In the midst of the COVID crisis and its effects on universities’ finances and the pressures on many universities to cut jobs we can only hope that a broad public interest lens is applied to universities future rather than a simple cost reduction lens.

A group of Medevac refugees held at MITA (Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation) detention center in Broadmeadows have re-started their hunger strike protest to demand their freedom. This second hunger strike began on Thursday 15 July, it follows the first hunger strike that began on June 17, and lasted 15 days. 12 people are currently refusing food, one is in the Northern Hospital where he has been since June 21. “We are very tired,” said one of the hunger strikers “We are nine years in detention. No-one can tell us why. Since our last hunger strike, we did not get any answers.” Vali, one of the hunger strikers said “We are on hunger strike for our freedom. We want to know what is the difference between us and other released Medevac refugees? Why are we still in detention?” We hold grave fears for the health of the hunger strikers. Their health is being harmed by the policies of the Coalition government. No Coalition government Minister has ever provided an explanation as to why around half of the Medevac refugees have been released, but half remain in indefinite detention. Indefinite detention for Medevac refugees is now into its ninth year, 33 Medevac refugees are held in the Park Hotel in Melbourne and 38 in MITA in Broadmeadows. In total around 90 refugees who came Australia's offshore hell holes on PNG and Nauru are still detained around Australia. Around 230 remain offshore. They must all be freed.

The failure of Australia's Covid-19 response has been the greatest public policy failure in our nations history. Eighteen months into the pandemic and the nation is still in lockdown, we have the lowest vaccination rate in the OECD and millions of workers cannot get a vaccine. The Prime Minister and Health Minister have made announcement after announcement but taken very few concrete steps to making our community safer. It is safe to say Australia's Covid response has been scandalously bad. We need a Covid election. Lives count on it and Morrison is not up to the job.

Subsequent lockdowns and outbreaks have seen many workers exhaust their leave entitlements and what little they had savings. Workers are being forced to choose between their livelihoods and the health and safety of the community. As we continue to face down this pandemic, workers need to be supported in keeping the community safe - this means being able to get tested, self-isolate and still pay the bills. Sign the petition and tell Premier Gladys Berejiklian: To get through this crisis, EVERY WORKER must be able to get tested and isolate without the worry of losing their livelihoods and making ends meet. Not doing so risks the entire community’s health and shirks the government's responsibility to look after the wellbeing of all during an unprecedented pandemic. To help ensure all of us can follow public health advice and stay safe during this crisis, sign the petition now. *Wording has been updated with details of the new payment and the recent statewide lockdown.

We need your support to protect local jobs! Please sign this important petition today!

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the deficiencies in our care system, and also left many workers and patients a like fearful of getting sick. Establishing national standards will improve the situation by ensuring that the same levels of care are available to all Indians despite where they live.

Under the Local Government (State) Award, Union Picnic Day is a Public Holiday for Union members. Councils should stop: Giving an over Award payment to non-Union members. Allowing non-Union members to celebrate the achievements of the Union. Paying non-Union members when they should be, as per the Award, applying to take leave. Costing rate payers many thousands of dollars unnecessarily.

Children, people walking dogs, people on mobility scooters and pedestrian in general are being put to at risk as they are forced to walk on this busy major road, in many instances around parked cars into the line of traffic.

In 2020 TPS Management disregarded the training Memorandum of Understanding with TasTAFE, changing the recruit training course, delivering it in an inappropriate setting and removing key content from the course. TPS Training Staff repeatedly raised valid, substantiated concerns, but it took Union members threatening industrial action and issuing safety improvement notices for TPS to listen. These decisions by TPS deprived recruits of appropriate training and qualifications, resulting in 36 recruits requiring retraining so they could deliver correctional services safely for staff and inmates, in line with community standards. The result of sending recruits back to training has • Cost TPS millions of dollars in over-time • Resulted in catastrophic short staffing and • Irreparably damaged the faith that employees and the community have in the accountability and integrity at TPS. Through this training saga, members were gobsmacked that the Minister and the Department of Justice were determined to ignore the truth and avoid accepting their mistakes. The current lockdowns and the damning report from the Custodial Inspectorate could have been prevented by listening to the trainers’ expert advice from the beginning. TPS vision statement says, “We act with integrity respect and accountability. Our workplaces are inclusive and collaborative”. As part of the demands members made to resolve the issues, we called for an independent investigation into the matter and the failure of the decision makers to act on the information presented to them by employees and this is yet to commence. The State Service Code of Conduct outlines appropriate behaviours expected of all state employees. TPS must urgently investigate this matter as a matter of integrity and public interest.

योगदानमा आधारित सामाजिक सुरक्षा ऐन, नियमावली र कार्यविधि तथा श्रम ऐन र नियमावलीमा रहेका थुप्रै अमिल्दा व्यवस्थाहरु सरकारी, निजी संगठीत तथा असंगठीत तमाम श्रमिकका लागि प्रतिकूल छन् । श्रमिकले आफ्नो सेवाकालभरीमा योगदान गरेको रकमको पूर्ण प्रतिफल पाउंन नसक्ने र योगदान रकमको सुरक्षाको अभाव देखिन्छ । त्यसैले नेपालका सरकारी, निजी, संगठीत तथा असंगठीत सम्पूर्ण श्रमिकहरुको सर्वाङ्गीण हित रक्षाको लागि हामीले न्यायको आवाज उठाएका हांै । नेपालको बैक, बीमा तथा वित्तीय क्षेत्रको नेतृत्वकर्ता एकमात्र व्यवसायिक कर्मचारी युनियन भएको नाताले समग्र बैंक, बीमा तथा वित्तीय संस्थाहरुमा कार्यरत सम्पूर्ण कर्मचारीहरुको खाईपाई आएको सेवासुविधा तथा सेवाशर्तको रक्षाको लागि अपरिहार्य अभियान नै अहिलेको विरोधको कार्यक्रम हो ।

The Covid-19 situation in NSW is extremely concerning. Once again, the failure to build proper, dedicated quarantine facilities has resulted in a serious local outbreak, this time of the incredibly contagious Delta strain. Vaccination rates remain woefully low. The NSW Government has acted far too slowly and half-heartedly in relation to the current outbreak. Nobody enjoys lockdowns, but the failure to enact a serious lockdown soon enough has let this outbreak grow, and now means that the lockdown must be extended and strengthened. Allowing the virus to spread would be a health disaster, not just for NSW but for all Australia.

Insecure work is a serious problem for Australian communities and families. Having a secure job is connected to so many basic things like mental health, food, housing, and being able to plan your life. And when people don’t have stable or secure jobs, they have less money to spend in local businesses which affects the local economy. We need the Albanese Government to deliver on its promise of returning Australia to a country where people could rely on quality, secure employment.