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Campaigning for human rights in East Timor

Campaigning for human rights in East Timor DILI — The East Timor Human Rights Commission (ETHRC) was established on October 1 to conduct investigations and monitoring of human rights violations in East Timor, educate the East Timorese people

More for the privatisation scrap heap

By Erica Haines ADELAIDE — On February 8, the South Australian Liberal government announced its plans to sell the TAB and State Lotteries Commission by the end of the year. Government enterprises minister Michael Armitage stated that a

The forgotten Iraqi refugees

The following is abridged from an open letter to United Nations' secretary-general Kofi Annan and Amnesty International's Middle East Watch, circulated on January 25 by Saman Karim from the Worker Communist Party of Iraq. There are more than 6000

SA waste dump to be debated

By Philippa Stanford ADELAIDE — A "People's Conference" to discussed South Australia's proposed nuclear waste repository will convene here on March 4 and 5. Conference organisers have invited speakers from both sides of the debate. Speakers will

RFA fails to protect wilderness — again

By Simon Tayler and Eva Boland CANBERRA — In March, the NSW Labor government plans to sign the regional forest agreement (RFA) it put forward last year for the Eden management area. Eden has very little old-growth forest remaining, and the RFA

'No menstruation tax!'

'No menstruation tax!' By Kamala Emanuel HOBART — Seventy people, predominantly women, demonstrated outside the office of Liberal senator Eric Abetz on February 11 to protest plans for the GST to be levied on sanitary products, such as tampons

Union leader demands Laidlaw resign

Union leader demands Laidlaw resign By Erica Haines ADELAIDE — Chris White, the secretary of South Australia's peak union body, the United Trades and Labor Council (UTLC), has called for the resignation of state transport minister Diana

Protest actions planned: Return Elian to his home!

Socialist parties from the Asian region have called for February 17 to become an international day of coordinated protest against the kidnapping of six-year-old Elian Gonzalez. The US government and the right-wing Cuban exile community in Miami

The vanishing income tax cuts

By Sue Boland Prime Minister John Howard arrived back from holidays in January, loudly proclaiming the generosity of his government's planned income tax cuts. However, the value of the income tax cuts has already evaporated for most people, as a

Life of Riley: To GST or not

To GST or not Exeunt PRIME MINISTER and POLONIUS. Enter HAMLET. HAMLET: To GST or not to GST — that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take up arms against a sea of

Copper smelter secretly commissioned

By Marg Perrott WOLLONGONG — The Port Kembla Copper (PKC) smelter started operating here secretly on February 4. Local residents began smelling sulphur fumes at 3pm. Some people began coughing, others had difficulty breathing. At a public meeting

Death caused by mandatory sentencing

By Rohan Gaiswinkler and Peter Johnston DARWIN — In a tragic event which puts the Northern Territory's mandatory sentencing laws under the national and international spotlight, a 15-year-old Aboriginal boy committed suicide here on February 10,