Australian news

Rowan Stewart & Sue Bolton, Melbourne
Solidarity and union spirit were on display on November 25, as 6000 unionists gathered outside the State Library to protest the jailing of former Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) Victorian

Jon Lamb, Darwin
Environmentalists, traditional owners and local residents are increasingly concerned over toxic waste and poisonous mine tailings leaching from the abandoned Mt Todd gold mine near Katherine.
Residents on the Edith River,

Bill Mason, Brisbane
"Resistance is a just response to occupation; it takes various forms, including armed struggle", Louay Alzaher, representing the Iraq Solidarity Committee, told a public forum on the theme "Iraq in crisis" on November 22.

Sarah Stephen
Tensions began to boil over inside the Baxter immigration detention centre at the end of November, with a series of attempted suicides and hospitalisations.
Previously, nurses saw patients in the nurses station inside the compound.

Sarah Stephen, Sydney
Ismail, a Sri Lankan man, was deported from Sydney's Villawood detention centre on November 23. A previous attempt to deport him on October 19 failed after he panicked and harmed himself. Ismail was diagnosed by Professor

Paul Benedek, Sydney
The inner-city suburbs of Redfern and Waterloo, home to the Australian Heritage-listed Redfern Block, which has historically been a centre of Black empowerment and organising, faces a $5 billion state government

#1
NT power workers take action
DARWIN — Power station workers, control room operators, technicians and other workers covered by the Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) have held a series of workplace meetings and vowed to

Kylie Moon, Sydney
"Fightback: Resisting Howard's Agenda" was the theme of a public meeting at the Sydney Gaelic Club on December 2 that brought together 90 activists involved in many of the current campaigns against the attacks of the Howard

Chris Slee & Graham Matthews, Melbourne
Stephen Jolly, national secretary of the Socialist Party, was elected to the Yarra City Council for the ward of Langridge in the November 27 Victorian council elections.
An ALP and a Greens member were also

#3
Don't log Recherche Bay
HOBART — French ambassador to Australia Patrick Henault visited Recherche Bay on December 1.
Environmentalists were hoping for official French support for the campaign to stop logging at the bay, however Henault

BRISBANE — Thousands of Centrelink call-centre staff attended lunchtime meetings around the country on December 9. The meetings were called by the Community and Public Sector Union to condemn management's introduction of a new computerised

MELBOURNE — On December 10, 300 asylum seekers and refugee-rights activists marked Human Rights Day with a march to draw attention to the plight of refugees, in particular the threatened deportation of Sri Lankan asylum seekers, some of whom

Brendan Rosser & Lucy Palmer, Newcastle
On December 10, 30 activists gathered outside the army recruitment centre for an international human rights day "die-in", in solidarity with the people suffering in Iraq.
The protest proceeded to the

Sarah Harris, Sydney
On December 17, legislation was rushed through the NSW parliament by Labor Premier Bob Carr's government to allow the Collex company to set up a large domestic waste transfer station at Clyde, in the Sydney municipality of

On December 19, the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) granted public and private sector teachers a 5.5% interim pay rise.
Two days earlier, the IRC had granted public hospital nurses a 3.5% pay rise from January 1. As part of its "What's a

Chris Latham, Perth
Train drivers on Perth's metropolitan rail-lines stopped work for four hours on January 11 to discuss the Rail, Tram and Bus Union's campaign for a new enterprise agreement. RTBU rail division secretary Bob Christison told Green

Sarah Stephen
On January 12, a delegation of Australian government officials and health department doctors arrived on Nauru to investigate the crisis in the Pacific island state's health system, strained to breaking point during a 29-day hunger

Sarah Stephen
An independent medical team calling itself the Professional Alliance for the Health of Asylum Seekers and their Children, which had been raising money to make a trip to Nauru on January 19, was forced to suspend its trip when the

Newcastle — Long-time US anti-war activist and socialist Barry Sheppard spoke at a public forum organised by the Newcastle branch of the Socialist Alliance on January 17.
Sheppard argued that the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were not

Sue Bolton, Melbourne
The postal and telecommunications section of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU P&T) set up an indefinite picket outside Australia Post's new Melbourne parcel facility on January 23, after negotiations with management broke

Shua Garfield, Hobart
University of Tasmania student Munyaradzi "Munya" Chiramiro is facing deportation to Zimbabwe after incorrectly completing a bridging visa application. Munya has lived in Hobart since mid-2001 and is one semester short of

Sue Bolton, Melbourne
Australia Post's mail service in Victoria was seriously disrupted on January 29 when 250 postal workers took action against their relocation to the new Ardeer parcel facility in West Sunshine.
The dispute arose when

HOBART — A recent Newspoll on woodchipping commissioned by Doctors for Forests has drawn angry responses from the forestry industry and Liberal and Labor state politicians. More than 85% of the 1200 people interviewed across Australia said they

Jim McIlroy, Brisbane
"We are issuing a challenge to Premier Peter Beattie to use his almost certain big majority after the coming state election to make some significant changes in this state", Coral Wynter, the Socialist Alliance's candidate for

Anthony Benbow, Fremantle
The battle to save WA's Coogee Beach is hotting up. A large part of the beach is in danger of being swallowed up by the proposed Port Coogee development, which would also see some of the ocean in Cockburn Sound filled in

Sarah Stephen
The Australian government delegation sent to the Pacific island state of Nauru to assess its health services on January 12-14 released the report of its findings on January 29.
The delegation was given narrow terms of reference for

Marcus Pabian, Melbourne
On February 4, an historic mass meeting at the Collingwood Town Hall of 1000 Electrical Trades Union (ETU) stewards from across the industry voted for a sustained state-wide campaign for a 36-hour working week. Improved

James Caulfield, Canberra
The University of Canberra became the first institution to endorse implementing domestic full fees since the Nelson Review "reforms" were passed in parliament last year, after a motion put by vice-chancellor Roger Dean was

NSW postal workers strike to defend jobs
Jenny Long, Sydney
On February 12, Australia Post parcel workers struck for 24 hours over proposed network and technology changes that will undermine jobs, wages and conditions. The Communications,

SYDNEY — The Socialist Alliance is campaigning in support of train drivers and against the NSW government's destruction of public transport. See the activist calendar on page 23 for details of upcoming campaign events or go to

Bryan Sketchley, Melbourne
The Victorian Labor government has offered its 25,000 public servants a pay cut (in real terms), and a reduction in working conditions, in the current round of enterprise bargaining.
By scrimping on public servants'

Kieran Latty & Susan Price, Sydney
The Socialist Alliance will stand three candidates in the March 27 Leichhardt council elections — militant unionist Shane Bentley, Books Not Bombs youth anti-war activist Kylie Moon, and refugees' rights

ADELAIDE — A mass meeting of state public service unionists has been called for February 24 to discuss the dispute between the Public Service Association and the South Australian government over wages and conditions.
The call came at a 200-strong

Ian Jamieson, Fremantle
For the first time, the Western Australian branch of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has allowed rank-and-file members to express their opinions at a state conference of the union.
Held over the February 14-15

Sarah Stephen
In early February there was a flurry of media coverage about 25-year-old Palestinian Aladdin Sisalem — the lone asylum seeker detained in the Australian-financed Manus Island detention centre.
It was revealed by the February 11

Aaron Benedek, Sydney
Young people living in Sydney's south-west, regularly targeted by the state ALP government's "law and order" and "anti-terrorist" policing, have seen the Redfern Block's resistance as an inspiration.
"The way the police

MELBOURNE — Many unions have passed motions in support of the March 20 international protest against the occupation of Iraq.
They include: the Geelong Trades and Labour Council; the Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and

Rihab Charida, Sydney
Channel 31, Sydney's public access community television station, may be forced off the air if its broadcasting license is not renewed.
Community Television Sydney (CTS) Channel 31 has been broadcasting for more than 10

Anna Samson, Sydney
Will Saunders and David Burgess commenced their first weekend of periodic detention on February 14.
The pair were found guilty of malicious damage after painting the words "No war" on the highest sail of the Opera House. They

Michael Bull, Melbourne
Since its first meeting on February 10, the Defend Craig Johnston Committee has planned a range of activities to defend the former Victorian secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU).
Johnston is

The following letter was sent by the Western Suburbs Community Campaign Against Racism (to the residents of the Redfern Block in mid-February.
Dear friends,
We wish to express our condolences to the family and friends of Thomas "TJ" Hickey. This