NEWCASTLE — Workers at Forgacs Engineering in Hexham are close to settling an enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) after lengthy and heated negotiations. The EBA period began in mid-July after workers forced management to begin negotiations.
Issue 255
News
By Max Lane
Between November 14 and 16, thousands of East Timorese youth demonstrated at the University of East Timor and outside the governor's office in Dili in solidarity with Bishop Belo. Belo has come under verbal attack from the Indonesian
Anti-racist activists in Queensland are gearing up for a rally in Pauline Hanson's home town of Ipswich on November 23. The Anti-Racist Campaign (ARC) has been meeting in Brisbane for a month, and a new anti-racist group began meeting in Ipswich on
By Emma Webb
ADELAIDE — Chris Sidoti, the human rights commissioner, was the guest speaker at the Youth Affairs Council of South Australia annual general meeting on November 13. Sidoti addressed myths surrounding youth crime and compared juvenile
By Bill Day and Sally Mitchell
DARWIN — A determined group of pensioners and their carers are making a stand against the Darwin City Council (DCC) policy of harassing homeless Aboriginal people. In the last council elections, Mayor George Brown
Bonds Wear strike
By Andrew Hall
WOLLONGONG — About 300 workers are on strike at the Unanderra factory of Bonds Wear in a bid for a 10% pay rise. At a mass meeting on November 11, the workers, mainly women, rejected an 8% pay increase and went
By Anne O'Callaghan
PERTH — An unprecedented election initiative here seems certain to make waves in the December 14 state elections. A well-known Aboriginal activist is joining forces with an activist from the Asian Australian community to stand
By Chris Martin
SYDNEY — More than 100 Aborigines and their white supporters protested outside state parliament on November 14 as Premier Bob Carr proclaimed his government's commitment to the reconciliation process. They called the statement a
Left activist receives death threats
By Lisa Macdonald
It seems that right-wingers will go to any extreme to silence the growing public opposition to Pauline Hanson, John Howard and Co's racist attacks. West Coast Council member Ian Jamieson has
By Carla Gorton
ADELAIDE — Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island) will be in the national spotlight again in coming weeks. The federal government wants the Hindmarsh Island bridge to go ahead and has introduced the Hindmarsh Island Bridge Bill 1996 to
A coalition of Victorian conservation groups has called for proposals to allow for new commercial developments in Wilsons Promontory National Park to be abandoned. Developments opposed by the groups and proposed by the National Parks Service include
Apprentices picket Democrats
By Maurice Sibelle
MELBOURNE — One hundred and fifty apprentices picketed Senator Lyn Allison's office on November 15 to protest the Australian Democrats' agreement with the government to pass the Workplace
Activists picket Malaysian diplomat
By Tim E. Stewart
DARWIN — Following news on November 12 of a visit by the Malaysian high commissioner, the Democratic Socialist Party, Australians for a Free East Timor, the Territory Australian Greens and
By Marina Cameron
The Liberal government's changes to higher education — including a 5% cut to university operating grants, higher HECS to be charged in a new three-tier system, a lower HECS repayment threshold, allowing the charging of
By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — SERCO Australia has lodged a proposal with the state Liberal government to contract for the running of all TAFE administrative, maintenance and grounds duties. SERCO Australia is a subsidiary of the SERCO group, a
Cairns council rejects East Trinity project
By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — North Queensland conservationists have welcomed a decision by the Cairns City Council to reject a plan to create a $1.5 billion satellite suburb south-east of the city. The
World
Green Left Weekly's SHANE BENTLEY talked to MIKE WADDINGTON, the national secretary of Militant Labour in Britain, about the political trajectory of Tony Blair's "new" Labour Party, and its implications for building the left wing of politics in
London targets political refugees
The British government is using its new "fast-track" approach to asylum cases to attack politically active asylum seekers. People who have been prominent opponents of western-backed dictatorships in Africa and who
By Stephen Marks
MANAGUA — Thousands of Sandinistas converged on the tomb of Carlos Fonseca, the founder of the FSLN, on November 8, and transformed the anniversary of his death into a protest against the electoral fraud. Sandinista Front (FSLN)
By Jennifer Thompson
As the Middle East and North Africa Cairo Economic Conference drew to a close, speculation increased that an agreement for Israeli redeployment from sections of the Palestinian West Bank city of Hebron would be signed. The
By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — What was it that replaced "communism" in Russia? Democracy, someone said? Journalists who value their reputations no longer make that claim, except with extensive reservations. But it is often asserted that with
By Sonny Melencio
At 4pm on Tuesday, November 12, Filemon "Popoy" Lagman, chairperson of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP — Solidarity of Filipino Workers), was arrested by eight carloads of military operatives of the Intelligence
PNG gold mine causes 30 deaths
Villagers in the vicinity of the Mount Victor gold mine in PNG's Eastern Highlands have fled, claiming cyanide leaking from the mine tailings dam and other facilities is getting into the local waterways and causing
By Tony Iltis
On September 27, the Afghan capital, Kabul, fell to the Taliban militia, an Islamic fundamentalist group whose penchant for ultra-violence stands out even against the appalling record of the various Mujahadin warlord armies that have
The Liverpool docks dispute is reaching its first anniversary. The dockers were sacked when they refused to cross picket lines put in place by contract workers. This was a clear provocation set up by their management in order to attack the only
Amnesty International anti-union?
Amnesty International in the United States — an organisation that champions the right of workers around the globe to organise — is embroiled in a dispute over the right of its own employees to join a trade
Porgera land-holders oppose increased tailings
Land-holders from the Kulini Strickland Resource Owners Association are outraged over Porgera Joint Venture's (PJV) application seeking a water use permit to quadruple the amount of tailings dumped
Culture
Nature's Keepers: The New Science of Nature ManagementBy Stephen BudianskyPhoenix Giants, 1996. 296 pp., $24.95Reviewed by Dot Tumney Budiansky's target is the semi-religious status of the balance of nature concept (idol of the well-fed ambience
Wagner: Race and RevolutionBy Paul Lawrence RoseFaber & Faber, 1996. 246 pp., $24.95 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon Hitler was a fan of Richard Wagner, always opening the Nuremberg rallies with the overture to Wagner's "Rienzi" opera. Does this mean
Arguments about Aborigines, Australia and the Evolution of Social AnthropologyBy L.H. HiattCambridge University Press, London.1996 $29.95 (pb)Reviewed by James Goodman Have you ever wondered why anthropologists have been obsessed with Australia's
Get a GripBy Kaz CookePenguin, 1996. 245 pp., $16.95 (pb)Reviewed by Phil Shannon The festering season is near upon us, the peak season for suicides, domestic disharmony and political drought (no GLW!). May I prescribe a course of Kaz Cooke to cope
The Internet for WomenBy Rye Senjen and Jane GuthreySpinifex Press, 1996. 285pp., $24.95Reviewed by Patricia Brien The Internet for Women is a practical and interesting guide for women embarking on a journey into the world of cyberspace. Rye Senjen
Bull Bar ToursBy Catherine Fitzgerald and Eva JohnsonVitalstatistix Wharf ShedRemaining matinees: November 20, 27 at 11am.$18/15/10/5Reviewed by Emma Webb and Melanie Sjoberg The chill winds blew across the Port Adelaide docks as we rugged up to
Editorial
On November 9 in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, a peaceful conference discussing "Peace in East Timor" was attacked by a hundred thugs from the ruling National Front political parties. They smashed down the door to the function room and