No Hunting in National Parks Rally at NSW Parliament, Speech by General Secretary Anne Gardiner
No Hunting in National Parks Rally at NSW Parliament, Speech by former Greens Senator Bob Brown
SAVE WELFARE RIGHTS!
Emergency Rally
Governor Macquarie Tower
Farrer Place, Sydney
12.30pm
Friday 3 May 2013
WEL and the F Collective invite you to our forum:
The attack on our welfare system has intensified in recent years, culminating in the axing of the Sole Parenting Payment, forcing single parents onto the totally inadequate Newstart allowance.
The total abolition of the Sole Parenting Payment, for single parents with children over eight, is just one example of how our social safety net is being undermined by government decisions. Accompanying this is the opportunistic stigmatisation of members of our community currently relying on the welfare system.
Come along to this forum and talk about the role of the feminist movement in fighting for a decent social safety net, and what we can do to create change before the election!
Details:
Thursday the 11th of April, 6-8pm
Location: Wesley Centre, Level 3 220 Pitt St, Sydney.
Child-minding facilities are available.
RSVP is essential:
Speakers include:
Cassandra Goldie will be speaking about ACOSS’ appeal to the United Nations to challenge the Sole Parenting Payment cuts.
Child minding: Let us know at if you require child minding, and the age of your child.
Forum on what is planned and how the campaign is responding
Thursday April 11
10:30am – 12:30pm
Bankstown Arts Centre
5 Olympic Parade, Bankstown
Speakers include:
* John Dowd AO QC, Community Restorative Centre (Advisory Panel), International Committee of Jurists (Chairperson of Executive Committee)
* Eamon Waterford, Youth Action and Policy Association NSW Inc (YAPA)
* Public Service Association (PSA NSW) Child Protection delegate
* NT youth speaker discussing impact of income management on Aboriginal communities (TBA)
Income management was first imposed with the NT Intervention in 2007 that suspended the Racial Discrimination Act. The system continues to violate basic human rights.
In 2011, Bankstown was announced as one of five “trial sites” around Australia for an expansion of income management, at a cost of $117 million. But there has been strong opposition from a community and union campaign demanding redirection of resources to social services and jobs. Only very small numbers of people have been placed on Income Management in Bankstown.
Child Protection workers represented by the Public Sector Association (PSA NSW) have placed an official ban on the implementation of income management. For the most part, Centrelink social workers are also not forcing income management on unwilling people.
The government wants to find ways to get more people on the system.
Minister Jenny Macklin has announced that from July 2013 income management in the “trial sites” will be compulsorily applied for 12 months to people under 25 who are recipients of:
– The Crisis Payment for Released Prisoners.
– Unable to Live at Home Allowance
This will happen automatically with receipt of these payments, removing the discretion of child protection and Centrelink social workers.
This will further stigmatize youth at risk and could exacerbate their hardship. Please join us to hear responses from a number of important perspectives working with youth and in the criminal justice system and discuss the next steps in this campaign.
What impact does income management have on youth at risk?
What programs are really needed to help vulnerable people?
How can the campaign build on our successes and advocate for an alternative to income management in the lead up to the July roll out?
Forum organised by Say No to Government Income Management: Not in Bankstown, Not Anywhere Campaign Coalition
Contact:
Randa Kattan– 0433 144 858, Paddy Gibson – 041 580 0586, Pam Batkin – 0417 230 580
Or
Families and friends of the campaign against hunting in national parks are invited to a peaceful rally these school holidays to help send the message: “Don’t put my kids at risk!” to Barry O’Farrell.
When: 12:30 – 1:30pm , Thursday 18th April 2013
Where: Outside NSW Parliament House, Macquarie Street, SYDNEY
Bring: Please bring a sign or banner: “Don’t put my kids at risk!” We invite children to come dressed as their favourite native animal
Speakers: Bob Debus, former ALP Environment Minister and Attorney General, and Anne Gardiner, General Secretary, Public Service Association. Also, former Greens Senator Bob Brown and representatives from WIRES, National Parks Association, and more.
Hosts: Public Service Association and National Parks Association of NSW
Background:
The Premier of NSW has placed the Supplementary Pest Control Program on hold until the NSW
Game Council has undergone a governance review. This program allows recreational hunting to
take place in NSW national parks.
“Despite the strong and continued public protest, risks to park’s staff and the general public, the
Premier seems determined for this program to go ahead. This protest is to remind the Premier his
government was elected to represent the public’s best interest and not the gun lobby,” says Anne Gardiner of the Public Service Association.
“If the Premier gives the hunting program the green light, families will have no choice but to avoid
the national parks where hunting is taking place. Mixing passive, recreational parks users and
hunting activity on public land is poor government policy,” says Justin McKee, National Parks
Association of NSW
Media contacts:
Justin McKee – National Parks Association of NSW: 0404 824 020
Geo Papas – Public Service Association of NSW: 0407 705 363
For more info see this recent SMH article
Central Coast International Women’s Day MarchThe theme of this year’s March is “Voiceless Women”. For more information email Alison Amos at
When: Friday 8 March – 6pm to 7.30pm
Where: NSW State Library
Celebrate the role of women in literature at this launch of a collection of poetry by female poets from all over the world. Professor Elizabeth Webby will host the celebration of Women’s Work: a Collection of Contemporary Women’s Poetry at The State Library of NSW on International Women’s Day, 8th March at 6pm. The event will include talks and readings. More info here.
When: Saturday 9 March – 12pm to 2pm
Where: Sydney Town Hall
– STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN!
– END BREASTFEEDING HARASSMENT AND DISCRIMINATION!
– AFFORDABLE CHILDCARE NOW!
– RATIFY THE MIGRANT WORKERS’ CONVENTION!
Union members and their friends and family are invited to join with the PSA at the annual International Women’s Day March.
This year, author and feminist Tara Moss will be the keynote speaker.
Where: Parramatta Park, Rumsey Rose Garden, via Macquarie Gatehouse
When: Sunday 10 March – 11:30am – 2:00pm
UN Women has joined with Unions NSW, Parramatta Council and community organisations to host a picnic in the park with free entertainment. Come and join in for a family picnic with music, entertainment, guest speakers, food stalls and give-aways for everyone.
This event is inter-cultural and inter-faith and aims to continue the campaign to stop violence against women and girls in the Asia-Pacific region.
Contact Alison Rahill at or 0414 316 839 for more information.
Media and community groups are invited to attend the launch of the TAFE Community Alliance on:
Friday 22 February 2013
10.30 am start
Western Sydney Community Forum
Level 4, 146 Marsden Street
Parramatta
Government funding cuts to TAFE! Loss of some 800 professional teachers! Moves to a competitive training market, student vouchers and no guarantee of a quality TAFE qualification! Increases in student fees and charges! And the list goes on….
The TAFE Community Alliance is being formally launched in the heart of western Sydney on Friday, but already hundreds of concerned citizens have signed up to the Alliance. They call on both state and Federal governments and all political parties to ensure that TAFE continues to be supported in NSW, and that we do not face the loss of courses and campuses like our colleagues in Victoria.
Speakers at the launch represent a wide range of concerned groups:
Maree O’Halloran – National Welfare Rights Network
Jozefa Sobski – former Institute Director TAFE NSW
Carmel Tebbutt – Shadow Minister for Education and Training
John Kaye – NSW Greens MP and spokesperson for Education
Mary Waterford – Western Sydney Community Forum
TAFE students
Quotes from our speakers:
“For the first time in a century, NSW is staring at a future without a public provider of vocational education and training. Budget cuts, attacks on the conditions for teachers and students and increasingly aggressive competition for funds and students are taking TAFE to the brink of collapse. This will have appalling consequences for the future of the state. Today’s meeting is the first step in building community awareness of what is at stake if the O’Farrell government continues with its attacks on TAFE.”
“TAFE is described as the backbone of the training system in the publicity on Smart and Skilled. Why are governments intent on breaking this back with increasing commercialization and competition and decreasing funding? There is pressure to cheapen its courses while making it dearer to study them. The downgrading of teaching qualifications is eroding the quality of its teachers. The standard of its facilities is at risk. The community, commerce, business and industry need a widely distributed, effective, accessible and affordable TAFE system, there for the most vulnerable as well as the most well-heeled.”
“TAFE is well known as the major provider of ‘second chance’ education opportunities for those who may not have enjoyed successful educational experiences previously. It is the biggest provider of affordable, accessible training in key skills for our communities, especially for people on income support or low incomes and poor transport options. Many communities across Greater Western Sydney will be adversely impacted upon by cuts to TAFE”
The TAFE Community Alliance is an advocacy and strategy group. It recognises TAFE’s role in not just educating individuals, but also in the building of the social, cultural and economic capacity of communities across NSW. The Alliance knows that TAFE is too important to lose, and will campaign to stop its demise.
Speakers will be available for comment on the day. Go to www.tafecommunityalliance.org.au for further information.
Get your tickets here
Australian Single parents are uniting and marching on – or meeting at – Parliament Houses around Australia to protest low-income single parents being moved from the Parent Payment Single welfare payment to the greatly reduced Newstart Allowance.
This current policy reduces many Australian single parent family incomes significantly, forcing single parents and their children into poverty, regardless of if they are working already or not.
Australian single parent protest rallies are taking place around Australia on the national day of action – February 5 2013
Date & Time: February 5th at 11am
Venue: Martin Place, Macquarie Street, Sydney
Meet at: Centrelink office, King Street When: 9:30am, marching to Grierson’s office to arrive 11AM SHARP After: Public meeting at Newcastle Trades Hall, Devonshire Land 11:30am
Brief briefing on sole parents
Our priority job is parenting our children.
Good sole parenting takes time
Paid jobs that fit children’s time needs are scarce
So please can we have enough to live decently?
Poverty makes job hunting too expensive
Note! there is no evidence that more sole parents are employed because of these policy changes (ABS) so cancel them!
Parents affected by these cuts were already expected to participate in work when their child turns six, so the change and cuts are futile as no extra support is on offer to find and keep jobs
Changes we need
Why raise payments
What else needs changing?
Links: