less than 20%, which includes almost all asbestos sheeting. This means that victims of natural disasters can be sheltered under roof sheeting contaminated by asbestos. It means that communities trying to grow their wealth and improve their welfare can be given an asbestos time-bomb in the form of asbestos sheeting. The Asia Development Bank’s current policy enables the asbestos industry in Asia to survive, despite the disastrous health impacts of asbestos. Alternatives are widely available for all asbestos-containing products, and the ADB policy must be updated to reflect this. The ADB must close the loophole! Let’s take a stand to stop asbestos everywhere! Find out more at apheda.org.au/asbestos

Climate change is recognised as one of the greatest threats facing us now and into the future. By taking time off school and work together around the world, we're showing our politicians that people everywhere want climate justice and solid commitments from governments to rapidly curb emissions and stop the expansion of fossil fuel projects. We’re striking in solidarity with everyone who’s already being impacted by the climate crisis and everyone who will be impacted if we don’t act now: workers, students, First Nations people, young people, and more. In Australia, the climate strike movement is gaining ever-increasing support from educational institutions and a host of other organisations who recognise the severity of the climate crisis we’re in and the need to act with appropriate urgency, in accordance with the best scientific advice available. Universities, in publicly supporting the right of students and staff to attend the September 20 climate strike, are indeed taking a position that is consistent with the values of academic rigour and scientific integrity held in such high regard by our institutions. The school strikers state on their website: “In Australia, education is viewed as immensely important, and a key way to make a difference in the world. But simply going to school isn’t doing anything about climate change. And it doesn’t seem that our politicians are doing anything, or at least not enough, about climate change either. So, as our contribution to the changes we want to see, we are striking from school.” They, as do we the undersigned students and staff, recognise the need for a rapid transition away from polluting industries, such as coal, oil and gas, and for much stronger political commitments to curbing our emissions and our fossil fuel exports. We call on the University of Adelaide to support students and staff, by providing assurance that we will not be penalised for our attendance at the September 20 Climate Strike.

The petition of the undersigned shows: • that approximately 800 refugees and asylum seekers remain on Manus Island and Nauru after nearly six years; • that there is no possibility that all of these people will be able to go to the United States; • that the medical condition of many of them has deteriorated alarmingly; • that necessary medical treatment is often not available in either Papua New Guinea or Nauru and can most appropriately be provided in Australia.

A war between the US and Iran would have devastating consequences for all the people of the region. It is not in Australian people’s interest to go along with the Trump administration’s ‘regime change’ agenda. Only the people of Iran can decide their government. The US is not under attack from Iran and nor is Australia. A peaceful resolution of outstanding issues is essential and possible.