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Fortress Europe takes steps to bar refugees, migrants

BY SARAH STEPHEN The European Union faces an ironic contradiction in coming decades. As birth rates continue to decline, many countries face negative population growth. The EU needs more immigration. Yet the European Council's June 21-22 meeting in

AFGHANISTAN: Sham assembly installs warlord coalition

AFGHANISTAN Sham assembly installs warlord coalition BY NORM DIXON The much-hyped loya jirga — or grand assembly — was supposed to be post-Taliban Afghanistan's first step towards the creation of a representative democratic

CMG workers return to work

CMG workers return to work BY TERRICA STRUDWICK ROCKHAMPTON — Meatworkers at the Packer-family-owned Consolidated Meat Group's Lakes Creek abbatoir returned to work on June 20 after spending two weeks on strike and another week locked

Abortion still an issue in Tasmania

Abortion still an issue in Tasmania BY ANTHEA STUTTER LAUNCESTON — “Despite the emergency sitting of the Tasmanian parliament last December, ostensibly to pass legislation to solve the abortion access crisis, women still don't have full

Woomera detainees: 'Freedom for all!'

BY PIP HINMAN& SARAH STEPHEN On June 23, the same day that 13,000 people took to the streets across Australia to oppose the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, detainees at the Woomera detention centre began a hunger strike. By June 24, 180-190

Labor joins Coalition to deny asylum seekers' appeal rights

BY SARAH STEPHEN The Howard government's Migration Legislation Amendment (Procedural Fairness) Bill 2002 passed through the House of Representatives with the support of the Labor Party on June 26 with very little publicity. The new act

Earthquake risk at Lucas Heights

Earthquake risk at Lucas Heights BY ALEX MILNE Work is continuing at the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, despite calls for the government to reconsider the project after an earthquake fault line was discovered there. The fault was

PALESTINE: Bush backs Israel's apartheid plan

BY AHMED NIMER RAMALLAH — The remarkable ease with which the mainstream media obscures the reality of life for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip has been starkly demonstrated by its coverage of US President George

In the shoes of asylum seekers

REVIEW BY SARAH STEPHEN  Escape to Paradise Directed by Nino Jacusso With Duzgun Ayhan, Fidan Firat, Nurettin Yildiz and Walo Luond Distributed by First Hand Films Frontieres (Borders) Directed by Mostefa Djadjam With Lou

Some WA anti-union laws replaced

BY IAN JAMIESON PERTH — Unions in Western Australia have welcomed a package of industrial law reforms introduced by the Labor state government. Unions WA secretary Stephanie Mayman described Labor's bill as an important step forward but it "does

Socialist Alliance makes refugees an issue in Tassie poll

Socialist Alliance makes refugees an issue in Tassie poll BY DARREN JIGGINS HOBART — The day after Premier Jim Bacon's June 21 calling of the Tasmanian election, there was a 500-strong refugees' rights rally in Hobart — the largest

Write On: Letter to the Editor

Write On — letters to the editor Refugees Jim Faggotter (Write On GLW #491) says that if Australia's detention centres were closed we would get “millions of refugees”. Undoubtedly, if refugees were treated more humanely the number