Public transport isn’t a luxury, it’s how people get to work, school, medical appointments and home. Since Newcastle buses were privatised, services have been cut, reliability has dropped, and accountability has disappeared. Passengers are left waiting, missing shifts and rearranging their lives around a system that no longer works. Bus workers are under pressure, stretched across understaffed networks, dealing with unsafe workloads just to keep services running. This isn’t just frustrating, it’s impacting livelihoods, safety and our community. When services fail, it’s working people who pay the price. Bringing buses back into public hands means a system that puts people first, delivers reliable services, and supports the workers who keep Newcastle moving. That’s why this matters.

In the middle of yet another global crisis disrupting supply chains, this is our moment to secure NSW’s future – because when overseas supply chains fail, it’s local workers and communities who pay the price. Public money should back local industry - creating secure jobs, strengthening communities and building a more resilient NSW. A Jobs First Commission would make sure government spending backs NSW first - supporting workers, strengthening local businesses, and protecting our state in uncertain times. Sign the petition today to call on the NSW Government to establish a Jobs First Commission that will: 1. Invest in local manufacturing and expand NSW domestic capacity  2. Build stronger, more resilient supply chains to protect our state in times of uncertainty  3. Prioritise safe, secure, and well-paid jobs for NSW workers

Housing costs are one of the biggest pressures facing working people. They affect where we can live, how far we have to commute, and whether we can get ahead. Union members are raising their voices to demand change because housing affordability won’t improve on its own. By coming together, workers can push for real reforms and make housing fairer. Sign the petition today if you agree the Federal Government must: 1. Create a fairer tax system for housing – reform negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions so home ownership is supported over investment for profit. 2. Invest in more public and affordable housing – commit to long-term, large-scale investment so more people can access secure homes.

Queensland Rail is trying to force through an extreme cut to stations across South East Queensland, leaving stations without any staff on them after 1 PM on weekdays and on weekends. Unstaffed stations create environments where passengers feel vulnerable, particularly at night or in quieter periods. Without staff present, incidents of antisocial behaviour, harassment, and crime are harder to prevent and respond to. Vulnerable passengers and school students will have no one to turn to for immediate help.  Students, particularly younger ones, will have no adult railway employee to turn to if something goes wrong, a missed train, a lost go card, a medical issue, or a frightening encounter with another passenger.  School students, especially teenage girls, are disproportionately targeted for harassment on public transport. Staffed stations act as a visible deterrent and provide immediate recourse. Removing that presence during peak student travel times creates environments where harassment is more likely to occur and less likely to be addressed.  Passengers who rely on staff assistance include people with disabilities requiring help with ramps, gap bridging, or navigation; elderly passengers unfamiliar with ticket machines or needing physical assistance; tourists and visitors unfamiliar with the network; and people with low digital literacy who can't self-serve via apps or machines. Cutting weekend and afternoon staff effectively locks these people out of public transport, which is a human rights concern, not just an inconvenience.  Public transport exists to serve the whole community, not just tech-savvy, able-bodied peak-hour commuters. Reducing service quality by removing the human element signals a retreat from that social contract. 

Young people in the Hume and Riverina regions currently have no access to local, age-appropriate acute inpatient mental health care. When adolescents experience severe mental health crises, they are too often admitted to adult wards, left for extended periods in emergency departments, or transported hours away from their community by family or patient transport, even when there is an immediate danger to themselves. These arrangements are clinically inappropriate, distressing, and inconsistent with trauma-informed standards of care. They disrupt schooling, separate families, and increase the risk of further harm - emotionally, socially and physically. Albury–Wodonga is centrally positioned to reduce unsafe travel distances across both Victoria and New South Wales, while easing pressure on already stretched metropolitan services. This is about safety, equity, and ensuring crisis care is available close to home when it is needed most.

Legs Lane is a small laneway that runs between Leamington Street and Barton Street in Reservoir. It is a popular walking route to and from Reservoir Primary School for hundreds of trips each day. It is also used by many other residents going to and from the Reservoir shops, the train station, and the library. Despite heavy foot traffic, Legs Lane has been neglected by the Council and remains a muddy dirt path that fills with water in winter. It regularly features weeds like blackberries that have been known to scratch kids and has become a hotspot for rubbish dumping due to its neglected condition.  It is difficult or impassable for smaller kids on scooters and bikes, as well as wheelchair users and parents with prams, depending on the weather and the depth of water and mud.  Despite this, it is promoted as part of the Victorian Government's Octopus Schools Program, which aims to encourage active travel options for school families. The Reservoir Primary School community has raised this issue with Darebin Council, but there has been no progress in securing a commitment to complete this important active transport route in a busy part of our suburb. Reservoir kids - and the whole community - deserve better. It would not take much money or time to seal Legs Lane and maintain it as other popular non-car thoroughfares are managed throughout the rest of Darebin.

Local government workers deliver essential services our communities rely on every day. But councils are increasingly replacing secure, ongoing jobs with labour hire and rolling fixed term contracts. In some councils, labour hire workers now make up almost one in ten staff, often doing the same work as directly employed council workers but for less pay and fewer conditions. At one Council, ongoing employees are working side-by-side with labour hire workers on $18 less an hour. At the same time, many workers have been trapped on rolling fixed term contracts for years - in some cases for more than 10 years - creating constant uncertainty and undermining their ability to build careers, support their families, and invest in their workplaces. Insecure work doesn’t just hurt workers, it hurts communities. High turnover and lost experience weaken local services and make it harder for councils to build strong connections with the people they serve. Communities deserve stable councils staffed by workers who are supported, trained, and able to build long-term knowledge of their local areas.

Healthcare workers at the Launceston General Hospital are being hit with an almost 70% increase in parking fees. This isn’t a small adjustment – an extra $520 a year is a massive cost increase on people who already struggle to find affordable, reliable parking just to get to work.   What makes this even worse is the timing. During bargaining, workers have missed out on wage increases because the government has refused to put a fair offer on the table.    In the last 12 months, healthcare workers have faced growing wage disparity with the mainland, seeing the gap for their wages widen from 5.92% to 9.8%.     For many healthcare workers, parking isn’t optional. If you’re on early shifts, late finishes, or rotating rosters, public transport often isn’t a realistic alternative. That means this decision becomes a direct cost-of-living hit for the very people who keep our hospital running.   Healthcare workers deserve respect and fairness, not another financial burden. The government must act to commit to treating workers properly by covering the fee increase and maintaining the arrangement with workers of parking costing $3 per day.

This isn’t just policy—it’s people. At least 15 members, some with over 40 years of service, now face demotion or job loss. These are workers who have kept Brisbane running through thick and thin, many honoured with the Lord Mayor’s Award of Excellence. Council wants to turn desirable qualifications into mandatory requirements overnight. That’s not fair. It’s time to stand together and demand a fair transition that respects experience and safeguards wellbeing. By signing this petition, you demand a fair transition, genuine support, recognition of experience, and safeguards against punitive outcomes. Together, we can ensure Council values people—not just paperwork. Add your voice, sign now!

Library workers deliver essential services to 2.8 million people in our community each year. They run information services, connect people online, hold free workshops, develop community connections and foster a safe space for people experiencing homelessness and family violence, and deliver services for children and families.      The State Library's expertise in family history research and access to heritage collections are also under direct threat.     Executives are trying to cut 11 permanent librarian positions, meaning 10 frontline librarians would remain to run Australia's busiest library.     They are also cutting essential Visitor Service Officer, Children and Families officers, plus other frontline roles, and proposing to outsource the library's critical information technology team.     Frontline library staff are the vital link to the library's 5 million items, and librarians are experts in connecting anyone with the information they need, taking more than 50,000 questions and enquiries annually.      Library Executives are also planning to remove public PCs, and visitors will have to order collection items via an "automated system".     Meanwhile, millions of taxpayer dollars are proposed to be spent on deceptive and ill-aligned "digital" roles, pay rises for executives, and flashy websites with no substance.     State libraries with free, uncensored access to information are essential to our democracy. And in a time of information overload, AI and misinformation, we need librarians more than ever.      We need librarians in libraries.     To foster critical thinking skills, to know the stories of where we live, and to navigate an online world increasingly full of falsehoods and manipulation, places like the State Library are essential. Victoria’s State Library should serve the public interest. It must not be allowed to neglect its core purpose of preserving and providing easy access to knowledge. We reject these inept attempts to shift control of our cultural memory, our history and our factual record to private vendors and ill-conceived digital systems.     Tell the acting executives: hands off our State Library!

This is about protecting the people who care for our communities — the workers who support those experiencing homelessness, family violence, mental health challenges, disability, and social isolation. These roles are often invisible, yet absolutely essential. If their pay and conditions are cut, it sends a clear message that this work - and the people they support - don’t matter. These workers hold our communities together, often under immense pressure and with little recognition. When they’re undervalued or forced out of the sector, it’s the public who suffers — through reduced services, higher burnout, and weakened care systems. This isn’t just a workers’ issue — it’s a community issue.

In support of our petition, we observe that:  • ANU Council has the entire control and management of the University and is required to act in all matters concerning the ANU in the way it thinks will best promote the interests of the ANU;  • Staff, students and members of the community have reasonable and genuinely held concerns about the direction of our national university. Many of these concerns relate to the delivery of Renew ANU, which has been destructive and harmful to staff, students and the capacity of the University to perform its functions; and  • A range of issues relating to transparency, accountability, governance and leadership at the ANU have been widely reported, and have not been adequately addressed. These are a source of ongoing damage to the reputation and standing of our national university, which is now subject to an unprecedented investigation by TEQSA.  For these reasons we conclude it is reasonable, necessary and in the best interests of the ANU for ANU Council to fulfil its duties by immediately adopting the course of action proposed by this petition.