GLW issue 766, published 2008-09-10.

Farmers take on coal project

Ambre Energy’s proposed coal-to-oil project at Felton, a farming community 30 kilometres from Toowoomba, would be a disaster for the local community and environment, according to the newly formed Friends of Felton group.

Desalination EES 'stage-managed'

Protests are continuing against the Victorian state government’s planned desalination plant at Wonthaggi.

Full decriminalisation of abortion NOW!

Although it is one of the most commonly performed medical procedures in the world, abortion is still a crime in Victoria under the 1958 Victorian Crimes Act. Women have only been able to access abortion because in 1969 Justice Menhennitt ruled that a doctor could perform an abortion if continuing a pregnancy endangered the woman’s life or health.

Tamil struggle supported

BRISBANE — ”The Sri Lankan government is a racist regime which has conducted a decades-long reign of terror against the Tamil people”, Dr Brian Senewiratne, a Queensland medical specialist of Sinhala origin, said at a film night featuring My Daughter the Terrorist on August 30.

Further

Australian News

Journalists strike over conditons and job cuts

Fairfax journalists, photographers, artists and graphic designers returned to work on September 1 after a four-day strike. The strike affected the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review, the Age, the Illawarra Mercury and the Newcastle Herald.

ALP truancy policy ignores reality

On August 27, education minister Julia Gillard tabled legislation enabling welfare recipients’ payments to be denied for up to three months if their children were regularly absent from school.

Further Australian News

International News

United States: Three long years of neglect

There was one good thing about George Bush’s recent visit to New Orleans — if he comes back, it won’t be as president.

United States: No shelter from the storm

Witness the massive padlock, tightly hugging its doors. That will tell you all you need to know about Hurricane Gustav and the federal US government’s carefully orchestrated response.

Further International News

Comment and Analysis

The killing business: Australia and the arms trade

On the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day this November, Adelaide was due to play host to the largest military corporations in the world, who would be displaying the most sophisticated weapons that have ever been created. The planned fair was cancelled on September 7 by the South Australian government on grounds of supposed “violent protests” being planned.

Public education: Rudd continues Howard's attacks

In the lead-up to last year’s federal election, the then-Labor opposition worked furiously to narrow the policy difference between itself and the Howard government.

Further Comment and Analysis

Letters

Write On: Letters to the editor

Burqa or sexual display? Ema Corro's article (GLW #761) and the letters about it (Luke Vanni, GLW #763, Margarita Windisch, GLW #764) all contain valid points. We think that, while legislation plays a very effective role in certain arenas

Resistance!

'We demand a reason for hope'

The federal government’s climate adviser, Professor Ross Garnaut, told the National Press Club on September 5 that while climate change is “diabolical”, “intractable” and “daunting”, Australia is a “special case” and cannot be expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions to the same extent as other “wealthy nations”.

Good health care and 'parental rights'

The prescription of oral contraceptives to a 14-year-old without her parents’ knowledge has triggered a debate over adolescents’ access to confidential health care. The student of Bellarine Secondary College in Victoria was taken by a school nurse to a doctor, who prescribed the medication.

Further Resistance!

Venezuelan youth: 'Our future depends...

Cultural Dissent

The people who ended 'Jim Crow'

The Thunder of Angels: The Montgomery Bus Boycott & the People Who Broke the Back of Jim Crow
By Donnie Williams with Wayne Greenshaw
Lawrence Hill Books, 2007
293 pages, $23.95 (pb)

Artists vs Hollywood fatcats

Those who’ve gone to see an independent film lately might be familiar with an ad that warns against movie pirating. According to this ad, consumers (understandably sick of being gouged $14 to catch a movie) who download and burn movies are undermining the ability of the Australian film industry to grow and survive.

Further Cultural Dissent

On the box

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Billionaire Rinehart's media control bid reveals corporate influence

Above: GetUp! released video showing professional climate change denier "Lord" Christopher Monkton advising a room full of mining executives on how the industry must gain control of Australia's media. This week mining billionaire Gina Rinehart became the largest shareholder in the Fairfax media conglomerate, having already bought a stake in Channel Ten.