The Coalition dominated Senate will vote on a raft of amendments to the Fair Work Act in July next year that includes the Building and Construction (Fair and Lawful Building Sites) Code.
The code will be voted in as a piece of retrospective legislation. This means it will be backdated to April 24 this year. This is so the code will apply to all new enterprise bargaining agreements (EBA) due to be negotiated by all construction unions with the respective employers.
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Palestinians in Gaza took to the streets on August 26 in celebration. After 51 days of merciless bombardment by the Israeli military, an open-ended ceasefire between Palestinian resistance groups and Israel was announced that appears likely to last for at least the immediate future.
During the assault, homes, hospitals, shops, agricultural infrastructure and schools were pulverised. About 2100 Gazans were killed. An estimated 80% of these were civilians, including more than 500 children.
The imperial war drums are beating loudly again and the big parties in Australia, Liberal and Labor, are once more shoulder-to-shoulder for a new military intervention in Iraq.
Defence minister David Johnston says the Australian armed forces are in a 鈥渉igh state of readiness鈥 to join the US in bombing missions with Super Hornet warplanes.
鈥淭hey're incredibly capable,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey're exactly what flies off US aircraft carriers. Now, that's an obvious first port of call were we to consider it necessary to participate with our friends and our ally.鈥
There has been a dramatic rise in the female prison population in Australia in the last 10 years. This increase is largely due to the rising number of Aboriginal women going to prison. In 1996, about 21% of women in prison were Aboriginal, last year it was 33%.
The Renewable Energy Target could become a victim of its own success. A review into the scheme, released on August 29, has recommended the federal government close new investment into renewable energy because it has produced more energy than originally planned.
But Labor, Greens and Palmer United Party senators have vowed to block any changes to the scheme.
At the same time, a debate has emerged among climate activists about whether we should 鈥渃hange tack鈥 when it comes to campaigning on the issue of climate change.
Palestinian officials have recognised that Latin American countries were the first to condemn the Israeli onslaught against Gaza.
The Palestinian National Council (PNC), the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, thanked Latin America on August 27 for its solidarity with the people of Gaza and its condemnation of the seven-week Israeli massacre in the enclave.
During a PNC meeting, the Palestinian leaders said the solidarity of Latin America with Palestinians 鈥渋s an inheritance of patriots like Jose Marti and Simon Bolivar鈥.
One of the most frightful ironies of climate change is that it will wreak the most havoc on the people who have done the least to cause it. Pacific Island nations are in the climate frontlines 鈥 affected by rising oceans, coastal erosion and extreme weather.
Thousands marched in Staten Island, New York City, on August 23 to protest against the police murder of an unarmed Black man, Eric Garner, in July.
The action was led by Reverend Al Sharpton, who has been outspoken against police brutality since the killing.
The marchers were inspired by the mass protests in Ferguson, Missouri, against the murder of unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown by police. They took up the chant of the Ferguson protesters 鈥 鈥淗ands Up! Don鈥檛 Shoot!鈥
A new environmental battleground is shaping up in Western Australia over the controversial issue of fracking. A small victory was won on August 20 when councillors from the Shire of Coorow, a group of small towns 250 kilometres north of Perth, voted unanimously to suspend all fracking activity in the area pending a full environmental assessment and public inquiry.
Forty per cent of Australians do not believe that democracy is the best form of government, the Lowy Institute it conducted earlier this year.
The main reasons given were that what now passes for democracy is serving vested interests rather than the interests of people, and that there is no real difference between the two big political parties.
This is a perfectly logical reaction to the convergence of the major parties around the economic doctrine of neoliberalism.
Finance minister Mathias Cormann has threatened the opposition parties that if they continue to block key budget measures 鈥 such as the demolition of universal health care and welfare, the deregulation of university fees, and the hike in the interest rate on student HECS debts 鈥 then the government would be forced to look at raising taxes.
As the deadly disease Ebola spreads throughout West Africa, some in the West have been engaging in fear-mongering and racism. Others are seeing this deadly outbreak as a golden chance to profit off desperation.
But the high death toll is caused by the intersection of Ebola and poverty.
Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever with symptoms that include headache, vomiting and diarrhoea, as well as the signature symptoms of internal and external bleeding. It is caused by a virus that is spread through contact with fluids such as saliva, urine, blood and semen.
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