Australia

Protest voters are taking control of our politicians

Submitted by Ian Charles on Mon, 30/08/2010 - 10:11am

Protest voters refused to toe the line and vote according to the (self interested) leaflets.

Emails circulating saying " PROTEST VOTES How to Lodge a Protest Vote: So long as you obtain a ballot paper in a lawful manner and place it in the ballot box you cannot be compelled to vote for the candidates on that ballot paper and may, if you wish, cast your vote against all names on that paper by neatly crossing them out. You have legally signified that none of the candidates on that ballot paper meet with your satisfaction."evidently struck a chord.

Geography: 
Australia
Keywords: 
government
whistleblowers
politicians

Protest at Darwin detention centre

Submitted by Flowerpower on Sun, 29/08/2010 - 1:30pm

In scenes familiar from the Howard years, victims of the Rudd/Gillard's government asylum seeker policies protested today in Darwin by burning property and climbing to the roof of the immigration prison. The protesters were apparently Indonesian crew of asylum seeker boats unhappy about how long there cases were taking to get to court. Under Australian law they face a mandatory minimum five year jail term. Many of the crews of these boats are poor Indonesian fisherman who are just another group of people victimised by our racist hysterical policies on asylum seekers.

Geography: 
Australia
Keywords: 
mandatory detention

WGAR News: 2010 Federal Election (26 Aug 10)

Submitted by WGAR - Working ... on Thu, 26/08/2010 - 12:20pm

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

WGAR Website: http://wgar.info/

- Background

Reconciliation Australia:
Five Fast Facts - Indigenous Candidates in the Federal Election (19 August 2010)
http://www.reconciliation.org.au/home/reconciliation-resources/facts---f...

ANTaR - Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation:
Election 2010: Towards justice, rights and reconciliation?
An analysis of the major parties’ Indigenous affairs election platforms

Geography: 
Australia
Northern Territory
Keywords: 
NT intervention
indigenous
aboriginal
Northern Territory Intervention

Tenth Australian soldier for 2010 dies in Afghanistan

Submitted by Flowerpower on Wed, 25/08/2010 - 8:57pm

The tenth Australian soldier to be killed this year fighting in Afghanistan was announced on 25th August. Due to Obama's escalation of the war the killing of soldiers and civilians alike has spiked this year. Nine Australians have died in the past three months alone. Since 2001, more than 150 troops have also been wounded during the conflict including many who have lost limbs and suffered grave injuries.

Geography: 
Australia
Keywords: 
Afghan War

Culture and life: Mark’s tussle with the establishment

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 18/08/2010 - 6:17pm

Mark Latham has been taking an interest in the present election on behalf of Channel Nine, and getting alternately savaged and sneered at by the rest of the bourgeois media, particularly for giving the PM a hard time. (The latter is purely illusory, of course. Julia Gillard is an old hand and can eat that kind of “tough encounter” for breakfast.)

There are a number of reasons for the unfriendly attitude of the non-channel-nine part of the capitalist media to Mr Latham but one you might not have thought of could be his penchant for saying unkind things about capitalism when he was an MP.

Geography: 
Australia
Keywords: 
Mark Latham election 2010

THE BOATS! THE BOATS!

Submitted by MAX GROSS on Wed, 18/08/2010 - 2:15am

Shh. Hear that? Sounds like white noise? It's the sound of a policy vacuum.

And smell that? Mildew? That's the odor of dead scruples.

Given the depressing lack of substance, intellect or choice in candidates or media scrutiny, I had planned to ignore the looming federal poll but then, watching former Foreign Minister Alexandra Downer and the sinister ex-Prime Minister John Winston Horror himself wrestling for media attention, I was driven alarmingly sober.

Geography: 
Australia
Keywords: 
THE BOATS! THE BOATS!

Traditional owner blocks uranium mining near Kakadu

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 15/08/2010 - 7:19pm

Traditional owner Mr Lee, the sole member of the Djok clan and senior custodian of his at Koongara which borders Kakadu National Park has turned his back on potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of mining royalties by blocking mining on his land by French company Areva. He has offered for his land instead to become part of Kakadu National Park.

Geography: 
Australia
Keywords: 
Kakadu
uranium mining

Tell the next PM where we stand on refugees

Submitted by Diet Simon on Sat, 14/08/2010 - 4:00pm

Picture: Najeeba with her younger brother Mahdi.

By Graham Thom

"We had to push our way onto the boat, people were screaming and pushing each other out of the way. It was so crowded we had to sit with our knees squashed against our chests for 10 whole days. No one knew how to swim. At the end of the journey, the boat got a hole and people were fighting for life jackets. We didn’t get one. If the Australian Navy hadn’t reached us, we would have died."

Geography: 
Global/International
Australia