News briefs

Women's edition banned at Griffith University

BRISBANE — The centrespread of the women's edition of the Griffith University student newspaper, Gravity, has sparked controversy. It features a picture of women's genitals with by a poem by Jen Clark which contains the word "cunt". The edition has been withdrawn from circulation by the student union at the Queensland College of the Arts campus and banned from distribution at the Mount Gravatt campus of Griffith University by the administration's Office of Community Services.

The Office of Community Services said that the magazine was offensive and could not be distributed at Mount Gravatt because there was a primary school nearby. The university administration sought legal advice but was told that use of the word "cunt" was not pornographic.

Matilda Alexander, women's officer at Griffith University, explained, "The author of the poem used the word cunt because she did not want to use the word vagina, which means sheath for a penis. It is anti-feminist and heterosexist to refer to women by how they fit with a man."

Beattie buries Hinchinbrook report

BRISBANE — The Queensland government is withholding an important report regarding acid sulfate at the Oyster Point development, according to the Wilderness Society.

The report was completed in February but has not been publicly released. Wilderness Society spokesperson Felicity Wade said the government took the report to cabinet "to ensure that it is unavailable through freedom of information legislation".

Wade said, "The Beattie government promised the people of Queensland that the Oyster Point development would no longer get 'help for mates' treatment and would be monitored in a transparent and rigorous way. Burying reports like this suggests that nothing much has changed."

Acid sulfate problems arise when low-lying coastal areas are disturbed, releasing sulfuric acid into surrounding waterways.

From GLW issue 371