Peter Robson

  • Costello foreshadows two-tier university system

    Filled with confidence from its apparent "success" in waging war on Iraq, the Howard Coalition government has began another assault on public services. Higher education in particular is under attack, with the worst proposals from

  • Newcastle students protest

    BY PETER ROBSON NEWCASTLE — Despite Newcastle police calling high school principals and warning them of violent protest, the Newcastle March 26 student strike against the war attracted over 350 students, mostly from high school. Students

  • Protest against warship

    NEWCASTLE — "Bring all the warships home!" was the rally cry on February 18 at the National Maritime Festival where the HMAS Newcastle was on show to the public. The Newcastle No War Collective organised a snap protest, because

  • Protesters support refugees

    BY PETER ROBSON & LISA LINES Refugees' rights protests organised at short notice in Adelaide and Newcastle helped to expose the media's lies about asylum seekers in the second week of January. In Adelaide, 60 people attended a January 8 protest

  • Student protest scores win

    NEWCASTLE &#151 On October 21, a rally of 300 students forced Newcastle University vice-chancellor Roger Holmes to commit to the full retention of resources and services at the Huxley Library. A university administration proposal

  • Refugee deaths commemorated

    “Only one year ago yesterday, we too lost our brothers and sisters to the violence and injustice that stalks humanity right across the globe”, refugees' rights activist Kathy Newnam told people gathered in Newcastle's Civic

  • Anger at plans to close uni library

    NEWCASTLE &#151 An angry crowd of staff and students confronted Newcastle University vice-chancellor Roger Holmes on October 16 as he attempted to justify plans to close the Huxley Library and replace it with an electronic

  • Newcastle Uni becomes 'refugee sanctuary'

    NEWCASTLE — After a week of determined campaigning by students, academics and staff, the refugee sanctuary referendum on Newcastle University finished at 3pm on September 20. More than 700 students voted in the week-long

  • What Ruddock doesn't want you to know

    BY KATHY NEWNAM& PETER ROBSON NEWCASTLE &#151 In one of the largest refugee rights meetings to be held in Newcastle, nearly 200 people packed the Town Hall on August 31 to hear immigration minister Philip Ruddock's lies destroyed. Anne Coombs,

  • Uni students support 'refugee sanctuary'

    NEWCASTLE &#151 "Today, I want to tell you what it is like to be a refugee in Australia. I want to tell you what it is like to flee war and repression and only find more oppression. I am no longer in a detention centre, but now it

  • Refugee sanctuaries on campuses?

    NEWCASTLE — Students at campuses across the country are organising referendums calling for their universities to be declared “refugee safe havens”. “We want students to think about this question”, said campus refugee

  • Pakistani socialist begins speaking tour

    BY PETER ROBSON& JIM MCILROY "The US war on Afghanistan provided no solution to the problems of the region", Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan, told a lunchtime meeting at Newcastle University on April 3, as he began a