It is even more important because the pandemic has impacted the earnings of households. Unemployment due to COVID has increased in our community and this means working families are more in need than ever before to meet their basic needs like putting food on the table and cannot afford their escalating rate bills.

Stop Modern Slavery SA is a campaign started with the goal to shine a light on the exploitative practices occurring currently in South Australia. Modern slavery is very much a reality in our world today, including here in South Australia. However, these practices remain largely hidden. The International Labour Organization estimates there are over 40 million people trapped in situations of slavery worldwide. Australia is no exception. No more is slavery a picture of someone in chains. It is much more complex and much more hidden but just as prevalent, if not more with an estimate of one in 200 people being enslaved. In South Australia there is evidence that modern slavery can take many forms including: • Forced Marriage - Forcing, coercing or tricking someone to marry another person, against their will and without their consent. Victims of forced marriage are often under 18. • Partner Visa Holder Servitude - After entering into a legitimate marriage and arriving in Australia, victims are forced or coerced into domestic, commercial and/or sexual servitude. In these cases, the person is deprived of their freedom and is forced to perform services with no pay and in exploitative working conditions. • Labour Exploitation and Forced Labour - People are forced to work in exploitative working conditions (long hours without breaks, in extreme heat or cold), are paid well below minimum wage (wage theft), sometimes not at all and are, at times, physically and/or sexually abused. Exorbitant debts are sometimes created for the victim to have to repay before they are free to cease working. The most common industries for forced labour/labour exploitation in South Australia are agriculture/horticulture, food and entertaining and cleaning. • Domestic and Commercial Sexual Exploitation - Where someone is forced to perform sex work/sexual services against their consent. Many people living in South Australia would not realise there are women and men, and children as young as 14 years old trapped in slavery and slavery-like conditions in metropolitan Adelaide and rural South Australia. It has recently been exposed that these practices are a reality here. Many of us would be appalled to realise this is happening all around us. Victims are alone, isolated and living in fear of violence or repercussions if they try to leave these conditions. Within the cycle of modern slavery, victims can go on to continue the exploitation of others. We need to act today to understand who are forcing or coercing people to stay in exploitative conditions, who are encouraging these practices and to get victims the help they need to stop the cycle from continuing and leading to more people to become trapped in modern slavery. #stopslaverySA

In 2018, the University's annual revenue was $2.53 billion. Vice Chancellor Michael Spence has a yearly salary of $1.53 million. Sydney University is one of Australia's wealthiest institutions. Tutors, lecturers and professional staff are essential to the learning experience for students, and a 30% reduction will mean larger tutorials, overworked tutors, and less responsive student services. Students are already facing the prospect of massively increased university fees, with humanities degrees set to more than double in price, to $14,500 per year. For staff, the threat of unemployment means the possibility of being forced onto the already insufficient JobSeeker payment, due to be reduced to only $810 a fortnight from September. It is unconscionable that staff and students should bear the brunt of the University's funding crisis. We demand No Cuts!

This is part of a series of attacks against staff and student from both the Liberal government and university management. Courses are getting slashed while the price of education is increasing. Social work students under current liberal plans will also see the cost of their degrees double in 2021. The University of Sydney is one of the richest universities in the country and Vice-Chancellor Michael Spence sits on a million-dollar yearly salary. Management can easily afford to fund the School of Education and Social Work, but they're only concerned about their profits. We need to fight back against all attacks against our education! If you want to join the campaign, join the USYD Education Action Group and join the organising group for Education and Social Work students https://www.facebook.com/groups/1267400043595226/. Join the National Day of Action on August 28 to fight for our education! https://www.facebook.com/events/281188686290641/

It is important because we want an in-house bid. Please sign the petition on the right-hand side of this page.

It is important because we want Childcare Services to continue to be operated by council. Please sign the petition on the right-hand side of this page. By signing this petition, we are calling on Council Management and Councillors to continue to provide vital community services.

Mark Latham's Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020 is a dangerous attack to LGBTIQ+ kids and staff. If passed, the Bill will: -prohibit trans and gender diverse content being taught in health and physical education classes. - prohibit teachers from mentioning the existence of LGBTI+ characters, people or events in other subjects like English or History. - prohibit counsellors from giving advice to students on the subject of gender fluidity. - force teachers to refuse to call students by their preferred pronouns. - teachers who do not comply could lose their accreditation and their jobs. - allow parents and guardians to remove their child from any course that mentions sexuality. - force schools to consult with parents and guardians at the start of each year about any course which mentions sexuality (and change the courses accordingly). - legitimise the stigmatization of intersex students. This Bill goes further even than the Religious Discrimination Bill that the Morrison government has waiting in the shadows - which itself would legalise discrimination towards LGBTI+ people in Australia. Latham's Bill goes further as a calculated attempt to erase the very existence of LGBTI+ people and force kids and staff back into the closet. Please share this petition to keep up the fight!

Standard DSP only has a $174 per fortnight allowance for earning beyond the DSP payment. For every dollar after that, the recipient loses 50c in every $1. The effect of this is to reduce the hourly wage in earnings to around $10 per hour. This legislation, which creates a two class disability payment system, is discriminatory. We need to join together and demand that the Government provide all DSP recipients with the same level of benefits. This must be addressed immediately. If you also want a copy and paste letter to forward to your local minister, please feel free to use the following… To minister , I have recently become aware of an unfair and unjust practice of the Australian government paying 2 different disability support payments (DSP). The standard DSP is income and asset tested and restricts recipients to being renumerated for their employment to around $10 gross/hour maximum. The second category is reserved for those classified as ‘legally blind’. As this payment has no income or asset restriction, all money earned from employment is retained. As disabled people face enormous struggles in their day to day life, whether their particular disability is legal blindness, or some other disability type, all should have the same set of access to a fair pay for work undertaken. As a society we have long ago moved toward equity and as such all should be granted the second DSP. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Sincerely,

The working class of Indonesia are opposing attempts by the Government of Indonesia to introduce the Omnibus Bill on Job Creation that seeks to exploit the present Covid-19 crisis in order to reduce wages, remove entitlements and erode workers’ rights in Indonesia. The government of President Joko Widodo is arguing that this bill which aims to rewrite 79 laws to deliver greater foreign direct investment, support economic growth and create job opportunities for Indonesians. But the reality is the Omnibus Bill will only harm working people and the environment. It must be stopped.

On Friday 1 August, at a socially-distanced protest organised by the University of Sydney Education Action Group, two activists were arrested and fined $1,100. NSW riot police arrived to break up a crowd of less than 50 students and staff, who were gathering on their own campus, in a socially distanced, masked demonstration against the University's push to fire casual staff, push through redundancies and cut subjects. What is more concerning than this blatantly cynical attack, under the guise of public health, on the right to protest? Probable collaboration between University of Sydney security who the Education Action Group alleges called the NSW Police to disperse the protest. The protest was a small gathering of less than 50 people, outdoors, with all participants wearing masks & gathering in groups of less than 20. This is a blatant and outrageous attack on the free speech of students and staff. And it comes at a time when university management's around the country are drastically slashing subjects and jobs. The university is meant to be a place where students can discuss and debate ideas, not just in an academic sense, but also relating to the real world. Collaboration between university management, security and the police endangers students and creates an atmosphere of censorship and the crushing of dissent. How can students pursue an interest in social justice or political issues if at any time, armed riot police may be called on them at the request of security? Can we expect when classes return in second semester, when cafes are open, and students are expected to return to laboratories and libraries, that any display of political opposition can expect to face repression from University security and the NSW police? Students will continue to show our opposition to attacks on our education and the working conditions of our teachers in socially responsible ways. We call on Vice Chancellor Michael Spence to guarantee students the right to protest at the University of Sydney, without fear of repression.

Thousands of us are still being stalled in negotiating a rent reduction, and are facing eviction in coming weeks. At the end of September the much needed Jobseeker and JobKeeper payments will be slashed. At the same time, the COVID19 Omnibus eviction moratorium is set to end. For those of us who were already struggling to stay afloat we will be expected to live on $3 a week. While we’re expected to stay home, we need to make sure we have a secure home to stay in. The COVID19 pandemic demands long term solutions. Deferring the problem only exacerbates the crisis. Time is running out. #ExtendTheMoratorium #RentReliefNow #Nooneleftbehind

In the middle of a global pandemic and an economic crisis that's only getting worse the government is misleading people on Centrelink payments about pointless and punitive 'mutual' obligations activities. It's not safe. Right now there are no penalties in place for refusing to do most mutual obligations, however people can be forced into a job they don't want and the government has given job agencies license to bully, harass and lie to people. This has made many JobSeekers confused and distressed, and many are doing activities against their will when they don't have to. We have called a strike to protest this behaviour. Go here for more information about your right not to do 'mutual' obligations right now: https://auwu.substack.com/p/how-to-participate-in-the-auwu-mostrike