Because Pauline Hanson’s rhetoric is dangerous -- it inflames and radicalises those who seek to do violence to others. It emboldens far right extremists. Many recent perpetrators of mass shootings in the US have closely echoed the kinds of racist, inflammatory comments broadcast on Fox News and other parts of the media. Let’s stop our media from becoming a platform for hate. Sign the petition to Channel Nine now.

On Monday, the Gold Coast Young LNP posted a video that has been widely condemned as racist and offensive. The Empower team was shocked and horrified by the statements made in the video, and did not hesitate to condemn them unconditionally. No such condemnation, or comment, has been heard from Barclay's electoral group - Real for UQU. The attitudes promoted by this video and by Barclay are the kind of attitudes that keep racism against people of colour well and truly alive in Australia, and should be met with outrage, not silence. Unfortunately, Barcaly's behaviour in this video mirrors what many students reported witnessing from multiple Real campaigners during the 2019 UQU election: casual racism and discrimination. Empower stood up to this behaviour then, and we will stand up to it now. These beliefs have no place at our university, or in our student union. Barclay Mcgain must resign.

The proposed redundancy of Tess comes at a time when she is more needed than ever. Recent changes, budget cuts and instability at Nura Gili Centre at the Kensington campus as well as the shockingly low employment of Indigenous (and, further CALD) staff at UNSW marks this as a part of a larger, ongoing issue at an institutional level that needs to be remedied rather than exacerbated. Diverse staff are crucial to not only the education of students but further, to their well-being. Tess remains one of the few staff members that Indigenous, CALD and other marginalised students feel they can turn to and rely on. As well as her role as a mentor, Tess is also professionally and pedagogically a boon to the institution. Her course Aboriginal Art Now has influenced countless students and has led many to pursue further and higher research - academically, curatorially and artistically - in a more considered and critically rigorous way. In addition, Aboriginal Art Now remains one of the few Indigenous art courses available at UNSW Art & Design. She has also been instrumentally involved in a vast number of exhibitions in the Indigenous arts community in the last 30 years. The volumes of academic, artistic and curatorial output of Tess evidences her prolific reach and influence in the arts sector. As Associate Professor David Garneau suggested, her contribution to the arts sector deserves an honorary doctorate. Her removal would constitute a massive loss to the UNSW community, and the wider ripple on effects of this would be unimaginable.

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.

The majority of Australians do their grocery shopping at Coles or Woolworths. Yet the farm workers who feed us, who pick and pack the fruit and vegetables we all eat, are enduring wage theft and exploitation on Australian farms. Two thirds of surveyed workers reported earning below minimum wage, sometimes as low as $4.80 per hour. Cash contractors act as controlling mediators between farms and workers, often resulting in stolen wages, no superannuation, sexual harassment, bullying and harassment. Coles and Woolworths must not continue to profit from this exploitation. Add your voice to stand with farm workers today!

Hochi Mama is a Vietnamese restaurant at the top of Melbourne’s Chinatown. It’s also Melbourne’s number one Asian restaurant on the venue rating site, TripAdvisor. I worked there as a bartender. And I was on a flat rate of $20 per hour, no penalty rates. In just four months I had over $3000 (including super) stolen from me. Often, we felt we were treated like dirt. Hochi Mama had a staff WhatsApp group where we got our rosters, we swapped shifts and management would give us instructions about our jobs. This was also how workers found out they’d been fired, by seeing we’d been deleted from the staff WhatsApp group. It happened to me. It happened to lots of other staff. In front of everyone. Most bosses have the decency to actually TELL you that you'd been fired. Not these guys. And it left everyone feeling afraid and wondering: who’s next? Migrant kitchen staff were treated even worse. They worked double shifts of 13-14 hours for a flat rate of $70 or $100, in cash. I even saw them sleeping on milk crates out the back of the restaurant between shifts. It’s not okay for any worker to be treated like this, particularly in a wealthy country like ours. All over this industry, we see migrant workers treated like an underclass. It’s just wrong. We need to stand together and demand fairness and respect for ALL hospo workers. That’s the only way anything is ever going to change.

While the majority of the Christchurch terror attack victims are still yet to be burried, Officeworks has ALLOWED the printing of swastikas for the second time since the massacre.  On three occasions, local Werribbee neo nazi Len Reynolds ('Lensta Reynolds' on Facebook) has printed these hate symbols on Officeworks equipment. If this isn't abhorrent enough, Len threatened to bash a now ex-worker of Officeworks. Officeworks did nothing when Len came back instore, except tell this ex-worker to stay in the tearoom whilst Len Reynolds printed his nazi propaganda. Officeworks response to instant outrage has been to relegate themselves to the 'tearoom' in hiding. Deleting comments on their page, refusing to acknowledge and address their absolute complicity in the printing of nazi hate symbols and the perpetuation of facists ideology.  Please sign and leave comments.  This petition will be taken to the local authorities and to Officeworks head office. Hate, facism and nazism must be stopped in it's tracks. To do nothing is to be complicit.  SHAME ON YOU OFFICEWORKS!!! We see you!

This work should be done by public servants who are highly trained and experienced, not private companies who just want to make a profit. Time and time again the Liberals put profits before people and the good of our nation. You can’t trust the Liberals with our public services. Tell the Liberals that you don’t want to see Australia’s immigration system become more expensive and more difficult for migrant families like mine – sign the petition now.

Following the Commonwealth Games held at the Gold Coast in April this year roughly 250 athletes fled, seeking protection and safety in Australia. In May, then Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton told 2GB Radio that he needed to "round them up as quickly as possible". A number of these athletes are LGBTI. If they are forced to return to their home countries where homosexuality is illegal, they face the prospect of vicious punishment including "corrective" rape. Others face persecution for having political opinions that oppose their home governments. One of the athletes recently told the Canberra Times, “I just want to live a normal life where I can be free and nobody judges me.” All of these athletes should have the right to live safely in a country which will protect them. More information: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/i-don-t-think-i-will-survive-if-i-go-home-20180727-p4ztz6.html

Vietnamese asylum seeker Huyen is facing deportation and indefinite separation from her 4 month old baby Isabella and husband Paul. Catholics are a persecuted minority in Vietnam, and Huyen fled this persecution in 2011. She arrived in Australia by boat, and was detained in Darwin, Christmas Island, Villawood, and then in community detention. In November 2017, Huyen was living in St Albans in Melbourne with her husband Paul, and was 4 months pregnant when she was taken into MITA detention centre in Broadmeadows. In January this year Border Force loaded her onto a chartered flight to Vietnam, but she was 8 months pregnant and so was taken off the plane just before it departed. Huyen is now in MITA detention centre with her 4 month old daughter, and there are no legal barriers to her deportation. Her husband Paul, Isabella’s father, must submit to drug tests, metal detectors, and notoriously elaborate application forms to visit them after work each day. Isabella has inherited her father’s 457 visa status (he is Mauritius Chinese), and if she is deported Huyen would be indefinitely separated from her daughter and husband. Catholic asylum seekers who were returned to Vietnam from Indonesia last year were harassed, arrested, and threatened with imprisonment. Government led and government sanctioned land confiscations, church burnings, violence and threats of torture continue against Catholics and other religious minorities in Vietnam. The UNHCR has just condemned Australia for separating a Sri Lankan refugee family, where the father was deported leaving the mother and 11 month old baby in Sydney. UNHCR is urging the Government of Australia to uphold the fundamental principle of family unity, and allow family members to be together. XIN ĐỪNG TRỤC XUẤT HUYỀN – ĐỪNG CHIA RẼ GIA ĐÌNH HUYỀN Kính gởi Ông Peter Dutton , Bộ trưởng bộ di trú Cô Huyền là một người tầm trú vượt biển tìm tự do đang có nguy cơ bị trục xuất về Việt nam đau xót lìa xa con thơ Isabella 4 tháng và chồng là Paul Đàn áp Công giáo tại Nghệ an Việt nam đã đẩy Huyền trốn chạy khỏi Việt nam bằng ghe vượt biển ,đến đảo Chrismas Island , rồi trại cấm Darwin , trại cấm Villawood , nhà quản thúc . Tháng 11/2017 , đang sống ở St Albans với chồng thì Huyền bị bắt đưa vào trại biệt giam MITA lúc đang mang thai được 4 tháng . Tháng 1/2018 Huyền bị đưa ra sân bay để trục xuất về Việt nam , nhưng lúc đó thai nhi đã được 8 tháng , vì sự an toàn cho thai nhi nên nhân viên bộ di trú đã đưa Huyền xuống khỏi máy bay trở lại trại MITA Bây giờ Huyền đang ở trại MITA với con gái 4 tháng mà không được tí ân huệ nào ngăn chận nguy cơ trục xuất về Việt nam . Anh Paul mỗi ngày sau khi đi làm về phải trải qua nhiều khám xét về ma túy , vũ khí và độc dược để điền đơn vào thăm vợ con . Bé Isabella thừa nhận visa 457 của cha ( Paul là người Trung Hoa) visa làm việc tạm thời , do đó nếu bị trục xuất cô sẽ đau đớn xa con thơ và chồng Năm ngoái bộ di trú đã trục xuất những người tầm trú vì bị đàn áp tôn giáo về Việt nam từ Indonesia , những người này đã bị quấy nhiễu , bị bắt bỏ tù , bị tra tấn và đe dọa đến khủng hoảng Nhà nước Việt nam đã ra sắc lệnh tịch thu đất đai , đốt cháy nhà thờ , đập phá các nơi thờ cúng của đạo Công giáo và các đạo khác Cao ủy tỵ nạn Liên Hiệp Quốc cũng lên án bộ di trú Úc đã tàn nhẫn trục xuất người chồng người tỵ nạn Sri Lanka về nước bỏ lại vợ và con 11 tháng ở Sydney . Cao ủy tỵ nạn Liên Hiệp Quốc cũng yêu cầu chính phủ Úc phải quan tâm và xét lại đạo luật nhân đạo để giữ cho gia đình được ở chung với nhau Chúng tôi xin Ông Bộ trưởng Dutton hãy cho Huyền một ân huệ cuối cùng để được ra khỏi trại biệt giam MITA và ân xá cho Huyền được theo visa của chồng và con .

I’m calling on the Fair Work Ombudsman to conduct a comprehensive audit of the Ichi Group and ensure they are paying correct wages and that ALL former and current employees receive their correct back pay. It’s not fair that the most vulnerable workers, who were paid even less than me, should miss out on being repaid their stolen wages. Hospo Voice members don’t want to see this kind of exploitation of migrant workers in our industry. That’s why we are demanding ALL current and former staff are paid back everything that they are owed.

Australia continues to forcibly deport asylum seekers back to places such as Sri Lanka, Iraq, and Afghanistan where they face imprisonment, torture and death. Article 33 of the UN Refugee Convention, to which Australia is a signatory, states “No Contracting State shall expel or return ('refouler’) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his [sic] life or freedom would be threatened on account of his [sic] race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” Thousands of asylum seekers in Australia are at risk of deportation particularly because the Coalition government changed asylum assessment processes and abolished the Refugee Review Tribunal. An investigation by the Edmund Rice Centre in 2011 found that of 179 refugees who were forcibly returned to Afghanistan 20 had been confirmed killed and dozens more had disappeared. An update of the report in July 2017 concludes “it would be impossible for Australian, European and other governments to guarantee the safety of Afghan returnees in this period of instability”. Deportation itself is a brutal process often involving physical or chemical restraint. It breaches Australia’s obligations under international law. People deported by Australia have been bound and gagged. Deportations sometimes occur in the middle of the night with little to no warning for the person being deported. In 2010 Jimmy Mubenga, was suffocated to death while being restrained on a British Airways flight during deportation by the UK government. Deportation invariably puts passenger safety at risk because asylum seekers will often rightfully resist the process. Abdlmoneim Khogali, a Sudanese asylum seeker handcuffed to a passenger seat ripped the seat from its floor mountings in an attempt to avoid deportation from Australia. He was then beaten by guards in front of passengers. Several attempts were made to inject him with tranquilliser, the needle missed and bent into the seat. He was eventually injected with that same bent and contaminated needle, and bears scars from it. Deportation is self-evidently harmful for asylum seekers and can also be traumatic for airline staff and passengers. Airlines are not legally required to carry out forced deportations. In Germany pilots refused to carry out deportations 222 times between January and September 2017. Lufthansa spokesman Michael Lamberty told the Westdeutsche Allegeimeine Zeitung newspaper that pilots were able to make such decisions if they thought that flight safety could be affected. Deportations are happening here in Australia quite frequently. Just weeks ago a Tamil family from Biloela in Queensland were ripped from their beds in the middle of the night. Priya, Nades and their two young girls now face imminent deportation from MITA detention centre in Melbourne. We know that Tamils face torture and even death upon their return to Sri Lanka. This petition has been endorsed by: - Dr Gillian Triggs - Julian Burnside - People Just Like Us - The Edmund Rice Centre