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Write on: letters to the editor

Write on: letters to the editor One elector, one vote The widespread resentment against the unfairness of Australia's electoral system, which almost guarantees the exclusion of small political parties and independents from state and

EAST TIMOR: Women face uphill struggle

BY ROBYN MARSHALL DILI — Aurora Ximenes, the coordinator of the East Timor Women's Network, which comprises 15 grassroots organisations, is angry that women are being sidelined in the transition to independence. Listening to her story, it seems

Democracy derailed in Refugee Action Collective

COMMENT BY PAUL BENEDEK SYDNEY — Over the last few months a campaign has been waged by some members of Sydney's Refugee Action Collective to convert RAC into an exclusive, undemocratic, conservative organisation. This has included running a smear

IT outsourcing condemned

BY JIM McILROY The federal government's program to outsource public sector information technology (IT) services to private industry has taken a big hit with the release of the Humphry Review on January 12. The review criticised the outsourcing

Rage Against the Machine: Renegades of funk

Renegades of funk BY RICHARD PITHOUSE Rage Against the Machine have lobbed their last sonic Molotov cocktail at musical mediocrity and political injustice. Rage Against the Machine, by far the most politically radical rock band to achieve major

Forestry Tasmania fights dirty

BY TOM WILSON HOBART — Faced with a rising tide of public opposition to its latest woodchip mill and wood-fired power station proposal, Forestry Tasmania has decided on a complete change of tactics. Abandoning any pretence of warm and fuzzy

Racist loses appeal in defamation case

BY JESSICA ROSE ADELAIDE — The full bench of the South Australian Supreme Court has ruled against Michael Brander, head of the racist National Action organisation, in his defamation action against Messenger Newspapers. Brander claimed that he

Nurses strike for extra staff

BY JACQUI LEE FREMANTLE — Western Australia's nurses made the condition of the state's health system a make-or-break election issue when on January 15 and 16 they struck, refusing to open beds unless staffing levels were increased. The

Loose cannons

Improving on perfection "I believe the system is as safe as it could possibly be, but that doesn't mean that we can't make it safer." — NSW transport minister Carl Scully on the state's public transport system. Executioner "I am mindful of

McDonald's workers excluded

BY GRANT COLEMAN PERTH — On December 12, the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU), Australian Hotels Association (AHA), and the Chamber and Commerce Industry (CCI) finalised a deal to increase WA hospitality pay rates to the

DSP congress resolves to 'take the initiative'

BY SUE BOLAND  “The rise of a new radical international movement against neo-liberal globalisation could lay the foundations for a major turn in the class struggle by tapping the pent-up dissent against the capitalists' attacks” — that

$27 million for Hewitt, violence for workers

BY GEORGINA DAVIES MELBOURNE — Australian tennis ace Lleyton Hewitt has reportedly signed a five-year sponsorship deal with Nike valued at a cool $27 million. The contract reportedly also includes a bonus clause that could double the figure if