Two related anniversaries were marked this September.
The first was the collapse five years ago of Lehman Brothers, which came to symbolise the financial crisis, the subsequent Great Recession, and the anemic recovery.
The second was the upsurge of the Occupy movement two years ago in response, which popularised the idea that the richest 1% are the enemy of the rest of us. This slogan has taken hold in mass consciousness 鈥 an enduring legacy of Occupy.
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Clive: The Story of Clive Palmer
Sean Parnell
HarperCollins, 2013
328 pages, $39.99 (hb)
When the local council denied planning permission for the Queensland National Party鈥檚 media director, Clive Palmer, to build a 66-story townhouse development on peaceful rural land in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast in 1984, Palmer鈥檚 party and state government mate, Russ Hinze, helped the rich guy out by overturning the council decision.
Jeff Halper, the leader of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), spoke about his ideas on the future of Palestine and Israel at Melbourne University on September 19.
The ICAHD campaigns against the demolition of Palestinian houses by the Israeli occupation regime. It has rebuilt 187 houses that had been demolished.
The new Prime Minister Tony Abbott is infamous for his homophobia. Only recently he dismissed the equal marriage rights campaign as the 鈥渇ashion of the moment鈥.
The equal marriage rights campaign is about much more than marriage. It鈥檚 about a prejudice that kills people. Particularly for young people, life in the queer community keeps them constantly on their toes.
All around, queer people are self-harming, and every day young people worry that somebody they care about might commit suicide. These are the consequences of homophobia and transphobia.
Research by The Australia Institute has found Australian gas prices are set to double over the next few years 鈥 not because there is a gas crisis, but because gas companies are exporting Australian gas for much higher prices, driving up the price of domestic gas.
Mark Ogge from explained this research in of Stop CSG Illawarra in Wollongong on September 15.
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Hundreds of blind people and their supporters have linked white canes in front of Vision Australia Enterprises in support of blind manual workers facing the sack at the end of this month. The white cane chain stretched more than 200 metres, doubling back across the length of the Kensington worksite. It received widespread media coverage.
The crowd, which gathered on September 15, chanted, 鈥減eople before profits鈥 and 鈥渉ave some vision, change your decision鈥, referring to Vision Australia鈥檚 decision to close its supported employment program because it failed to make a profit.
One of Prime Minister Tony Abbott鈥檚 first acts has been to abolish the Climate Commission. Set up under Julia Gillard in 2011 and chaired by Tim Flannery, the commission鈥檚 role was to explain climate science to the public.
It is well known Abbott will abolish the carbon price, but other climate programs in Abbott鈥檚 sights include the Climate Change Authority and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
This is a clear sign the new Abbott government believes the environment can be sacrificed for profit.
A media campaign began this month to discredit the findings of the fifth major report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due to be released on September 27.
The Australian published a front page story on September 16 headlined: .
About 1000 people packed the Sydney Opera House on September 16 for a public forum featuring Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning鈥檚 defense lawyer David Coombs, independent US journalist Alexa O鈥橞rien and Australian academic Robert Manne.
Liberal PM Tony Abbott can't abolish the truth, but he is trying. Whether it is his new government's attempt to keep refugee boat arrivals secret or the abolition of the Climate Commission, Abbott has moved quickly to keep the public in the dark.
Former Climate Commissioner Tim Flannery warned after the commission was disbanded: "As global action on climate change deepens, propaganda aimed at misinforming the public about climate change, and so blunting any action, increases."
Socialist councillor Sam Wainwright is one of three Fremantle councillors facing a challenge in the local government elections that open on September 26. Mayor Brad Pettitt, a member of the Greens, also faces a challenge from defeated federal Liberal candidate Matthew Hanssen.
The city of Fremantle has a relatively progressive council. All the challengers are more conservative than the incumbents.
It has been 30 years since the death in custody of 16-year-old Yindjibarndi youth John Pat after he was assaulted by five off-duty police officers in Roebourne, Western Australia.
John Pat鈥檚 murder, and the subsequent acquittal of the five police, started the movement against black deaths in custody. That movement was built from the anger of ordinary people when, again and again, someone died or was murdered in custody, leaving their distraught relatives struggling to find answers.
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