Lactalis is one of the biggest dairy companies in the world. They are making mega profits. Yet we are barely surviving on their poverty wages. We can only just afford to pay our rent, soon we won’t be able to even afford to put petrol in the car to get to work. Women at our site have had to get second jobs as cleaners and gardeners just to get by. In the packing department, where a majority of women work, we aren’t even able the higher classification levels. We deserve to be paid equally to other workers. It’s only fair.

I'm one of dozens of current and former Mecca employees that have been on the receiving end of bullying, intimidation, discrimination and favouritism whilst working in their store. After just a few weeks of working at Mecca I began to dread going to work. I was bullied and ridiculed by managers over trivial issues, often on the shop floor in front of customers. After a month and a half I raised concerns with my line manager about the bullying I was experiencing, and shortly after I was fired from Mecca. Mecca Brands have been named the fourth best place to work in 2019 but the façade as the greatest place to work is not the case. Mecca workers, most of whom are young women in their 20s, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Mecca has a legal responsibility to provide a safe working environment and they are falling well short. The problem must be fixed from the top. Jo Horgan can fix this problem. She can weed out bullying and discriminatory behaviour and put an end to it. The community is now watching to see that workers have a safe and discrimination-free workplace. Mecca workers have broken their silence, read more here: https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/its-all-fake-beauty-giant-mecca-facing-bullying-claims-20191117-p539q4.html

One women is killed in Australia per week. This is worse for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. How can we even begin to get this number under control if we can't talk about the root issues? We needs shows like Q&A as a forum for experts to discuss the need for action, and the best solutions. Removing the episode shows a capitulation to men's rights activists and white nationalists who don't want women, non-binary people and people of colour to be safe or have any rights in Australia. The ABC must bring back this important episode of Q&A!

The proposed redundancy of Tess comes at a time when she is more needed than ever. Recent changes, budget cuts and instability at Nura Gili Centre at the Kensington campus as well as the shockingly low employment of Indigenous (and, further CALD) staff at UNSW marks this as a part of a larger, ongoing issue at an institutional level that needs to be remedied rather than exacerbated. Diverse staff are crucial to not only the education of students but further, to their well-being. Tess remains one of the few staff members that Indigenous, CALD and other marginalised students feel they can turn to and rely on. As well as her role as a mentor, Tess is also professionally and pedagogically a boon to the institution. Her course Aboriginal Art Now has influenced countless students and has led many to pursue further and higher research - academically, curatorially and artistically - in a more considered and critically rigorous way. In addition, Aboriginal Art Now remains one of the few Indigenous art courses available at UNSW Art & Design. She has also been instrumentally involved in a vast number of exhibitions in the Indigenous arts community in the last 30 years. The volumes of academic, artistic and curatorial output of Tess evidences her prolific reach and influence in the arts sector. As Associate Professor David Garneau suggested, her contribution to the arts sector deserves an honorary doctorate. Her removal would constitute a massive loss to the UNSW community, and the wider ripple on effects of this would be unimaginable.

Hochi Mama is a Vietnamese restaurant at the top of Melbourne’s Chinatown. It’s also Melbourne’s number one Asian restaurant on the venue rating site, TripAdvisor. I worked there as a bartender. And I was on a flat rate of $20 per hour, no penalty rates. In just four months I had over $3000 (including super) stolen from me. Often, we felt we were treated like dirt. Hochi Mama had a staff WhatsApp group where we got our rosters, we swapped shifts and management would give us instructions about our jobs. This was also how workers found out they’d been fired, by seeing we’d been deleted from the staff WhatsApp group. It happened to me. It happened to lots of other staff. In front of everyone. Most bosses have the decency to actually TELL you that you'd been fired. Not these guys. And it left everyone feeling afraid and wondering: who’s next? Migrant kitchen staff were treated even worse. They worked double shifts of 13-14 hours for a flat rate of $70 or $100, in cash. I even saw them sleeping on milk crates out the back of the restaurant between shifts. It’s not okay for any worker to be treated like this, particularly in a wealthy country like ours. All over this industry, we see migrant workers treated like an underclass. It’s just wrong. We need to stand together and demand fairness and respect for ALL hospo workers. That’s the only way anything is ever going to change.

Canberrans overwhelmingly reject the sexist objectification of women's bodies that corporations like Geocon are smothering the ACT with. These advertisements are sexist and offensive to large segments of the Canberra community. The fact large corporations like Geocon insist on ever more sexist ads across the ACT gives us a clear insight into their corporate culture: they just don't care about respecting women. This kind of corporate objectification and disrespect of women has a direct link to gendered violence and sexual harassment in the workplace, which is driven and exacerbated by disrespect for women. Widespread use of sexist gender stereotypes and images that sexualise and objectify women in advertisements undermines efforts to promote gender equality and are highly problematic for the prevention of family violence and other forms of violence against women. There are plenty of regulations when it comes to advertising. We already don't see overly sexual or violent ads, and there are plenty of rules surrounding how and where cigarettes and alcohol can be advertised. It's past time for regulations that stop ads that degrade and objectify women. The ACT Government needs to step in and stop rogue companies, like Geocon, by banning sexist, objectifying and degrading advertising in Canberra.

The current system creates inequities within the workforce, and can lead to serious hardship on families experiencing psychological and financial stress. The careers of women and primary carers can also be negatively impacted. "I returned to work at the ANU ten days after giving birth to my son. My family needed the income, but it wasn’t just this – I also needed to secure my next contract. It was important for me that my supervisors were happy with my performance and recommended me for my next contract. This was a very difficult time. I had psychological health problems. I felt guilty about leaving my son, and would try to see him to breastfeed on my lunchbreaks" (Professional staff member at ANU). By adopting employer-paid parental leave for all staff, ANU will keep pace with other universities in the sector who already provide paid parental leave on either a full or pro-rata basis for their staff. It will also help to: • Reduce financial stress on the families of staff who are experiencing loss of their weekly income to care for their children. • Reduce risks to maternal and child health from returning to work early, and support international guidelines on breastfeeding. • Contribute to ANU’s gender equality goals that aims to ensure all staff, regardless of their identity or sexual orientation, can contribute to their child’s wellbeing. Read the open letter to Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt from the NTEU Women's Action Network at nteu.org.au/anu/wan.

Le Bon Ton is a New Orleans-style bar in Collingwood and one of Melbourne’s hottest late night venues. The bar closes at 6am on weekends and staff often don’t finish until even later. But whenever you work, you don’t get penalty rates. I worked for the owners of Le Bon Ton for more than a year and like countless other workers I wasn’t paid penalty rates either - I got paid a flat rate of as little as $18 per hour. In total, they stole about $5000 from me. Lots of others are also owed thousands of dollars. Will and Mick Balleau didn’t care if I couldn’t pay my rent. They’d you give a free beer at the end of your shift and reckon that makes it all right. They made me speak to their accountant who promised me the money. They even sent me a spreadsheet confirming I’d been underpaid by thousands and promised they'd pay me in the next pay run. But they never did. They were betting on me not knowing how to get my money. I finished working for them three years ago and I'm still waiting to get paid. What this is, is theft. But hospo bosses just keep getting away with it. I want to see these wage thieves held to account for how they treat their staff. The watchdog needs to take serious action against these guys. https://vimeo.com/319264816

Your commitment to the Respect. Now. Always. Campaign requires you, as a university leader, to raise awareness of sexual violence and lift the visibility of support services for students. At its core, the campaign acknowledges that every student has the right to feel safe as they work towards their degree. This is recognised in various university policies, including the UWA Code of Ethics and the Charter of Student Rights and Responsibilities, which both reference that the university fosters the value of “responsibility in social, moral and academic matters”. The substance of Ms Arndt’s ideas is grounded in harmful, biased and unsupported rhetoric. Allowing her to speak on campus marks a gross irresponsibility in fostering responsibility in social, moral and academic matters, and a complete lack of respect for survivors of sexual violence that learn and teach on your campus. The On Safe Ground best practice guide published the University of New South Wales in collaboration with the Australian Human Rights Centre acknowledges the role university administrators must play in demonstrating institutional leadership that is supportive, appropriate to the needs of survivors and intolerant of offensive conduct. On Safe Ground asserts that university administrators have a role to play in addressing confusion and ignorance about these issues. Visible university leadership and sustained commitment to cultural change is essential in making campus safer for all students. Importantly, On Safe Ground acknowledges university leadership must challenge harmful attitudes and practices. These are identified as “those that seek to hold the victim responsible for SA, that suggest victims take steps to protect themselves against potential assaults, or that view presence of alcohol or drugs as the basis for dismissing an investigation”. This must be underpinned by clear institutional commitment.

Family Violence is a crime that seriously reduces the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. The Premier has stated that eliminating family violence is a top priority of the Tasmanian Government. Tasmania Police data shows a 15 per cent increase in reported family violence arguments and incidents over a three-year period from 2014-15 (4,486) to 2016-17 (5,154). The FVCSS is struggling to deal with the increase in referrals due to lack of resources. The Family Violence Counselling and Support Service provides victims with: ◾Information, counselling & support ◾Trauma Counselling for children and young people ◾Information and support to family and friends ◾Arranging assistance from police ◾Assisting in organising a safe place to stay ◾Referrals to Legal Aid and/or Court Support ◾Act as an advocate in accessing assistance e.g. Housing, Centrelink ◾Liaise with Government and non-government sector on behalf of clients ◾Group work programs for affected adults, children and young people.

The voices of sexual assault survivors deserve to be heard. Jane Doe wishes to speak out under her real name to challenge the stigma and break down silences surrounding sexual assault. In the #MeToo era we have seen how powerful it is when victim-survivors chose to waive their right to anonymity in order to shift the shame, and shift the blame. Today, public sexual assault survivors from around the country including Tara Moss, Bri Lee, Saxon Mullins, Jenny Aitchison, Steve Fisher, Jane Caro, Nina Funnell, Jannika Jacky, Joanna Williams, Codie Bell and Freya Willis have joined together to demand that sexual assault survivors in Tasmania and the Northern Territory are afforded the same right to speak out that survivors in other states and territories have. The laws in Tasmania and the Northern Territory must be amended to say that no person or media outlet is entitled to reveal the identity of a sexual assault survivor, UNLESS that survivor consents to waive their right to anonymity. “The most empowering thing I ever did following my own assault was to speak out publicly about it. It was an important part of my recovery” said Nina Funnell who has designed the campaign in partnership with End Rape On Campus Australia and Marque Lawyers. “There is tremendous power in survivors owning their own stories without fear or stigma. It is incredibly disempowering for survivors who want to reclaim ownership of their narrative, to be told that they have no right to speak out about their own abuse”. "This law protects perpetrators, not victims". “By silencing Jane Doe- and other survivors- the courts are keeping the stigma and silence around sexual assault in tact”. Under existing law, survivors have to appeal for a special exemption by the Supreme Court in Tasmania so they can speak. This can cost in excess of $10,000 and there is no guarantee it will be granted. Survivors should not be financially penalised just so they can earn the right to speak. Please join with us in pushing for urgent law reform. Jane Doe’s voice matters. She deserves to be heard. Change the law and #LetHerSpeak *Not her real name

• Logan is “...one of the state’s fastest growing communities…the state [has] used the city as the backdrop for announcing its $45 billion four-year infrastructure plans.”* • Those at the pointy end of delivering the City’s successes continue to go unrecognised. Logan City Council staff have not had a pay rise since July 2016! • In that time, all Executive Managers, Councillors and even the suspended Mayor have received annual pay increases. • Council’s current staff pay offer fails to address this two-year pay freeze, and would see wages for the lowest-paid admin staff (who are mostly female) go backwards. • Council staff are community members just like you. We are your librarians and your water & sewage workers. We fix your roads, maintain your parks and plan your new community facilities. • If you agree that it’s not fair that those working hard to deliver major outcomes for our City have to suffer a wage freeze, sign our petition to support the hard-working Council staff who support your community! *Judith Kerr, ‘Logan A City On The Rise’, Courier-Mail, 16 August 2018