We do not create our art merely for entertainment or for profit. We create because it is a human imperative in the same way that speaking out against war crimes is a moral imperative. As an extension of both of those imperatives, and echoing demands from Palestinians in Gaza, we ask you to to demand an immediate ceasefire; demand immediate access to Gaza for humanitarian aid; demand an investigation into Israel’s egregious attacks and war crimes on Palestinians in Gaza; demand an end to Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime. 

‘To the free spirits of the world, we draw our strength from the unity of oppressed people and derive our resolve from the unyielding faith in our right to reclaim our usurped land and recover our freedom’ – Youth of Occupied Palestine, Statement, October 13, 2023 ‘From the diverse Indigenous nations, languages, and clans that […]

The arts community advocates for change through the work we make and the stories we share. Many of us have or are developing environmental impact policies. We cannot accept sponsorship arrangements that are so out of keeping with our values. We call on the Botanic Gardens to end the sponsorship agreement with Santos immediately and to develop a comprehensive policy to ensure that fossil fuel companies will never again benefit from an association with our beautiful Museum or any aspect of the Gardens.

Readings can afford to pay a living wage to its workers. This is a multi-store business that, until 2021, posted profits for 25 consecutive years, and which in the past year has spent considerable amounts of money opening both a new store branch and a warehouse, without consulting workers. As authors, we stand in solidarity with the booksellers at Readings in their fight for fair pay and conditions.

We, the undersigned staff members at Universities across Australia, support the University of Melbourne students who passed the recent motion ‘UMSU Stands with Palestine – BDS and Solidarity Policy’. We also support University students across the country who take a stance on Palestine in the face of an orchestrated campaign by Zionist groups who attempt to slander them for standing against settler colonialism, apartheid, and racism in Palestine.

The union campaign at Better Read Than Dead is a litmus test for Australian literature and for retail working conditions across the continent. The publishing industry – of which bookselling is one part – likes to congratulate itself on its social progressivism, but this means nothing without material conditions for workers in the industry that grant those workers job security and dignity of life.

The signatories of this letter oppose the attacks on ‘critical race theory’. At a time of mounting white supremacism across the Global North, these attacks are a stark reminder that we need more critical thinking about race and we resolve to continue this work across a range of diverse fields and disciplines. We call on institutions of research and education in Australia to stand with students, scholars, and educators whose work is coming under attack and to support their vital work.

We, the undersigned, call on the Andrews Government to: Stop the proposed 106 bed expansion of the Dame Phyllis Frost women’s prison in Melbourne’s north west announced by the Andrews Government on 19 March 2021. Divert the funds for expansion of the women’s prison to building and supporting 1,000 new public homes.

Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert was born in New South Wales and is an international expert in Islamic Studies, currently working at the University of Melbourne. She was arrested at Tehran airport in August 2018, and was subsequently convicted of espionage and sentenced to 10 years in prison at a secret trial. Her arbitrary detention by the Iranian regime is a grave miscarriage of justice, and an assault on academic freedom and the ability for scholars to conduct independent research.

We, the undersigned, are graduate student workers, support the NTEU National Day of Action on 21 May to demand for universal extensions and in support of higher education jobs and courses.

This open letter is a public protest against the conditions which students and staff at Victoria University have had to endure. I hope it speaks for many who have had their educational experience and their livelihoods as educators devalued due to one of the most potentially negative structural reforms in recent memory.

Mr Dutton, how in all conscience can you continue to humiliate and dehumanise severely ill refugees in your own personal and political thirst for power? You continually use hate speech in order to prevent due justice to be given to us, the remaining refugees on Manus and Nauru. We are not responsible for shortages in hospital beds. We are dangerously ill only because many treatable illnesses and injuries have not been given adequate medical attention for years.