Community and Public Sector Union Tasmania general secretary Tom Lynch gave the speech below to a 4500-strong rally in Hobart on November 12. The rally was held in protest at the Labor-Greens state government鈥檚 budget cutbacks.
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While external forces often determine the overall direction a government takes, the path it chooses to get there is for it to determine based on its values and beliefs and the will of the people it represents.
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In a November 9-15 ballot, Austalian Taxation Office (ATO) staff voted 57% to 43% to accept management鈥檚 proposed enterprise agreement.
This was the second all-staff vote. The previous version of the enterprise agreement was rejected by 59% to 41%.
The two drafts did not differ much. Both provided for a pay rise of 9% over three years. The final version includes two once-off bonuses, but these are dependent on meeting certain targets which may not be achieved.
Two people were hospitalised with breathing difficulties in the Newcastle suburb of Mayfield East on November 9. NSW Fire and Rescue crews identified the cause as ammonia gas blown from the Orica chemical plant five kilometres away on Kooragang Island.
The Environment Protection Authority ordered the entire Orica site to be closed. A Fire and Rescue spokesperson said an estimated 900 kilograms of the gas had escaped over about an hour.
Ninety people gathered on Larrakia land in Darwin on November 18 to launch the new book, Walk With Us. A moving welcome to country by June Mills was followed by speeches from Bagot resident Joy White, Yolngu educator Yalmay Yunupingu, journalist Jeff McMullen, Alana Eldridge from Larrakia Nation and young Aboriginal man Matthew Heffernan.
In a poem written for the occasion, Yunupingu said: 鈥淲e have been manipulated, cheated and undermined because the white man thinks he has a superior way of thinking.鈥
A spirited mass meeting in Manhattan鈥檚 Zuccotti Park after a police crackdown and a major student strike in Berkeley, California on November 15 showed the determination of the Occupy movement in the face of police repression and lies from politicians and the corporate media.
In New York, about 1500 people turned out for a general assembly (GA) less than 24 hours after police in riot gear rousted those camping out in Zuccotti Park, arresting up to 200 while trashing tents, supplies and even books.
Year in the Rear: 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 8pm
York Theatre, Seymour Centre
$48.60. Funds go to Asylum Seekers Centre of NSW
Bookings: (02) 9351 7940
www.seymourcentre.com
This has been an extraordinary year. Our best ever bowler, Warnie, morphed into an Austin Powers leading lady, the British royal family dominated the media in a non-scandalous event, the Aussie dollar wowed Wall Street and our prime minster received a poodle for her 50th birthday.
Language and education specialists are concerned the federal government鈥檚 national roll-out of digital television will have a detrimental effect on the preservation and transmission of Aboriginal languages and cultures.
In 1987, the Broadcasting for Remote Aboriginal Communities Scheme (BRACS) was established to balance the introduction of mainstream TV channels (via satellite) into remote communities with some local control and ability to broadcast local content.
Project Assange from extradition
I am writing to you to ask you to take action and urge the Australian government to protect Julian Assange from extradition.
In November 2010, a European Arrest Warrant was issued against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for allegations of sexual misconduct against two Swedish women; a claim that he denies.
An extradition hearing took place at the Belmarsh Magistrates Court in London in February 2011 to consider an application by Swedish authorities for the extradition of Assange to Sweden.
Since the Occupy movement in Melbourne began in City Square in October it has been met with resistance from the Melbourne City Council and the Victorian Police force.
Last month, the Melbourne occupiers were violently evicted and thrown out of City Square by more than 500 police. Close to 100 activists and bystanders were arrested. The police stole people鈥檚 belongings. Of the 17 truckloads of property that were taken 14 were driven to a local tip and dumped in landfill.
I will come straight to the point.
We are rapidly coming to the end of the year and we still need to raise $59,536 to meet 麻豆传媒 Weekly鈥檚 $250,000 Fighting Fund target for the year.
Our supporters have raised $190,424 so far this year, but we need an extraordinary effort in the rest of November and December to make our target.
GLW is a people-powered independent media project. We go against the stream in a society where public debate is dominated by the slick, self-serving corporate media.
UPDATE, Nov 22: The striking Baiada poultry workers have won their campaign and the company has backed down. The workers won a 4% a year pay rise over 2 years. They also won increased union and delegate rights and increased redundancy payments to 42 week maximum (up from 20 weeks). Workers employed at the Baiada-owned GKK Enterprises poultry factory who were suspended after taking industrial action to support their Victorian colleagues have been reinstated.
In early November, a Twitter hashtag called #mencallmethings was set up, under which women bloggers can post the sexist, misogynistic and often threatening comments they receive.
Sady Doyle started the tag after becoming angry and disillusioned with the huge amount of sexist hate mail she and other female bloggers had received. Doyle saw the need to publicly challenge this culture of silencing women bloggers.
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