After the passing of the Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and other Matters) 2022 Bill on 31/08/2022, affirmative consent is now law in Victoria. This amendment means that everyone has the responsibility to get active consent before engaging in sexual activity. This may include (but is not limited to) saying “yes,” as well as physical gestures like nodding and/or reciprocating removing someone’s clothes. To put it simply, there must be a “clear and enthusiastic go-ahead." The new legislation also firmly guards people from other forms of violence such as stealthing (non-consensual removal of barrier protection such as a condom) and image-based abuse (which can include, but is not limited to: deepfakes, taking, sharing or threatening to share sexual images or videos without consent). This change in law marks a crucial step in creating survivor-centered legislation, which shifts the responsibility away from survivor to perpetrator. The University of Melbourne’s Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response Policy and their definition of consent lags behind state law. Additionally, the policy does not acknowledge stealthing as a form of violence and does not comprehensively cover the emerging issue of online image-based abuse. There is no room for victim-blaming at the University of Melbourne. Therefore, UMSU calls on the University to immediately change its policy in line with new state legislation. By doing this, it will shift the focus and burden of responsibility from the victim-survivors actions to those of the perpetrator. This change is vital to ensure we are committing to a victim-centred approach that puts justice and safety first. Support Resources: If this letter brings up any concerns for you, please reach out to the following supports: Sexual Assault Crisis Support Line (24/7): 1800 806 292 1800 Respect (24/7): 1800 737 732 UMSU Sexual Harm and Response Coordinators The UMSU Sexual Harm and Response Coordinators provide support with making complaints to the University, reporting to the police, and appropriate referrals to therapeutic services. Contact them via their webpage: https://umsu.unimelb.edu.au/support/survivors/ University of Melbourne, Safer Community Program Provides advice and support to University of Melbourne students who have been affected by sexual violence and harassment: https://safercommunity.unimelb.edu.au/

Workers who have been targeted by Qantas only want their right to collective bargain and negotiate their pay and conditions. Australian Services Union members at Qantas are standing shoulder to shoulder to fight this every step of the way. We all work for one airline and have been part of one workplace agreement and one set of workplace conditions for over 20 years. We need a decent pay rise that keeps up with the cost of living not one that sends us backwards. That’s our wages policy. Qantas, workers want a fair deal for ALL staff now.

Right now, Australia continues to deny a fast and fair process to people who are seeking asylum in our country. Many have been in limbo for over a decade. This prevents people from gaining the stability that refugee status provides. The result is vulnerable people living on the edge for years. Many people seeking asylum and living in the community are also denied access to basic support, including healthcare, housing, education, emergency relief and disability support. This leaves individuals and families with nothing to survive on, except for unfunded support from charities and local governments who are stepping in to help. The Federal Government has a responsibility to support people meet basic needs and live safely in Australia until their status is resolved. Australians support each other in hard times and we are asking the Federal Government to play its part in creating a community where we are all respected. We must act now in support of our neighbours, friends and local community members who urgently need certainty, stability and support to build their lives. Join our campaign at backyourneighbour.com.au. Thank you for your compassion and support. Back Your Neighbour is a coalition of Australian local councils, community services, unions and individuals who support people seeking asylum and refugees. It is auspiced by the Local Government Mayoral Taskforce Supporting People Seeking Asylum.

Public transport is the lifeblood of a modern city, delivering workers, students, tourists and those unable to drive cars to where they need to be. Bus drivers provide an essential service and deserve to be safe while performing their job.

Wages are falling behind for millions of workers. This is not just because of the pandemic, but has been happening over a decade. Complicated and outdated work laws that were written thirty years ago are now preventing workers from being able to bargain for decent wages and secure jobs. Only 14% of workers are covered by a current enterprise agreement. Industries that employ mainly women, like care or education, have some of the lowest wages and least number of enterprise agreements. Workers who have the same jobs across employers or sectors should be able to come together to bargain for decent pay and similar conditions. Unless we update work and bargaining laws, we can’t fix the wages crisis.. Work and workplaces have changed. We need work laws to suit now and the future. It just makes sense.

NDAs protect employers from accountability and release them from their obligations to address systems of work that allow sexual harassment to occur, enabling repeat offenders to continue and preventing workers from talking about their experiences. Victim-survivors, predominantly women, are disempowered by being forced to stay silent. To end sexual harassment at work, we need to end the silence and hold employers accountable. We need legislation to restrict the use of NDAs. They should only be used when requested by victim-survivors to protect their own confidentiality and victim-survivors should be allowed to decide to speak out later.

Students should support Curtin staff fighting for better pay and conditions because: 1. Workers deserve a decent wage that goes up with inflation, at the very least.✊ 2. Because they are also fighting to improve the education quality they can provide for us too!🎓 Our staff are overworked, understaffed and increasingly facing unstable employment with casualisation on the rise. We know that staff teaching conditions impact student learning conditions. But we also think it's completely unfair for the staff who make our university run to be struggling with a cost of living crisis while university executives are making $300,000+ per year and the university is in surplus.

Knorr-Bremse’s Sustainability Report (2021) states that employees are one of the central pillars of the firm’s corporate responsibility strategy. It states that it is the firm’s “aspiration to protect employees’ rights and ensure fair and appropriate pay”. It cannot be reasonably argued that the firm’s current offer in this round of enterprise bargaining, which represents a real pay cut on projected inflation figures and a decrease in the employment security of the workforce, meets this standard.

Ballarat Council giving money to Pipecon is a slap in the face to all of us as Ballarat ratepayers and Victorians. Councillors must immediately review this decision, award the tender for Tait St road reconstruction to another company, and apologise to the community.

Many City of Sydney employees have been negatively affected by council’s payroll mistake, yet to date, council has not taken any responsibility. Upon leaving the council, former employees are being asked to pay back money paid to them as a result of the payroll error. Current employees have been ordered to take leave when they didn’t need to or had their leave balances fall into deficit incorrectly. The USU, the union for all council workers in NSW, are taking the City to the Industrial Relations Commission on 25 August 2022 to try and compel the city to fix their mistake. Stand with us and the workers of City of Sydney council by signing this petition.

We spend winters shivering inside beanies, jumpers, blankets, uggs and wooly socks. In Summer we sleep with ice packs. And we pay through the nose for the privilege. More and more renters in Australia are experiencing rental stress - paying more than 40 or 50% of our incomes for homes that barely keep out the weather. Rent is skyrocketing, as are our power bills. Yet renters can’t reduce our bills by installing solar panels, insulation, more efficient hot water systems or by removing gas appliances from our homes. We’re forced to run power hungry space heaters to stay warm only to get hit with enormous power bills. More and more renters are forced to make a choice between staying warm and buying groceries. It’s more important than ever to improve the standards of rentals as power prices soar and home ownership is put further out of reach for young people. Generation United is powered by the United Workers Union. We’re a strong voice for young workers and we’re coming together to tackle the big issues that affect us - at work, at home, in our community and in our environment. Renters are speaking out, our governments must listen and act. These are just some of the stories tenants have shared with us: “The upstairs of our town house would reach over 43 degrees in summer so I slept with ice packs strapped to my body.” - Vic renter “Our house is not at all insulated. The cold days are super cold and the hot days make the house stuffy for weeks” - Aus renter “I have been getting sick once or twice a month from how cold my room gets.” - Krishan, Vic renter “Extremely cold temp in the house in winter and almost unliveable in the summer due to heat.” - WA renter “Window has been stuck open ever since 2020, 8+ requests to close it with no outcome. My 3rd winter wfh now and I have to wear puffer 24/7!” - Aus renter “I have leaks in my ceiling I’ve been complaining about since 2018, which are only getting worse and still nothing done. Can’t use my lounge room at all.” - NSW renter

Peel Health Campus, currently operated by Ramsay Health Care, will transition back into public hands in August 2023. This is excellent news for both employees and the WA community, however, we, as health workers at the facility, have not yet been provided a commitment from the State Government that our many hours of accrued Personal leave will be recognised. By signing this petition you'll encourage the WA Minister for Health, Amber Jade Sanderson and Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston to continue this by honouring all accrued personal leave for Health Workers at Peel Health Campus.