Issue 510

News

• Tax office workers strike

  Australian Taxation Office (ATO) workers around Australia, members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), went on strike for two hours on the morning of September 18. The strike followed the breakdown of
• Brunswick mobilises against Blackshirts

  MELBOURNE &#151 "The terrible history of the last century tells us that fascist movements have to be fought when they emerge &#151 if they are allowed to grow it is too late", anti-Blackshirt campaigner Riki Lane told 200 people at
• Sydney Social Forum calls for WTO protests

  SYDNEY &#151 Against the backdrop of a looming US-led war on Iraq, some 300 activists participated in the first Sydney Social Forum on September 20-21. The SSF hosted 65 workshops and six feature panels. Topics discussed included
• Western suburbs refugee group launched

  MELBOURNE — Fifty people crammed into Hendersons Cafe to launch the West Welcomes Refugees postcard campaign on September 21. The postcards, designed by Viv Mehes and featuring students from Footscray City College, allow Western suburbs
• Resistance disrupts sexist show

  BRISBANE — When the Cross-Campus Women's Collective heard that the “male” magazine FHM was putting on a “Miss University” competition at the Tivoli Theatre in Fortitude Valley on September 17, it called for a protest of the
• Construction unions hold alternative safety seminar

  MELBOURNE — The Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry hosted a conference on construction industry safety on September 19 and 20. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the
• Anatomy of a corporate media beat up

  MELBOURNE &#151 Readers of the September 14 Age newspaper may have thought they were about to get a real inside story when they saw the front-page teaser: "Craig Johnston: The Making of a Middle Class Revolutionary". But they would
• NTEU protests sacking

  BRISBANE &#151 University of Queensland (UQ) academics, members of the National Tertiary Education Industry Union, will take industrial action from September 25 over the university's decision not to renew the employment contract of
• Battle for union democracy hits elections, courts

  MELBOURNE &#151 As the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union's Victorian branch approaches a round of organiser elections, the court case on democracy in the union has continued another week without a decision being made as to who
• Anti-war organising to be focus of Resistance conference

  Refugee activists, trade union militants, free education campaigners and socialists by the trainload are to gather at Trades Hall this weekend to discuss and further their respective struggles. They will be attending the 31st
• Newcastle Uni becomes 'refugee sanctuary'

  NEWCASTLE — After a week of determined campaigning by students, academics and staff, the refugee sanctuary referendum on Newcastle University finished at 3pm on September 20. More than 700 students voted in the week-long
• No war on Iraq!

  ADELAIDE: Picket against war on Iraq. Saturday October 28, noon. Outside foreign minister Alexander Downer's office, 100 King William Street, city. To get involved in the campaign against war on Iraq, phone NOWAR on (08) 8332 4861. BRISBANE: Rally
• Loose Cannons

  Maaate! "Federal Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott last night seized on a Queensland government report by [former Labor PM] Bob Hawke recommending a time limit for protected industrial action by the state's 200,000 public sector workers."
• News briefs

  No war on Iraq! LAUNCESTON &#151 Thirty-five people attended a "No war on Iraq!" public forum at the Royal Oak Hotel on September 15, organised by Launceston Socialist Alliance. Vicki Walker of the Socialist Alliance and Debbie Butler of the
• Greens win high vote in Mayoral poll

  WOLLONGONG — Illawarra Greens candidate Michael Organ won an historic 15% of the vote in the Wollongong lord mayoral by-election on September 14. The humiliating defeat inflicted on ALP candidate Bob Proudfoot, who won
• Fueling the feminist flame

  SYDNEY — At the first such day-long forum in Sydney for years, 50 activists spent September 15 analysing and debating the many facets of the backlash against feminism that has been gathering momentum in Australia, and
• Student guild approves refugee referendum

  PERTH &#151 On September 17, the University of Western Australia Student Guild decided at a special council meeting to hold a referendum on October 22 on whether or not UWA should be declared a refugee safe-haven. The Student
• Campaign begun to release Aceh detainees

  SYDNEY &#151 A campaign has begun to pressure the Indonesian government to release detained British-born Australian academic Lesley McCulloch and US nurse Joy-Lee Sadler. The women's interpreter, Fitra bin Amin, has already been
• Refugee activist stands for parliament

  MELBOURNE — The September 16 meeting of the Socialist Alliance's Melbourne branch preselected long-term anti-racist campaigner Arun Pradhan as its candidate for the seat of Melbourne in the next state election. Pradhan
• Evolve wins low-key elections

  CANBERRA — In a low-key Australian National University Students Association (ANUSA) elections, held September 9-12, the Evolve ticket won all executive positions, National Union of Students (NUS) delegate positions and
• Refugee safe haven supported

  WOLLONGONG — At a student general meeting on September 17, Wollongong University students and staff voted overwhelmingly to declare their campus a refugee safe haven and to donate money to escaped refugees. Despite
• Auburn opposes war

  SYDNEY — More than 100 protesters rallied in the western Sydney suburb of Auburn on September 20, opposing any war on Iraq. The protest was organised by the Socialist Alliance, which decided on September 17 to run local activist Roberto
• Trade union-backed coalition opposes war

  HOBART — Three hundred people participated in a rally demanding “No war on Iraq” on September 21. The rally was organised by Peace Coalition, which met for the first time on September 15. Speakers at the rally included