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Laboring over refugee rights

BY ANDREW HALL The launch of the revamped Labor Party refugee policy on December 5 has generated a renewed and much-needed debate over the need for a more compassionate refugee policy. Marketed by Labor leader Simon Crean and deputy

Loose Cannons

Solid lies "The president of the United States and the secretary of defence would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction ... if they did not have a solid basis for saying it" — White House

Grocon takes on the CFMEU

BY SUE BULL MELBOURNE — Many in Melbourne are watching as Australia’s biggest builder takes on Australia’s strongest union. Every media outlet raced to get pictures of 650 Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union members working

New NSW police powers: 'political hijacking'

BY JENNY LONG SYDNEY — The Terrorism and Police Powers Act, which was rushed through NSW parliament on December 3, amounted to a political hijacking of the public's fears of terrorism by Premier Bob Carr and police minister Mick Costa, said the

Public education walkers reach Wollongong

BY GRANT COLEMAN WOLLONGONG — On November 21, students from Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, labeled the Coalition government "out of order" and started their "walk for a better education". The journey has taken them through the Blue

Lawrence condemns ALP on refugees, war

BY ALISON DELLIT On December 5, ALP federal parliamentarian Carmen Lawrence announced her resignation from the party's shadow cabinet in protest at Labor's new policy on refugees and asylum seekers. In a blistering 20-minute statement, Lawrence

Pat Power: 'We need a war against poverty, not a war against terrorism'

BY PAT POWER Is an Iraqi life of any less value than an American or an Australian life? A US-led attack on Iraq will lead to inevitable loss of life — hundreds, thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens will perish as a result. These are people who

WTO: US, EU bully Third World in trade talks

BY EVA CHENG After being stalled for two years by the Third World's objections, a new round of haggling on world trade rules being pushed by the imperialist governments was launched at the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) fourth ministerial meeting

ZIMBABWE: Socialist MP expelled from parliament

BY NORM DIXON Munyaradzi Gwisai, the revolutionary socialist MP who was elected to Zimbabwe's parliament in 2000 with the backing of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, has been stripped of his seat. Emmerson Mnangagwa, the

Centrelink workers vote for industrial action

BY BILL MASON BRISBANE — Community and Public Sector Union members at Centrelink met November 27-29 and rejected management's offered enterprise agreement. CPSU members conducted a half-day strike on December 2, with another scheduled for

A union solution to an industry problem

COMMENT BY MICK BULL The position of the Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) on the question of “illegal” labour is rather simple in comparison to some of the other branches of the union.

Mike Moore: the awful truth about US violence

Bowling for Columbine Written, produced and directed by Michael Moore Opens December 26 At major cinemas REVIEW BY MARGARET ALLUM Visiting the Bowling for Columbine web site is more like visiting an activist site than a film