REFUGEE WEEKLY ACTION
Every weekend Refugee Action Collective have been showing up outside Mantra Hotel in Preston to protest the 65 men being imprisoned whilst their refugee status is being determined by the Australian Government. The men have been held in Mantra Hotel for more than a year. Many of the men inside the Hotel have spent over 7 years waiting to be processed in off-shore detention centres. The men were originally brought to Australia under the Medivac Scheme, mainly for mental health treatment.
Refugee Action Collective gather outside the hotel at 3pm on Bell St every Saturday.
For more information, contact Refugee Action Collective over Facebook.
ANTI-EVICTION PROTESTS
The $150 million ‘Homelessness to a Home’ program that was established during the pandemic to provide housing support to people experiencing homelessness in Victoria saw around 2000 people in hotel accommodation. The plan was always meant to include a pathway from hotel accommodation to sustainable, long-term accommodation either in social or public housing.
In mid-November, the Renters and Housing Union (RAHU) were informed that DHHS were withdrawing the hotel support to people who were refusing ‘suitable’ alternatives. People experiencing homelessness have explained that some of the accommodation deemed ‘suitable’ by DHHS includes returning to perpetrators of family violence or private accommodation that takes up too much of their Centrelink payments.
On 30 November, RAHU organised a snap protest outside of the IBIS hotel in the CBD where people are beginning to be evicted from their emergency hotel accommodation.
If you would like to get involved in the anti-eviction movement or follow developments in tenancy laws in Victoria, visit the RAHU website.
DJAB WURRUNG
The Djab Wurrung Embassy have called for more assistance from supporters following the renewed attempts to fell the culturally significant trees they have been fighting to preserve. On Monday 26 October the Directions tree was cut down. The Directions tree was considered to be roughly 350 years old. The Embassy started in early 2018,although Djab Wurrung elders have been attempting to protect the trees since early-2017 when VicRoads reapplied for the highway upgrade to be approved by the State government. The approval was originally granted Aboriginal Victoria, who were advised around this time by Martang, the then-Registered Aboriginal Corporation in the area, who concluded that there were no trees of cultural significance. Since this finding, archaeologist reports and Djab Wurrung elders have been advocating for the significance of the birthing trees to be recognised and respected.
The current embassy at the site has been specific about their request; change the path of the new roads to protect the trees.
With the felling of the trees in the Gandolfo Gardens in Coburg still fresh in the mind of Coburgians, consider assisting the Djab Wurrung Embassy either with your physical presence, your spreading the word or with your financial assistance to keep the fight going.
IMARC CONFERENCE
Every year, Melbourne is host to the International Mining and Resources Conference. The conference aims to create networking opportunities for major mining and resource companies and investors. The organisers of IMARC claim that the conference is directly responsible for over $46 million generated in business and $100.3 million in investments made in the mining and resource sector.
The conference is also supported by and attended by Victorian and Federal MPs.
For the past 5 years, people from all backgrounds have protested the conference. This year, activists created a week long anti-IMARC conference which included panel events and presentations ranging from the history of extractivism internationally and in Australia, to introductory workshops, such as ‘Capitalism: 101’.
The next IMARC conference is 25-27 October 2021; if you want to get involved in the next counter-conference, or view the content from this years’ conference, visit the Blockade IMARC page on Facebook.
By ES
The Coburg Meddler 