Issue 291

News

• Individual contracts for CES

  Individual contracts for CESCANBERRA — The Public Employment Placement Enterprise (the corporatised successor to the Commonwealth Employment Service) is planning individual contracts for all former public servants as they
• Behind Howard's rural package

  Despite protestations about helping the rural sector, the federal Coalition's rural package, released a fortnight ago, does little more than continue the policy begun by the previous Labor government of actively removing small
• Miners under fire: Defend the right to organise

  One of Australia's strongest unions, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Engineering Union (CFMEU), could be sued for millions of dollars worth of "damages" after the Industrial Relations Commission paved the way for
• Bus drivers fight attack

  Bus drivers fight attackBRISBANE — Bus drivers here are mounting a campaign to defend their jobs, wages and conditions in the face of a concerted attack by their employer, the ALP-run Brisbane City Council. Demands by the
• Homeless Aborigines in Darwin protest

  Homeless Aborigines in Darwin protestDARWIN — Corrugated iron humpies and tarpaulins slung between trees around an Aboriginal flag flying from a bamboo pole make up the base camp for homeless Aborigines protesting the
• Meeting opposes Hydro sale

  Meeting opposes Hydro saleHOBART — The proposed sale of the Hydro Electricity Corporation was the subject of a Politics in the Pub organised by the Tasmanian Greens on September 19. Senator Bob Brown and Trades and Labor
• Rallies support native title

  Nationally coordinated actions in defence of native title took place on September 20 and 21, and more are planned. Stefan Skibicki reports from Wollongong that around 500 people attended a rally on September 20. After assembling at the Trade
• Kennett's cutbacks deny women justice

  Kennett's cutbacks deny women justiceMELBOURNE — Displaying its callous attitude towards the disadvantaged, the Kennett government is refusing to address violence against women. In a ruthless effort to cut spending,
• Far right gathers in the deep north

  Far right gathers in the deep northBRISBANE — Pauline Hanson will be making her first political speech in the Queensland capital at 11am on October 4, at the Festival Hall under the banner of "Prosper Australia!". She
• Loose cannons

  Not quite "Many — not all — people with apparently high wealth pay little tax." — Tax commissioner Michael Carmody. Don't worry, I'm in charge "I am the captain of the ship. We must batten down the hatches, instead of panicking
• Tasmanian rural hospitals under threat

  ROSEBERY — Under the whip of a declining health budget, rural and regional hospitals in Tasmania are facing closure or a severe curtailing of services. The latest casualty is a 70-year-old hospital in St Marys on the east
• CSDA workers campaign for new agreement

  CSDA workers campaign for new agreementWorkers in the Commonwealth Services Delivery Agency, now renamed Centrelink, are meeting on September 22-23 to discuss the next move in their campaign for a new agency agreement. They
• Crows tipped in SA election

  ADELAIDE — Most South Australians are aware that the Crows have made it to the AFL preliminary finals. A lot fewer would know that Premier John Olsen has called a state election on October 11. The Advertiser suggested that
• Howard bullies Pacific nations on greenhouse

  Howard bullies Pacific nations on greenhousePrime Minister John Howard, leading the Australian delegation to the South Pacific Forum meeting in the Cook Islands, found himself completely isolated over his government's
• Students fight to hold elections

  Students fight to hold electionsCANBERRA — A general student meeting (GSM) has been called to sack the current University of Canberra Student Association executive and replace it with an executive that would hold office
• Victory for the wharfies

  In a stunning victory for the Maritime Union of Australia, the US-owned company, International Purveyors, which had sacked its unionised workers at its Cairns port a week earlier, agreed on September 19 to allow them to
• Hinchinbrook protesters assaulted

  Hinchinbrook protesters assaultedBRISBANE — On September 14, a group of around 60 protesters and media representatives were physically attacked by Port Hinchinbrook development site workers and supporters of the project.
• Thousands oppose forest agreement

  Thousands oppose forest agreementHOBART — Between one and two thousand people rallied outside parliament on September 18 to oppose the imminent, and long-delayed, signing of Tasmania's regional forest agreement (RFA). The
• Five-day teaching ban at ANU

  Five-day teaching ban at ANUCANBERRA — The campaign to stop 33 sackings in the Australian National University arts faculty escalated last week when staff in the National Tertiary Education and Industry Union held a
• Native title conference tells it how it is

  Native title conference tells it how it isCANBERRA — More than 150 people attended a conference here on September 13 titled "Native Title: Whose Title?" organised by Reconciliation in the ACT. Mary Lou Buck, a participant
• SA government expands uranium mining

  SA government expands uranium miningADELAIDE — Plans are afoot for a major increase in uranium mining in South Australia, involving new mines at Beverley and Honeymoon, and the expansion of Roxby Downs to over twice its
• Sexism in student media

  Sexism in student mediaCANBERRA — When the September 11 issue of ANU's student newspaper Woroni was released, it caused disgust. On the cover was a photograph of a woman sitting on a car with the words "No Fat Chicks"