Australia

On Thursday the 15th of March a massive 4 story squat in Ashfield Sydney was evicted by private security forces. For 3 inspiring and eventful months the building had been home to over 20 homeless students, workers and anarchists. The space had become a centre of anarchist organising and counter information, where many demos and actions were planned and countless zines, leaflets and posters were printed for mass distribution.

The vote in the Senate on the Stronger Futures Legislation is now imminent. This bill will extend the NT Intervention for another ten years and make the stripping of the rights and dignity of Indigenous people in the NT an ongoing reality. The campaign against this bill has been gathering momentum. Watch this video here on the Stand for Freedom website. Sign the petition which now has over 30,000 signatures. The Government is deliberately ignoring the consultation process in the form of the Senate Committee where communities such as Maningrida expressed their hostility to the bill. The Nygoongar Embassy has also rejected the bill instead calling for Australia to Pay the Rent. The time for action for those who want defend Indigenous rights in this country is now. Sign the petition. Write or call your Senator. There can be no reconciliation without justice.

Related: Stronger futures will kill us: Maningrida -- Stand for Freedom Campaign Website -- Stand For Freedom on Facebook -- Aboriginal Catholic Ministry: Committee report ignores concerns -- ANTaR concerned that community support was not obtained -- National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission: Stronger Futures or stronger policing -- Uniting Church disappointed by Senate report -- Senate Report -- Greens urge Senate to reject NT Intervention Expansion -- The Intervention is about mining

Indigenous representatives of Muckaty, Greens and environmentalists are vowing to fight the nuclear waste dump passed by the Australian Senate on March 13.

The Greens spokesperson for nuclear issues, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, said Labor and the Coalition colluding to pass the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill in the Senate today was "just the beginning of the next phase in the campaign to stop this waste dump".

Under current laws Aboriginal people do not have a recognised right to decide what happens with their culture and heritage. In NSW the National Parks and Wildlife Act stipulates that all Aboriginal objects are considered to be ‘property of the Crown’, and gives the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (“OEH”) the power to authorise the damage or destruction of Aboriginal objects and places, through the issuing of ‘consents’.

The New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) is now chasing 10,000 signatures to a petition to have this important issue debated in parliament.