Election pundit Peter "Mumble" Brent has as 鈥渘ot so much a person as an ever-evolving script鈥. He became chief of the right-wing run Australian Workers Union five years ago but clearly has much higher political ambitions.
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Union activist Chris White has worked for several unions and for 17 years was assistant secretary, and then secretary, of the United Trades and Labor Council of South Australia. The article below is based on a speech he gave at a fringe event during the recent Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Congress.
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Unionists need to organise for the right to strike, for the effective strike and for workers鈥 control.
The trial of 16 activists arrested at a Palestine solidarity protest outside a Max Brenner chocolate store in Melbourne's QV shopping centre in July last year finished on May 25.
Throughout the trial a megaphone has been sitting beside the magistrate as evidence. Freedom of political expression and the right to protest have been on trial in this court case.
The court case began on May 1 and lasted almost a month. The defence counsel and the prosecution finalised their submissions on May 24 and 25.
The Great Barrier Reef off Queensland's northern coast came within a few metres of disaster on May 19 when a broken-down bulk sugar carrier drifted just over Shark Reef, north-east of Cooktown.
The 26,000-tonne ID Integrity was blown off course after its engines broke down. Crew dumped ballast to allow the vessel to pass over the reef, until tugs could reach the ship.
The released the statement below on May 24.
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The NATO announcement on May 21 that it will 鈥渨ithdraw鈥 troops from Afghanistan in 2013 is an admission of defeat.
But there are no victors in this war. The country is no closer to peace and security today than when the Taliban were forced out in 2001.
Greece's Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) sent a message of solidarity to the thousands of people who protested against the NATO summit in Chicago on May 20.
Qantas cuts 500 more jobs Qantas said on May 21 it would axe more than 500 engineering jobs from Tullamarine and Avalon in Victoria. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the company had to cut maintenance costs to match its competitors, and that newer aircraft 鈥渞equire less maintenance, less often鈥.
About 4000 unionists at six coal mines in Central Queensland have struck for a week from May 24 after enterprise bargaining talks with employers BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi again broke down. The 18-month-long dispute between the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) and mineowners the BHP-Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) centres on a push by the company to replace union-appointed mine safety officers with management officials.
In Occupy-style, they are pop-up and pop-out protesters on Montreal's streets.
A jester threw juggling clubs high in the air, a masked face beamed 鈥 the sweat of the warm day glistening over her make-up 鈥 and the nose of a clown tilting up to figures on stilts, occasionally twisting round in a dance-trot.
An impromptu band shook beans in glass bottles and beat drumsticks, while an accordion played old favourites.
Whistles tried to organise the crowd. Dogs menaced one another, tying themselves up in their leashes as their owners passed by.
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Premier Campbell Newman'a Liberal National Party (LNP) government wasted no time launching an all-out attack on gay rights and on community services in Queensland.
The May 20 Courier Mail said the government was preparing to overturn the civil unions law passed under the previous Labor government earlier this year.
Gina Rinehart 鈥 mining tycoon and Australia鈥檚 richest person 鈥 is now also the world鈥檚 richest woman. Last year, her wealth grew by $18.87 billion to $29.17 billion. Her wealth grew $52 million a day or $1 million every 30 minutes.
It means that for every second that passed in 2011, Rinehart made more ($598) than a minimum wage earner made in a week ($589.30).
Rinehart鈥檚 fortune is now so big, if she spent $1 million a year her money would last for 29,170 years. It would take a minimum wage earner about 950,000 years to reach Rinehart鈥檚 bank balance
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