We currently have a Royal Commission looking into the shocking cases of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with a disability and Inclusive Education has been recommended during the hearings, utilising the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 9 and 24 (see reference below) . This can't be properly implemented in our public schools unless we provide access to people who use wheelchairs. 15-20% of people in Australia have a disability. It makes sense to include disabled people in our community - we are not going away! If you have an understanding of inclusion and don't believe in segregation in our public schools, please sign this petition and share it so we can make this change for our future generations to learn to accept diversity from the time they start school. Thank you for sticking up for those who might be a little different you! Remember - it could be you next who might need to use a mobility device and need to be included... https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-2.html https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/

A COVID-19 outbreak at Melbourne’s historic Mitre Tavern involving nine staff occurred after an infected customer had visited the pub. Workers allege that management failed to inform them they may have been exposed to the virus until after staff members began testing positive to COVID-19. At a Melbourne cafe with close to 100 staff, workers say the venue’s Christmas party on Monday 20 December may have acted as a super-spreader event. On Tuesday 21 December workers told the union their colleagues began testing positive and informed venue management. Workers then said the venue waited until Thursday 23 December to inform all staff that they may have been exposed, and advised them to get rapid tests and isolate if positive. The venue continued operating until Christmas Eve before closing for two weeks. Staff estimate at least 50 workers became infected across the days leading up to Christmas. Meanwhile in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, a hospitality worker at a bar/restaurant has reported being called in to work while isolating and awaiting the results of a PCR test. Management also failed to tell staff at the venue when their coworkers had become infected. Workers estimate that approximately 40% of venue staff ultimately became infected with COVID-19.

The Morrison government's proposed legislation will entrench the right to discriminate in all faith-based institutions across Australia, and will bulldoze the protections which have been hard-fought for in individual states and territories. We are also deeply concerned about the cover provided by this Bill for bigotry, misogyny and homophobia – not just in non-government education, but in all schools and workplaces. Insulting, hurtful and offensive statements about women, members of the LGBTIQ+ community, single parents, people with disabilities or illness will be afforded legal protection and harder to call out. We support religious freedoms, including the freedom against discrimination. However, the proposed Religious Discrimination Bill does not protect against discrimination – it enables it. It must be stopped. We call on all politicians to oppose this dangerous and misguided legislation.

Luckily, in Scott Morrison we have a true champion of the super-yachting-community. Scott. Sco-Mo. Maaaate. What's a few million bucks of Australians' taxes between friends? Especially since you know we have your back at the next election.

Parents would be horrified to learn that for profit services are more likely to be understaffed, to fail to meet quality standards and to commit safety breaches. Private ECEC companies are enriching their owners and executives at the expense of the care provided to children and wages and the wellbeing and security of their employees. These practices are contributing to the worst staffing crisis the sector has ever seen, with educators leaving the sector in record numbers. That’s why educators like me are calling on the Federal Government to: • Make what really happens in early education transparent by requiring every business to publish their profit and how much tax they pay because parents and taxpayers have a right to know, • Cut the fat cats out of early education by investing in not-for-profit and public provision; • Regulate how much profit you can take out of early education to ensure taxpayers’ money goes to supporting little children and their educators, and not obscene profits. Sign this petition to tell the Federal Government to stop the private sector from profiting off our children! - Pixie, Early Childhood Educator

The Australian Parliament will vote on these laws in the next two weeks. We need you to add your voice to hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations who have called for the rejection of Scott Morrison’s undemocratic laws. There are already enough barriers to casting a vote in an election, especially if you live in a remote community. This is not the answer. Will you sign this petition to help us stop Scott Morrison’s undemocratic laws?

Imagine a situation where you wake up and realise, you’re living in a body that does not feel like your own, that the way you look and the way the world perceives you, does not align with who you are. Put simply, this is gender dysphoria. It is an everyday distress that affects most, though not all people who are transgender. Easy and unhindered access to assistance for people experiencing gender dysphoria is extremely important. Gender dysphoria can be alleviated in a multitude of ways including (but not limited to) counselling, hormone therapy, surgery and updating legal paperwork. We believe people who have to go on this journey should have access to an additional paid leave to assist with their affirmation simply and easily. As union members, whether this is a situation that affects us directly, indirectly, or something we have no experience of, we stand for equality. We ask you to stand with us.

2021 marks 100 years since the partition of Ireland. The imposed division of Ireland triggered decades of injustice and conflict, resulting in the loss of thousands of lives. The signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 ended decades of political conflict, and also provided a path for the achievement of Irish national self-determination through peaceful and democratic means. It was endorsed through referendum by an overwhelming majority of the people of Ireland, north and south, and is an internationally binding Treaty that places legal obligations on both the Irish and British Governments to ensure full implementation of all its provisions. The Good Friday Agreement provides for concurrent referenda north and south, to determine any change in the Constitutional status of the north of Ireland. Specifically, the Agreement provides for a poll to be triggered by the British Government. Recent historic political developments in Ireland, including the detrimental impact on Ireland of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, and the failure to provide an all-Ireland response to the global Covid19 Pandemic, have resulted in an unprecedented and building momentum for Constitutional change. The most recent polls have shown that a majority of citizens in the north of Ireland now favour a Referendum being held within the next five years. Recognising that Australia and Ireland have long and deep historic links – with an estimated one-third of today’s Australian population having Irish ancestry – we share many common bonds and democratic values. In this spirit, as part of the Diaspora of generations of Irish people in Australia, we call on the British government to honour the requirement set out in the Good Friday Agreement and to hold a Referendum on Irish Unity. We say – ‘It’s Time’ to let the People decide. I believe its time for the people of Ireland to decide their future

Paramedics have made immense sacrifices throughout the pandemic. At times, many have felt scared to go home to their families, worried they will bring home COVID-19. The amendment provided the small comfort of knowing that if the worst did happen and we did become infected with COVID-19, at least we would not have to face the stress of proving our infection occurred at work. We cannot stand by and watch while our Government turns its back on the workers that carried this state through the pandemic. We're sending a clear message that NSW will not accept the cruel and short-sighted repeal of this amendment.

Help us tell Mr Mantle to respect his workers. The Mantle Group can afford to pay its workers more!

The organised far right in Australia is tapping into fear in our communities. They are sowing uncertainty and doubt in public health messages, and co-opting democratic values to spread conspiracy theories among everyday Australians. Although the riots in Melbourne appeared chaotic and disorganised, pulling in a mix of anti-vaxxers, white supremacists and others, the common thread was authoritarianism. They targeted a union office to force their fringe agenda onto the whole construction industry by threatening the union’s democratically elected leadership. They assaulted journalists who were there to cover the protests because they object to independent scrutiny of their actions. They converged on the Shrine in the hope of appealing to nationalist militaristic sentiment – desecrating, in the process, a sacred monument that commemorates tens of thousands who died fighting fascism. They marched on Parliament, an obvious target to those who decry the legitimate health directions made through democratic process. Despite their use of anti-authoritarian rhetoric and appeals to “freedom”, what unites these disparate groups is an interest in undermining trust in democratic institutions. We have seen how social media companies have a financial incentive to promote misinformation, whose algorithms feed a cocktail of conspiratorial content, sowing division and right-wing extremism. We have seen how mainstream politicians are loath to call out far-right violence without equating it, nonsensically, with anti-fascist activism. Tragically, when a white-supremacist terrorist gunned down dozens of New Zealand citizens in mosques, we saw how far-right extremism in Australia can pose a violent threat to Australia’s neighbours. And while major news investigations and even a formal police inquiry have highlighted the dangerous rise of the far-right in Australia, we have yet to see any coherent public policy response. That's why unions are calling for a royal commission with powers to investigate links to foreign influence, social media, commercial interests and media platforming of known far-right agitators.

Without these health workers, the public health system would come to a grinding halt. It's not enough to call them heroes. These workers need an annual $500 COVID retention bonus in recognition of their drastically increased workload. It's the least the Victorian Government can do. Sign this petition. Join the campaign to recognise the hard work of Victoria's non-clinical public hospital workers. The Victorian Government needs to show it values these workers.