MELBOURNE — Racism, masquerading as environmentalism, is the focus of a party that ran in the Kooyong by-election on November 19. Australians Against Further Immigration (AAFI), with candidate Angela Walker, ran against a
-
-
The immune system is a complex set of specialised cells and organs that defends the body against attack. When it functions properly, the immune system fights off diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and cancer
-
PERTH — Fifty-four thousand hectares of old growth karri and jarrah forest in the southern and central forests in WA are to be clear-felled by 1997, a report by the WA Conservation Council has revealed. Released on
-
SYDNEY — The Statewide Disability Crisis Coalition erected a tent city in Hyde Park, in the city centre, between November 24 and 26. The action, part of an ongoing campaign for government support for people with
-
In the early 1970s the North Sydney Council made a big mistake in annoying 40-year-old Edward Carrington Mack. Plans to build a 17-storey office block against his back fence transformed the quiet government architect into the
-
Prayer of the Foetus WorshippersEvery time I open my wallet an avalanche of lubricated prophylactic extra sensitive thingdimmanies tumble right out. I must find a better spot for them. If nothing "happens" soon, I'll just
-
When the yuppies move in, they try to move everyone else out. ANGELA MATHESON reports on the gentrification of inner suburban Sydney. When Stephen Goddard bought a combined house and legal practice in Surry Hills two years ago, he thought he'd
-
MELBOURNE — The Kennett government has unleashed a plan for massive restructuring of Melbourne, ostensibly to promote economic recovery but in reality giving open slather to big business. Forced council amalgamations
-
Green Left Weekly is read across the country and around the world. It is distributed on the streets, through some shops, by subscriptions and via electronic mail. How widely read is Green Left Weekly? A letter from a prisoner in Jackson,
-
International Playhouse — New Every Morning — This comedy tells of Nelson and Althea, a middle-class couple who are endearingly indecisive, especially when it comes to the issue of "babies". They muddle through trying desperately to come to terms
-
ADELAIDE — Aboriginal groups have demanded the sacking of the Aboriginal affairs minister, Michael Armitage, over his use of the words "nigger in the wood pile" in Parliament on November 22. Premier Dean Brown met with 14 representatives of
-
Looking out: Wrestling with imagesRecently I took the time to observe closely the so-called "wrestling match" on Saturday morning television. One combatant, the African-American, who I will refer to as Brother Man
-
Women get AIDS tooDecember 1 is again World AIDS Day. Around Australia and internationally fundraising and awareness-raising events have been organised, some more light-hearted and others more serious. In Sydney's Double
-
Public transport The recent University of Technology finding that in parts of George Street in the CBD the level of benzene — a cancer causing agent in petrol — is 500 per cent higher than the recommended safety standard reinforces the need
-
I am on the plane, descending into Sydney, having left California the day of our tragic election results. I am seated next to a US pollster, one who finally asked my opinion of our democratic charade. I lamented that our
-
BRISBANE — A suburban train guard has started private legal action to force the state branch of the Public Transport Union to hold its first annual general meeting in at least 20 years. Gary Dale has asked the court for an order requiring the
-
Before the last sitting of federal parliament this year, 10 woodchipping licences come up for renewal. These licences threaten 764 areas of high conservation value, including 485 areas of old growth forest and 11 wilderness areas.
-
CANBERRA — More than 2000 people took part in Forest Embassy protests against the destruction of high conservation value forests and called for the end of export woodchipping. The embassy, organised by
News
-
NSW teachers strike in support of pay claimSYDNEY — NSW school and TAFE teachers struck for 24 hours on November 23 in support of their 10% pay claim. This shut a fifth of NSW schools, with TAFE and the Education
-
No cheap stuff "If you buy cheap stuff, it looks awful, it chips and breaks. It is difficult to get, as distinct from 50 years ago." — Kevin Rozzoli, speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly, explaining the need to spend $180,000 for fine bone
-
"Exciting and unique", is how Kathy Fairfax describes the 1995 Work/Study Brigade to Nicaragua. Fairfax is helping organise the brigade, which will spend a month in Latin America in June-July 1995. The trip is being
-
WA TAFE teachers' disputePERTH — In early November, temporary teachers with TAFE were given a matter of days to sign new workplace agreements that dramatically cut working conditions. The Education Department threatened
-
Nuclear waste dumped in SAADELAIDE — The first of 120 semi-trailer loads of radioactive waste from the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney have been transferred to South Australia's far north. By the time the operation
-
Despite the threat of punitive action against striking oil transport workers and union officials, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) is pressing ahead with its campaign for a 15% pay increase across the transport industry. Oil industry drivers decided
-
Music for East Timor By Sally-Anne Watson DARWIN — A concert by local musicians was held with a permit in Raintree Park on November 24. Onlookers displayed placards and banners reading "Human Rights for East Timor" and "Referendum for
-
Goss under fire over Hinchinbrook fiascoBRISBANE — Conservationists have criticised the use of taxpayers' money to fund full-page advertisements attempting to justify the Queensland government's actions over the
-
BRISBANE — A meeting of 29 members of the Steel-Line garage factory on November 22 decided to reject the recommendations of their union lawyer in a reconciliation process and stay on strike. The Latin American, mostly
-
Protest over wilderness road By Kevin L'Huillier HOBART — A storm has erupted over a proposal to construct what has become known as "the road to nowhere" through pristine wilderness areas. The state Liberals promised at the last
-
Health cuts kill patientsMELBOURNE — The Liberal government here has cut $190 million from hospitals in two years. To meet new budgets, Melbourne hospitals have recently announced closures totalling more than 200 beds and
-
Richmond campaign vindicatedMELBOURNE — Two years after Richmond Secondary College was closed in the first round of school cuts, the Kennett government has endorsed a report that recommends the expansion of coeducation
-
Indian Ocean union conferencePERTH — The third Indian Ocean Region Trade Union conference concluded here on November 25. Represented at the six-day conference were 60 overseas trade unionists from South Africa, India,
-
A boy is dead. A court finds an army general responsible. He is ordered to pay compensatory and punitive damages. The boy, Kamal Bamadhaj, a 20-year-old student, is my son.
-
"We were all like brothers and sisters, we're all in it together. We thought we might all get arrested — and we did!", laughs Russel, a Skyrail blockader. The blockade hopes to stop Skyrail, a privately owned cable-car
Analysis
-
Medicare under attack A newly formed lobby group, the General Practice Forum, has called for the end of bulk-billing, free consultations and the free at-point-of-service provision of such items as vaccines and bandages. This is the opening shot
World
-
Solidarity donations for Cuba The Pastors for Peace Friendshipment caravan crossed the US border into Canada on November 17 with 150 tons of solidarity donations for Cuba. Nevertheless, US customs officials confiscated some of the aid. Radio
-
Journalist fights for jobMELBOURNE — The campaign by US journalist Sandy Nelson to get her job back has received international support. In 1990 Nelson was moved to a non-reporting, copy editing job on the Morning News
-
Melanesian women speak on family planning The Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA) is touring two women, Geraldine Maibani-Michie from Papua New Guinea and Junilyn Pikacha from the Solomon Islands, to provide a first-hand account of
-
MOSCOW — A new and alarming strain has appeared in the rhetoric, and to some degree in the actions, of the Yeltsin regime. The goals set out in the draft for the 1995 state budget, together with extensive changes in the
-
A new report released by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) states that more than 14 million people in the USA routinely drink water that is contaminated with carcinogenic herbicides. The report,
-
On July 10 the Nepali parliament was dissolved by King Birendra following popular unrest directed at the Nepali Congress Party government. In the subsequent general elections on November 15, the Communist Party of Nepal, United Marxist Leninist
-
LONDON — The Unions 94/Campaigning for the Future conference was held at Congress House on November 19, "to discuss how to restore the influence of trade unions in the political and economic climate of the 1990s". In his
-
This statement is by Colectivo Mujeres, Vida y Derechos Humanos (Collective of Women for Life and Human Rights), based in Melbourne. We are a collective of women that began working at the end of 1992 in Melbourne with the objective of denouncing
-
Indonesian dissident academic George Aditjondro addressed a meeting of more than 60 East Timorese at Cabramatta Community Centre on November 22. The meeting was chaired by the president of the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT), Joa
-
A new, independent trade union, the Centre for Indonesian Working Class Struggle (PPBI) was launched at a congress in Ambarawa, Central Java, October 22-23. More than 100 delegates represented workers from factory committees based in
-
LONDON — The Defend Clause Four Campaign, organised by the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs and MEPs, was launched on Saturday, November 12, at a church hall near Euston station. This campaign was begun in response
Culture
-
New CDs Didgeridoo Concerto Enrec Studios through Larrikin Duende Ellipsis Arts Reviewed by Francesca Davidson Didgeridoo Concerto is an impressive 51 minutes of solo didgeridoo playing by musician Mark Atkins — reputedly
-
The sins are the advertisers' Real Gorgeous: the truth about body and beauty By Kaz Cooke Allen and Unwin, 1994. 260 pp., $19.95 Reviewed by Kylie Budge "According to diet lore, 'indulging' or 'giving in to temptation' is a 'sin'.
-
Mary Starring Lucy Bell, Linden Wilkinson and Brendan Higgins Writer/director Kay Pavlou Reviewed by Catherine Brown The beatification of Mary MacKillop, to take place in Sydney in January by Pope John Paul II, has probably not escaped the
-
First CD from Chain of Hearts Come On In Chain of Hearts Reviewed by Kylie Budge Chain Of Hearts' debut CD catches you by surprise. The photograph on the cover of band members thrashing around in a pool complete with a big orange
-
Women are not anti-unionADELAIDE — Two important new documents, Raising Our Voices: Activism Amongst Women and Men in South Australian Unions, by Barbara Pocock, and its companion Strength in Numbers: Increasing
-
Crossing the Party Line: Memoirs of Bernie Taft By Bernie Taft Scribe Publications, 1994. 352 pp., $26.95 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon I remember one of the more humorous contributions to the "Prospects Discussion" in the Communist Party of
-
Marxism and the Philosophy of Language By V.N. Volosinov Harvard University Press ??? Reviewed by Neville Spencer Although originally published in Russian in 1929, this work was not published in English until 1973. Since then it has come
-
Menzies' Child: the Liberal Party of Australia 1944-1994 By Gerard Henderson Allen and Unwin, 1994. 382pp. (CD included), $29.95 (pb) Reviewed by Frank Noakes "Standing in front of a Union Jack, Menzies proclaimed that the Liberal Party
-
If you can't wait for a shock Electro Convulsive Therapy Rollins Band Imago through BMG Reviewed by Nick Fredman Henry Rollins, the Nietzschean superman of rock and roll, and his band have released a live album recorded in 1992. It's
-
IllusionsNeon lights selling lies of excitement and ultimate satisfaction. Consumption of synthetic food flamboyant dresses and the system's rotten relationships artfully wrapped in flashy screens