By Steve Rogers
CANBERRA — One hundred and twenty thousand members of the Public Sector Union will be sent ballot papers in the coming week in a national election which is crucial for the union's future. For the first time, the incumbents are
Issue 143
News
Audit criticisms suppressed
By Adam Hanieh
ADELAIDE — The views of a group of academics critical of the state government's audit commission have been suppressed by Adelaide's daily paper, the Advertiser.
The Independent Audit
Day of action against cuts
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE—The state executive of the nurses union has endorsed the day of action called for May 24 against the proposed cuts in the Public Sector Audit Review.
"The Audit Commission report
Jean Bailey
Jean Bailey died in April in Newcastle at the age of 86. Like most intelligent and compassionate people of her generation, Jean was horrified by the impact of the 1930s Depression. Her resolve that this must never be allowed to
By Frank Enright
"We are in fact proud of our achievements at Ok Tedi", pronounced Jerry Ellis, BHP's mineral division chief, in the face of a $4 billion compensation claim lodged by local landowners in the Papua New Guinea Highlands. The
Submarine workers win
By Anthony Thirlwall
ADELAIDE — Workers at the Australian Submarine Corporation returned to work on May 10 after a successful 43-day strike.
The strike began on March 28 after seven workers were sacked by
By Steve Rogers
CANBERRA — A May 12 meeting of the Public Sector Union national executive decided to intervene in its ACT union branch affairs. At an unspecified time PSU national secretary Peter Robson will "convene meetings of ACT Government
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — The anxiously awaited Public Service Audit review, released on May 3, has confirmed the worst fears of trade union and community activists. The audit found that the state is in debt to the tune of an additional
Police abduct Aboriginal children
BRISBANE — Three Aboriginal children aged between 12 and 14 years say that they were abducted by six police officers in the early hours of May 10. The Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) has complained to the
SYDNEY — A planning meeting on May 11, attended by 65 women and convened by the Women's Abortion Action Campaign, decided to hold a rally on May 28, the international day for women's reproductive rights, on the issue of a woman's right to
Salisbury campus threatened with closure
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — Salisbury, a working-class suburb in the north of Adelaide, is facing the closure of its only access to tertiary courses.
It is planned to transfer the Salisbury
Abortion debate on Adelaide Uni
By Maddie Shaw
ADELAIDE — The abortion debate has fired up again at Adelaide University. Two male students recently organised the resurrection of the so-called "Pro-Life Club" amidst a sea of misleading,
Greens candidate threatened with sack
By Kest Courtice
HOBART — Jeff Briscoe, the Greens candidate in upcoming Tasmanian Legislative Council elections, has been threatened with dismissal from his job as a teacher over statements he made
World
By Max Lane
The launch of the People's Democratic Union (PRD) on May 2 has continued to stir controversy in Indonesia.
Soon after the launch of the activist-based pro-democracy movement, Soesilo Soedarman, the minister for politics and
By Rosanna Barbero
"We were forced to leave our village in the Preah Net Prah region because the Khmer Rouge were 4 km away and we feared we would meet a similar fate to that of seven villagers in the nearby town who had their throats cut by
Left party formed in Croatia
Two hundred dissidents met in Zagreb to form the Croatian Independent Democrats (HND) in opposition to president Franjo Tudjman's ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) on April 30. In officially announcing the
By Mara Ochoa
Brasilia — The Brazilian Workers Party (PT) opened its 9th National Meeting on April 29 in the Federal Congress Building.
The participants included 440 delegates elected by municipal PT branches. Invited guests included
By Robyn Marshall
The URNG, the united Guatemalan revolutionary organisation, issued a call on April 19 for international solidarity organisations to protest vigorously against the failure of the Guatemalan government to implement peace
By Boris Kagarlitsky
MOSCOW — During this northern spring, a strike wave has rolled across Russia. This has now become a tradition. The problems forcing workers to protest are generally the same: failure to pay wages, declining production and
By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — The African National Congress began formally to take the reins of government in South Africa during the past week. On May 7, Tokyo Sexwale was sworn in as premier of the province of
By Sean Healy
In the United States today, 37 million people (8.3 million of them children) are completely without medical insurance. The UN children's agency UNICEF ranks the US 21st among nations on children's health — behind China, India and
In an upcoming publication, "Reshaping European Education", the European Round Table of industrialists, a highly influential lobby organisation of 45 leading European industrialists, urges a radical change in education policy in European Union member
By Frank Enright
In March, for no apparent reason, New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger declared for a republic in 2000. Many in his own National Party were taken by surprise, and the opposition Labour Party could only mutter that it would be
BARBARA EINHORN is the author of Cinderella Goes to Market, a book on the experiences of women in eastern and central Europe following the collapse of the Stalinist regimes there. She is based at Sussex University, principally in the Women's Studies
By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — "The people of South Africa have spoken ... They want change! And change is what they will get. Our plan is to create jobs, promote peace and reconciliation, and to guarantee freedom for all South Africans. We will
Dr Susan George is well known for her extensive writing on the causes of hunger in the Third World and the social and economic implications of the debt crisis (A Fate Worse than Debt, How the Other Half Dies, Ill Fares the Land). She is a researcher
Culture
The seasons of love
Drowning in a Sea of Dreams
The One Extra Dance Company
Directed and choreographed by Graeme Watson
At the Performance Space until May 22
Reviewed by Gary Boyle
Variations on the theme of love between men and
The Paper
Directed by Ron Howard
Written by David Koepp and Stephen Koepp
Starring Michael Keaton and Glenn Close
Reviewed by Karen Fletcher
This is a film about "one of those days", when a thousand deadlines converge, nothing goes as it
World of music at Cafe Folkloric
Brisbane's Cafe Folkloric presents an impressive line-up of international music on May 19, starting at 8pm. With Andy Rigby on Paraguayan harp, Riley Lee on Japanese bamboo flute, Linsey Pollak, Humarimba Band &
Still on the Journey
Sweet Honey in the Rock's 20th anniversary album
Review by Carla Gorton
"Viva South Africa, Viva!" Hundreds of concert goers were on their feet with their fists in the air. The echo resounded through the Perth Concert
Daily Grind
By Vicki Reynolds
Directed by Meg Kanowski
Souths Leagues Club, Davies Park in Jane Street, West End, Brisbane
Tuesday-Saturday until June 4.
Bookings 846 1060
Reviewed by Kylie Hunt
It's an intense experience when you
Saturday Night Clive
ABC-TV, Saturday
Denton
Channel 7, Tuesday and Thursday
Reviewed by Dave Riley
The sentence, for Clive James, is something to carry across the goal line. This is how to score. Listen and laugh because the words speak
The range of the didgeridoo
Balanda Dancing
Didgeridoo: Alastair Black
Music: Stephan Richter
Reviewed by Jill Hickson
Balanda Dancing explores the versatility of the didgeridoo. In this collection, the didgeridoo is joined by a range
Wu Kui (The Wooden Man's Bride)
Directed by Huang Jianxin
Reviewed by Peter Boyle and Pip Hinman
Sydney Film Festival director Paul Byrnes says that this year's program reflects the fact that Asia is where the action is, filmwise. But if we
The Politics of Pain: Torturers and their Masters
Ronald D. Crelinsten and Alex P. Schmid (ed.)
Leiden: Centre for the Study of Social Conflicts. 1993
Reviewed by Brian Martin
What is there to know about torture, aside from that it's a
Ninni
Bangarra Dance Theatre
Enmore Theatre, Sydney until May 22
Reviewed by Kath Gelber
The Bangarra's Dance Theatre's latest production is a colourful, evocative and energetic story told through a combination of narrative, song and
Editorial
S-G in waiting
Interviewed on Sunday television two weeks ago, a coy foreign minister Gareth Evans acknowledged that, yes, he might be interested, if asked, in becoming secretary-general of the United Nations. Thus was made public one of the