Forestry workers exploited
By Anne Pavy and Julie Green
PERTH — As part of the logging blockade in the old growth forests south west of here, environmental activists have been talking to residents and workers in the local community. They
Issue 152
News
Report justifies military noise
By Tim E Stewart
DARWIN — Following a high profile visit by a senior department of defence official in May, a 34-page report has been released which allows deafening foreign military exercises to take place
By Kath Gelber
How does the community react to seeing national sporting heroes on posters declaring, "Real men don't bash", or the backs of buses adorned with "Read my lips — No means No"?
These messages form part of a campaign aimed at
By Hilary Tilton
BRIBIE ISLAND — Queensland environmentalists have been alerted to a possible attempt by the Goss Labour government to fast-track legislation to replace the current Queensland Local Government (Planning and Environment) Act.
ADELAIDE — One thousand Electricity Trust of South Australia workers began three days of rolling stoppages on July 20. The stoppages were directed against ETSA management who are moving to employ contract labour. Martin Gibson, from the Electrical
Hospital beds face the chop
By Seetal Dodd
MELBOURNE — The state minister for health, Marie Tehan, and the federal minister for veterans affairs, Con Sciacca have announced the amalgamation of three hospitals in the northern suburbs.
Toxic vapors threat
By Paul Jones
BRISBANE — Despite a legally binding notice of improvement being served on the Royal Brisbane Hospital (RBH) by the division of workplace health and safety, the spills of liquid mercury coming from
SA plan to isolate 'disruptive' students
By Kristy Koglin
ADELAIDE — The Liberal state government has introduced a new disciplinary code for state schools for next year. The new code includes measures ostensibly aimed at creating a more
By Maurice Sibelle
BRISBANE — Cannabis users are disappointed that Queensland's Criminal Justice Commission recommended only minor changes to laws relating to cannabis use. The CJC's report released on July 13, called for a crub on police
By Julie Green and Anne Pavy
PERTH — Environmentalists trying to protect old growth Karri\Marri forest south west of here have been taking action against the clear-felling since July 1. This phase of the blockade will conclude on July 30 to
World
Filipino socialist group, the Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM), released the statement slightly abridged below on September 3 after the Australian government announced to it would send special forces to work with the murderous Rodrigo Duterte regime in Mindanao in the name of the “war on terror”.
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The PLM demands that the Australian government withdraw the two Australian air force Orion spy planes participating in combat since June in Marawi, Mindanao, and abandon plans announced by Australian government ministers to send special forces.
By Boris Kagarlitsky
MOSCOW — The election on June 23 for the newly created post of president of Belarus signalled dramatic changes in the political life of the former USSR. The ease with which anti-corruption campaigner Aleksandr Lukashenko
By Reihana Mohideen
A number of activist groups, including the People's Coalition against Vat (KOMVAT) and Kill VAT are planning major protest actions against the Ramos governments' expanded value added tax (VAT) law. The actions are being timed
Indonesian opposition gets organised
By Max Lane
The campaign in Indonesia against the closures, in late June, of the country's three major news weeklies has spurred on discussion on how best to advance the development of an organised
US restricts military aid to Indonesia
The United States Senate banned light arms sales to Indonesia on July 14 because of continuing human rights violations on East Timor. In a unanimous vote, the Senate added a provision to the Foreign
By Allen Jennings
"With the president indicating that the military option is still there, we clearly need to be in a position to be ready, should he ask us," said Pentagon spokesperson Dennis Boxx, justifying the massive United States military
Youth leagues support prisoners
Youth organisations have backed calls by the South African Prisoners Organisation for Human Rights for amnesty for non-violent prisoners. On July 9, representatives of the youth leagues of the ANC, IFP, PAC and
In the October 1993 issue of its World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund muses on the question, "Is the debt crisis over?" The answer is a qualified yes.
It's become a commonplace in the business press that the Third World debt
By Stephanie Wilkinson
"I regard the death penalty as a savage and immoral institution that undermines the moral and legal foundations of society. I reject the notion that the death penalty has any essential deterrent effect on potential
British Labour moves further right
By Phil Clarke
LONDON — Thirteen years ago the British Labour Party erupted with the most sustained and radical left-wing challenge since the 1920s. In September 1981, the leading figure of the Labour
By Richard Horesey
Burma's repressive military junta has been invited as an observer to the ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) foreign ministers' meeting on July 22-28 in Bangkok. Many observers see this as the first step towards
Greenpeace acts against asbestos exports
ITALY — Eight Greenpeace activists blocked a convoy of four asbestos-contaminated passenger railcars ready for export to eastern Europe on July 4.
At the small Casarsa railway station, near the
Bougainvilleans to go to UN
By Frank Enright
The Bougainville Interim Government's representative to the United Nations, Mike Forster, has announced that it is considering taking the Papua New Guinea government to the International Court of
By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — In the midst of the euphoria and hopes generated by this country's historic first democratic elections, few trade unionists would have believed they would again see police opening fire on strikers with rubber
Mining takes its toll on West Papua
In the shadow of glacier-capped Puncak Jaya in West Papua the US-owned Freeport Mining Company is extracting ore from the largest gold reserves and above-ground copper deposits in the world. The mine earns
The California Policy Seminar (CPS), a joint program of the University of California and the California state government, released in June "Pesticides in the Home and Community: Health Risks and Policy Alternatives", targeting the extensive use of
July 26 is a special day in the history of the Cuban revolution. On this day in 1953, Fidel Castro led an attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba. The attack was crushed and Castro was tried and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
Culture
Christina Stead: A Biography
By Hazel Rowley
Minerva, 1994, 646 pp., $24.95 (pb)
Reviewed by Phil Shannon
Christina Stead's novels are complex and difficult; they scale and fall artistic peaks and troughs, and are marked by a striking, if
Exciting the brain
Arcadia
Written by Tom Stoppard
Performed by the Sydney Theatre Company
Opera House Drama Theatre
Reviewed by Minnie O'Shea and Helen Jarvis
The celebrated playwright Tom Stoppard continues to excite the brain
Australia's Spies and Their Secrets
ASIO after the Cold War
In his important book, Australia's Spies and Their Secrets, author David McKnight takes the lid off the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), using never before
This Other Eden
By Ben Elton
Pocket Books, 344 pp, $13.95
Foetal Attraction
By Kathy Lette
Picador, 280 pp, $14.95
Reviewed by Dave Riley
Ben Elton, in full flight, is a gab feast. Elton, aka "motor mouth", by trade is a stand up
Well summed up
Directed by Kevin Dowling and Geoff Burton
Starring Jack Thompson and Russell Crowe
Reviewed by Tom Flanagan
Set in inner suburban Sydney, Jeff (Russell Crowe) is a lonely young gay guy. Harry (Jack Thomson), Jeff's dad,
Women push the boundaries
By Anthony Brown
BRISBANE — Fed up with the way mainstream media portray women and the fact that most women have little or no access to television and film production, a group of women have formed their own
Paul Kelly plays Brisbane
By Lynda Hansen.
Paul Kelly played to a capacity audience at the Concert Hall at the Queensland Performing Arts Complex on July 15. Starting on time with his new band complete with double bass and keyboard, he
Grunge meets gothic
The Crow
Directed by Alex Proyas
Starts on July 21
The Crow
soundtrack by various artists
Reviewed by Nick Fredman
The Crow is a black, humorous and violent grunge/gothic fable of true love and good versus
Women, media and sport
By Danielle Woolage
The serious lack of media coverage allocated to women's sport continues to enforce the long-held belief that the sporting field is a masculine arena and that women are not as skilful nor as worthy
The regional and the global
Energy
By Stefo Nantsou
Zeal Theatre
Reviewed by Frank Razmovki.
In the comfortable and informal surrounds of the Newcastle Leagues Club, Zeal Theatre premiered Energy, a documentary-style show about the
Editorial
End support for thugs
The Australian government has announced that the Indonesian Armed Forces have been invited to participate in the next big Australian army war games, Kangaroo 95. This announcement was made in Darwin, a city where many East