I joined Blockade IMARC alongside mob from across the country to stand in solidarity with one another to resist the same mining companies we are fighting on our traditional lands. The cops arrested and roughed me up behind the scenes: “I was snatched by the police when I was standing well back and dragged inside and they purposely slammed my head against walls and doors out of the public view with body cameras turned off.” In the aftermath, Dan Andrews has defended the actions of the police. Many arrestees at Blockade IMARC are now faced with huge legal bills. Please chip in to help a legal defence fund that has been setup to support over 80 arrestees like myself defend ourselves in court: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-activists-arrested-at-mining-conference

When the rich and powerful want to get their message across, they buy a billboard, or a TV station, or a politician. For the rest of us, we cannot even hold a placard without facing fines. City of Perth by-laws prohibit the "display [of] a hand held sign on ... a public place [without approval]". They also prohibit handing out leaflets without a permit. These permits can cost hundreds of dollars, can be restricted by time and location, and there is no obligation on the council to approve a permit. These by-laws are archaic and contravene our basic human right to free speech. Furthermore, the City of Perth use their own discretion in how they apply the by-laws. They are the ones with a discretion to pick and choose what issues they will tolerate and what they will not. The council should not have the final say over public debate. At a time of worsening inequality and racism, and climate crisis, we need more free speech and public debate, not activism being shut down. Please also support this GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-activists-fined-for-expressing-free-speech?utm_medium=email&utm_source=product&utm_campaign=p_email%2B4803-donation-alert-v5

One women is killed in Australia per week. This is worse for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. How can we even begin to get this number under control if we can't talk about the root issues? We needs shows like Q&A as a forum for experts to discuss the need for action, and the best solutions. Removing the episode shows a capitulation to men's rights activists and white nationalists who don't want women, non-binary people and people of colour to be safe or have any rights in Australia. The ABC must bring back this important episode of Q&A!

My name is Jane, and my client Kim is one of thousands of NDIS clients who received the letter telling them their services with Australian Unity will be cut. I’ve been working with Kim for fifteen years, and I’ve never seen her this stressed. She chose to challenge Australian Unity’s decision on the basis that the changes would put her health and safety at risk, but now she’s on the verge of having her care discontinued, with no adequate replacement services in place. All Kim wants is to maintain quality care from her care workers she has had long lasting relationships with. She’s tried everything she can think of, and now she’s scared. As a former health professional, she knows her condition would be far worse, if it wasn’t for the well trained care workers she receives her daily care from.

It's important because we want these services to continue to be operated by council. Please sign the petition on the right-hand side of this page. By sighing this petition, we are calling on Council Management and Councillors to continue to provide the vital Community Services of Family Day Care and OOSH to our ratepayers across the Shire.

For further information please speak to your delegate or USU Blacktown City Council Organiser Sandie Morthen on 0419 761 326.

The Tenants Union is the only independent, community run, specialist service for tenants in the ACT. The Tenants Union was established 38 years ago by grassroots community members in Canberra for this sole purpose. It has been funded since 1994 by the ACT Government to do its vital work supporting Canberra renters. In that time it has supported more than 50,000 people and their families. It should not be defunded. It’s ongoing funding should be increased so it can continue to provide quality services to the Canberra community and ensure its staff are paid properly.

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.

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

Tolarno Eating House has stolen tens of thousands in wages and other entitlements from Hospo Voice members. They need to pay up now. Tolarno has tried to wear these workers down, making them wait months and months, ignoring court orders. But these workers’ determination to win justice has only grown stronger, and they have the full support of Hospo Voice members and supporters everywhere. We will stand with them to ensure they are repaid every single cent. Bosses that defy court orders to repay stolen wages deserve to be behind bars.

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.

Translators and Interpreters Australia won funding for higher rates on Vic government interpreting jobs in July last year. VITS is the Victorian government owned interpreting agency, but they refuse to pay the higher rates on all Vic government funded work. They have paid back the wages they stole from individuals on a handful of occasions and then went back to underpaying them! Without interpreters our diverse community wouldn’t be able to access services like health, education and courts. They deserve better than dodgy treatment from VITS Language Loop.