Timor Awareness Night
MELBOURNE -- The Third World Action Group at Monash University held a Timor Awareness Night dinner at Wholefoods Restaurant on the campus. Following cheap, tasty vegetarian food, those attending were addressed by Abel Gutierres from the East Timor Relief Association, who spoke on the complicity of the Australian government in Indonesia's occupation of East Timor. Vannessa Hearman from ASIET then spoke on the Indonesian democratic movement's solidarity with East Timor and the need for Timorese activists to return this support in a period of political repression by the Suharto regime. The night was organised to promote the East Timor National Day of Action on August 25.
Public First rally
SYDNEY -- Approximately 350 people attended a Public First rally on August 23, which marched through the city from Town Hall to John Howard's office. Obviously concerned at the recent upsurge in political movements, 60 cops, including seven mounted police, flanked protesters at the office. The rally was peaceful and the protesters left chanting, "We'll be back!"
Builders buckle under bans
The construction division of the CFMEU has stepped up its campaign to win back the $7.46 per day travel allowance that building workers lost when the federal Coalition government changed the tax laws.
Heavier bans have been placed on construction sites around Australia. Following the NSW branch's focus on 56 new jobs, two major contractors have signed the new agreement. Concrete Constructions and Multiplex have agreed to the CFMEU's demands, as have hundreds of minor contractors and subcontractors..
Court dismisses protest case
BRISBANE -- "The recent decision to dismiss the case against Resistance organiser Zanny Begg, involving an anti-uranium march in April, is an important win in the fight to maintain the right to march and protest in Queensland", a spokesperson for the Coalition Against the Mining and Export of Uranium told Green Left Weekly on August 22.
On July 29, a magistrate found that a charge of disobeying an official police direction had been proved against Begg, who was arrested with seven others when police attempted to prevent protesters from marching on the road. The magistrate, however, dismissed the case, so that no conviction was recorded.
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