An Australian and New Zealand union delegation heads to Fiji next week to investigate first hand abuses of workplace rights within the island nation. The delegation comes on the back of moves this week by the International Labour Organisation to intervene to safeguard human and labour rights in Fiji.
"Embedded" Occupy Sydney reporter John O' Driscoll describes the movement that has caught the world's attention — from the inside.
The small group who gathered on (2 Nov) at my first Occupy Sydney GA (General Assembly) at Town Hall, maybe 50 people, was dwarfed by the attendance at the Noam Chomsky screening inside, let alone the crush of commuters and shoppers.
Myths about the benevolence of Anglo-American foreign policy were utterly exploded last Friday night in Melbourne, as Chomsky thundered out his latest critique of the changing contours of global order.
The IPA’s Tim Wilson was allowed to dominate on a Q&A panel including the Green’s Adam Bandt, shaming the Humanities & Social Sciences department of Melbourne relative to the intellectual standards properly required of the Tertiary sector.
The debate over water reform has received less scrutiny of late with the drought broken in much of the country and national attention turning to matters such as the carbon tax debate, the bankrupted Malaysian refugee solution and of course the coverage of the footy finals.
US hegemony, hypocrisy, and capitalist imperialism in the Middle East finally came under fire last night on the ABC's Q&A.
Four years ago the United Nations acted on almost 30 years of advocacy by Indigenous Peoples around the world and adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, but Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda says progress on its implementation has been slow.
Throughout the entire region the environment continues to face growing pressures. It comes from a growing range of converging issues like urban expansion; destruction of native forests; rapidly expanding populations; growing inequality and poverty; water, soil and air pollution; and the international inaction on climate change.
Workers in Fiji may enjoy a reputation as being super-friendly and bursting with positive vibes and good will. The reality though is that they have no rights.
The current famine in southern Somalia should have come as no surprise. Aid agencies have been warning of the consequences of the worst drought to hit East Africa in thirty years. Republished from The Conversation.
Last Friday the Australian Government ratified three International Labour Organisation Conventions. This is a significant and welcome development as all three conventions provide important safeguards for workers’ rights.
When I was a child, and the internet was just a bizarre U.S. military experiment, I looked hopefully to computers as a possible future solver of all things factual.
Many commentators have pointed out how "soft" the Budget was compared to all the "tough" hype however despite this, it still failed to add additional funds into key areas.
Alex Schlotzer spent the weekend at the Climate Action Summit as someone committed to seeing political action taken on climate change. More specifically he was there in his voluntary role as coordinator of the Brimbank Climate Action Network (BrimbankCAN). This is his account of the weekend.
The recently appointed panel to determine how grassroots aid funding will be spent in New Zealand is being criticised as poorly qualified and politically driven.
In a cynical yet unsurprising move, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has decided that the time is right to play the ‘crackdown on welfare recipients’ card.
A report from Roy Morgan Research recently pointed out that Australian society has become more individualistic and “less available”.
As part of theangle.org's "Independent Voices" series for the NSW election, we bring you a question and answer session with Janet Mays, Independent Candidate for the Blue Mountains. Passionate about the community, preserving the environment and healthcare, Janet is well-known as the founder of Blue Mountains HEAL (Hospital Equity & Access Lobby).
Victoria’s alcohol and drugs treatment services are failing to keep pace with the growing substance abuse epidemic after a decade of neglect, a report released by the auditor-general has revealed.
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) has said uneven indexation increases to pensions aimed at meeting increases in the cost of living will see more than 300,000 unemployed slip further into poverty.
By Alex Schlotzer: Social media is the new political battle ground. We saw it during the federal election and the recent Victorian state election. Political parties around the world have quickly jumped on the band-wagon, especially after Obama’s overwhelming success using it during his election campaign. However with its meteoric growth in use and...
A major study has found the Asian region, along with that of the Middle East and North Africa, as being most at risk from water stress. The study found key Asian economies of China, India as also being vulnerable to water shortages.
First Australians need dignity and respect. We hear a great deal about what First Australians need and even more noise about "solutions" to "problems". The language used though, still refers to First Australians as though they aren't in the room. Old paternalistic habits die hard, there remains a distinct lack of...
An OECD report has said Indonesia must reform its government spending to better achieve important Millennium Development Goals such as improvements in sanitation and water supply.
Given the nature of agriculture in this country and the effects of rising populations both here and globally, I contend it is time to re-examine the virtues of a stable productive yeoman farming sector.
The Australian Human Rights Commission today released its 2010 Christmas Island immigration detention report which recommends an end to mandatory detention and offshore processing on the islands.
A study has found population increase to be four times more important than the effects of climate change on water availability.
By Rich Bowden: The Pacific nation of Fiji’s water crisis continues this week with the water supply of a small island reaching critical levels, according to local reports. The Fiji Times has reported that over 100 families on Druadrua Island, off Vanua Levu, the second largest island of the country, have been identified by...
October 17 to 23 is National Water Week in Australia, a week dedicated to raising awareness of the country's most precious resource
The banning of the toxic chemical endosulfan has been welcomed by the Greens though action on the pesticide should have occurred much earlier, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Scientists in California have reported a significant increase in freshwater flow into the world’s oceans per year claiming it to be a result of more extreme and frequent storms caused by the shift in the world’s weather patterns.
Fijian authorities are blaming the El Nino weather pattern for the water crisis that has emerged in the country's Western Division.
By Damian Baker: As part of our new focus on development and human rights issues, theangle.org is reposting old articles printed on the site which still have a high degree of revelance. We start with co-founder Damian Baker’s trip to Papua New Guinea in November 2009 where he encountered the lives of the people...
Aid agency Oxfam Australia yesterday welcomed Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd's proposal to give 0.15 per cent of Australia’s gross national income to least developed countries, saying the move would benefit "the poorest of the poor."
Kevin Rennie, writing in Global Voices, finds the distraction of the footy finals season and the negotiations over the first federal hung parliament in Australia in seventy years as the reason the mainstream media in the country has delivered scant attention to the real reasons behind the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit in New...
World Water Week attendees in Stockholm, Sweden have heard that increased urbanisation is hampering global attempts to reach overall UN goals on increasing the number of people with access to safe drinking water.
Indonesian companies tend to avoid directing their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to water and sanitation projects, preferring instead to provide finance for more short term programs, a recent Indonesian conference has heard.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addressed a UN health conference in Melbourne by videolink which concluded yesterday saying countries were falling short of some of their health goals with women's and children's health the main focus.
A UN human rights committee has said discrimination against Aborigines is "embedded" in Australian society, criticising what it describes as the unacceptable level of social disadvantage experienced by Indigenous people in the country.
Melbourne youth workers are calling on the Brumby government to release a long-overdue policy framework that would bolster supports for vulnerable young people
Greens' candidate for the seat of Macquarie Carmel McCallum talks to theangle's Rich Bowden about her chances of victory in the western Sydney/Blue Mountains seat, the issues that most concern voters and her opinion of the strength of the asylum seeker issue.
An integrated water management system, though essential to protect developing nations facing climate change, is but one part of a wider “climate proofing” system, a report released by the UK-based sustainable development NGO Forum for the Future has said.
In this article Tristan Ewins of Left Focus examines some issues from a progressive perspective that could be crucial for Australians still to decide their vote for the August 21 2010 Australian Federal Election.
Greens' communications spokesperson, Senator Scott Ludlam, has launched a more comprehensive approach to cyber safety, as an alternative to the Government's contentious internet filter.
An Australian study has found family financial pressures increase the likelihood of physical abuse on women.
There's a reason Tony Abbott didn't show up to the announcement of the Coaliton's national broadband policy. Lets face it, commentators and pundits have been too polite to describe it for what it is — a sh!t policy.
Lee Rhiannon, former NSW Upper House member, and now Federal Senate candidate for NSW speaks with theangle.org's Rich Bowden on accountability for corporate donations to political parties, how the Greens' policies look to take advantage of a green economy and outlines what she sees as voter frustration over the Government's inability to stand up...
While water activists and environmentalists have hailed the recent decision by the UN General Assembly to grant access to safe water and adequate sanitation as a human right, Australia and New Zealand followed the United States, Canada and the UK in abstaining from the vote.
Peak hour commuters arriving at Melbourne’s Flinders Street, Sydney’s Martin Place and Brisbane’s Roma Street railway stations last week could not avoid the WorkChoices: whatever the name, never again campaign.
Reading back over my very first article for theangle.org it's interesting to note the changes (or lack of them) to Australia’s policies regarding treatment of asylum seekers.
The release of a list containing more than 80 of Australia's most dangerous pesticides, many of which are banned overseas, has raised questions of the effectiveness of Australia's regulatory system.
On 9 April 2010, the Minister of Immigration Chris Evans announced changes to Australian immigration processing, whereby the processing of asylum applications for both Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers was stopped.
Melbourne-based writer, blogger and activist Kevin Rennie originally wrote this article on an East Timor solution for refugees for an international audience as part of the European Journalism Centre's Th!nk3 blogging project. We reprint it here with his kind permission.
ADB Assistant Chief Economist Juzhong Zhuang, editor of a new book on inequality and inclusive growth in Asia, says rising growth rates in Asia have masked rising inequality, leading to two faces of Asia - one shining and the other suffering.
when you look at the statistic that refugee and humanitarian visas make up just 0.03 percent of all visas granted last year, you wonder why this issue has become so politicized and such a sticky policy issue leading into the election.
MP3 and transcript of Julia Gillard's controversial 'Moving Forward' speech at the Lowy Institute yesterday is available from the institute's website here. Stay tuned at theangle.org for more discussion of the asylum seeker policies proposed by all parties in the lead up to the next federal election.
A study conducted by the University of Melbourne has found professional women with young families are leaving the workforce at an alarming rate.
Refugee advocates have expressed concern over Prime Minister Julia Gillard's tough new approach to asylum seekers as the country prepares for a federal election as early as August.
The Australian Government has signalled its intention to assist the development of its near neighbours' water infrastructure funding a multi-million dollar program to improve people's access to an adequate water supply and sanitation facilities.
In a conference with ramifications in the Asia Pacific region, USAID administrator Rajiv Shah has called on the UN's World Food Program to show leadership in the global battle against hunger.
The findings of a key report of the effect of climate change on vulnerable has been challenged at climate change talks in Germany.
The Australian Greens have given their support to a legal action brought by traditional landowners around Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory over the siting of a proposed radioactive waste dump, saying the federal Government had acted incorrectly in its attempts to resolve the matter.
With the issue of overseas aid emerging as an election issue in Australia (as indicated in an earlier Th!nk3 post) the tabloid attacks/exposé on government expenditure and a series of electoral forums on making poverty history have begun.
Tony Abbott's unveiling of the Coalition refugee policy today, where he promises a rerun of the Howard-era "Pacific Solution" for processing of asylum seekers, has caused yet another rift with party moderates.
The Australian Greens have called for better water monitoring methods to be implemented in the wake of allegations that contamination of creek systems has occurred near the Ranger Uranium Mine in the Northern Territory.
The expected war over the Government's proposed resources tax took a new turn with the release of the Australian Workers Union's It’s time to put something back video.
By Sue Pennicuik and Bob Hale: ‘Fair Share’ was the theme of the second Asia Pacific Greens Network Congress (APGN), hosted by the Green Party Taiwan and Taiwan Friends of the Global Greens, that we attended on the weekend of 30 April – 2 May. It was a huge effort for the small group...
Theangle's Managing Editor takes us through the value of the iPhone and its many uses for activists and citizen journalists.
Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission report into the investigation following the 2004 death in custody of Palm Island's Cameron Doomadgee (Mulrunji), will criticise the conduct of senior police involved in the investigation, newspaper reports have revealed.
A UN-sponsored report has listed nine recommendations for world Governments and NGOs to reach Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on sanitation.
I’ve written a lot about technology and how it can be used for social and progressive change.
Developing countries, including those in the Asia Pacific region, require increased funding and community cooperation to ensure schools have access to clean water and adequate sanitation facilities, according to a new UNICEF report.
The Australian Government's decision to end restrictions on uranium to Russia will damage its credibility as a country dedicated to ending nuclear proliferation, the Australian Greens have said.
Environmental NGO WWF has called on Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke and State ministers to fix the country's national pesticides authority when they meet at a conference in Darwin tomorrow.
Government science organisation Geoscience Australia has said it is unclear if mining near the town of Kalgoorlie was responsible for yesterday's magnitude 5.0 earthquake.
The Victorian and NSW premiers have agreed to the Commonwealth health care reform package after another day of tight negotiations in Canberra. The announcement leaves WA as the sole holdout against the deal.
The Greens have described the Federal Government's decision to reopen the Howard-era Curtin detention centre as a backward step in asylum seeker policy, saying the disused WA Air Force base had been described as a "living hell hole," during its use under a previous Government.
In the first of a series, theangle's managing editor Alex Schlotzer shares tips and tricks for the use of photo sharing sites for the activist and citizen reporter. This article first appeared in an April 16 post in Alex's blog.
An international health expert has said the Australian diet has changed for the worse over the last twenty years and now rivals the American diet as one of the worst in the world.
A growing population and increasing industrialisation have been listed as the chief threats to water supply in the Asia Pacific, according to a UN-sponsored report released last month.
By Fausto Belo Ximenes: I do agree to a certain degree that the support from the international community has been very limited. Yet it is paramount importance to understand the nature of the so-called international community and to what extent it could be influential in the world politics. The international community functions largely [if...
Kevin Rennie interviews Clive Porabou — representative of the people of Bougainville — about the Mekamui people's continued opposition to the giant Panguna copper mine.
Newly-appointed Population Minister Tony Burke says the fresh portfolio is more than a debate about immigration levels, calling on Australians to remain "calm" on the issue.
The Full Court of the Supreme Court today dismissed an appeal by the South Australian Government against a 2007 decision to compensate a member of the Stolen Generation.
Sanitation uptake in developing countries can be improved using a more innovative and market-based approach, recent research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has claimed.
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has accused the country's major parties of cowardice as they refused to back his bid for a Senate inquiry into the tax status of the Church of Scientology.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to discuss asylum seekers with his hosts as he arrives in Australia for a three-day visit.
By Rich Bowden: Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has defended her Government’s policy on asylum seekers in the face of mounting election-year attacks from the federal Opposition. Ms Gillard was speaking following Sunday’s interception of the latest boat containing 30 refugees, which had attempted to reach Australia’s shores. The boat was intercepted at Adele...
Radio New Zealand International Don Wiseman recently interviewed Damian Baker, co-founder of theangle.org, to discuss his recent photojournalist mission to the island of Bougainville, PNG, where he documented tensions over the re-opening of the contentious Panguna mine between the semi-autonomous Government, mine owners and the remnants of the Bougainville resistance.Share on Facebook
By Rich Bowden: Green parties across Australia have offered support for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s planned multi-billion Commonwealth takeover of the country’s public hospitals, though have called for a universal dental scheme to be included. Greens Health Spokesperson Rachel Siewert promised that her party would be carefully “…scrutinising the detail of the Prime Minister’s...
Two researchers from Western Australia's Murdoch University have combined to dispel the myths and misconceptions surrounding those seeking asylum in Australia.
By Rich Bowden: Research into schizophrenia received a boost this week with the unveiling of a new database containing information to help researchers treat the condition. The database which was collected by eResearch company Intersect, is being made available through the Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank, according to a University of Newcastle news release. The...
By Rich Bowden: An Australian study has found that simple advice recommended to treat back pain is often not received with patients being referred to unnecessary and expensive treatment. Research carried out by the Sydney-based health non-profit organisation The George Institute has discovered that advice for the best treatment for back pain, including to...
Regional editor Alex Schlotzer takes a look at what lies ahead for the big, and not-so-big, political players in the Southeast Asia/Pacific in 2010.
theangle's contributing regional editor Alex Schlotzer reports on "Share the Spirit" in Melbourne -- an Australia Day festival where Indigenous and non-indigenous people come together to celebrate the sharing the country.
By Rich Bowden: Recent research carried out by the University of Western Sydney (UWS), has revealed the importance of accurate interpreting in court trials. The findings of the study, which were presented recently at the ‘Jury Research and Practice Conference’ at NSW Parliament House, show that misinterpreted evidence or statements by interpreters without specialist...
By Rich Bowden: A report conducted by Wellington’s Victoria University has found young Muslims living in New Zealand have adapted well to society. The study looked at the lives of 180 Muslim youths aged 13 to 19 years and gauged their psychological and social well-being based on life satisfaction, psychological symptoms, school adjustment and...
By Rich Bowden: Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has signalled he will return to a hardline refugee policy accusing the Government of lacking “steel” against asylum seekers who attempt to arrive in the country on boats. Speaking to reporters in the wake of the intervening of the third Australian-bound refugee boat in the last...
