At the beginning of March, there were 153 children in Australian-run immigration detention centres. In addition, there are up to 98 asylum seeker children in foster care, hospital or motel detention.
Most of them, however, are no longer kept in
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John Pilger Let us be clear on the facts of what happened one year ago on March 20. The United States, aided by Britain and Australia, attacked a sovereign country, unprovoked, and in breach of the most basic principles of international law. By
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Poverty I The Howard government stands condemned for its callous dismissal of the Senate committee's report on poverty in Australia. The government's cynical response displays contempt for the two-year inquiry process and for the 260 organisations
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For eight months, Tom Mann taught in one of Australia's desert prisons for asylum seekers. The experience turned him into a campaigner against mandatory detention. Michael, an 11-year-old Iranian boy, arrived at Woomera detention centre at the end
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Pip Hinman Mark Latham's March 23 promise that an ALP government would bring Australian troops out of Iraq — preferably by Christmas — has been welcomed by the peace movement. However, just three days later, in the face of pressure from the US
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"An objectively grave matter has been reduced to a question of the mother's convenience... To a pregnant 14-year-old struggling to grasp what's happening, a senior student with a whole life mapped out or a mother already failing to cope under
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Dale T. McKinley, Johannesburg In his introductory remarks to the ANC's recently released election manifesto, President Thabo Mbeki confidently asserts that the ANC, as a political party and as government, has made much progress since 1994 in
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In mid February, spectacular television footage of a confrontation between police and young Aborigines in Sydeney's Redfern flashed around the world. By mirroring the daily scenes of conflict from occupied Palestine, these images dramatised to the
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Kerry Nettle On March 22, following the Greens call to have Australian troops out of Iraq by the end of June, I asked the following question of defence minister Robert Hill: "Is the minister aware of evidence that General Peter Schoomaker, the
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George Samuel While university students fight the introduction of voluntary student unionism, the effect of management-controlled student organisations has hit home at Ultimo TAFE. The annual general meeting and board elections for the TAFEs
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Cass Ilia ALP leader Mark Latham's promise to bring the troops home has been welcomed by many anti-war organisations and parties, including the Socialist Alliance. Lisa Macdonald, who is the alliance's candidate for Reid in the federal election,
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Sue Bolton, Melbourne More unionists are adding their names to the campaign to defend Craig Johnston, the former secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union's Victorian branch. Johnston is facing serious charges resulting from the
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By Dale T. McKinley, Johannesburg On the morning of March 21, South African police opened fire with stun grenades on members of the Gauteng Anti-Privatisation Forum who were protesting against water privatisation and the installation of pre-paid
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Emma Murphy, Adelaide The South Australian state government has been embroiled in controversy and condemnation since deputy premier Kevin Foley's March 15 announcement about the fate of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands. "This government has lost
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Stuart Munckton,Edward Ashscoft &Jason Cahill The campaign by students to oppose university administrations moving to increase fees has started to take off and spread from one campus to another. Last December, ignoring public opposition, the
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He's always been there for us... We'll always be there for him! Defend Craig Johnston Fundraiser, 6pm, April 2, at MUA rooms, 46-54 Ireland Street, West Melbourne. Mass rally, 9am, May 10, at County Court, corner William and LaTrobe streets. For
News
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Jon Lamb, Darwin Twelve workers at the Ranger uranium mine near Jabiru were sent home on March 24, after they were poisoned by uranium-contaminated water. The workers complained of bad nausea and headaches after drinking "strange tasting" water.
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1 WA teachers accept wage offer PERTH — On March 12, the Western Australian state executive of the Australian Education Union (AEU) announced that its members had voted to accept the government's certified agreement (CA) offer. The
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Family values I "NEW YORK — Adelphia Communications Corporation founder John Rigas and his two sons siphoned millions of dollars from the [now bankrupt] company as if it were a 'private piggy bank', for everything from 100 pairs of bedroom
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Andrew Hall, Canberra Multi-coloured hearts have been signed and decorated with refugee-rights slogans and images to create the "field of hearts". This growing project provides a vehicle for people to symbolically "show their hearts for
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Max Lane On March 24, the Senate resumed debate of the Greater Sunrise Unitisation Bill 2004, a bill to allow for the implementation of the Greater Sunrise International Unitisation Agreement that the East Timorese government was pressured to sign
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Paul Benedek, Sydney More than 300 Aboriginal protesters and supporters marched from the Redfern Block to NSW state parliament on March 24, chanting "Too many police, not enough justice". The rally was called to protest police mistreatment of
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Jim McIlroy, Brisbane Socialist Alliance candidate Coral Wynter gained 3.5% (533 votes at the close of counting on polling night) in the Central ward in the March 27 Brisbane City Council election. The Greens won 17.5% in the same inner-city
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Paul Benedek Controversial decisions by the state Labor government to forcibly amalgamate several councils dominated the March 27 NSW council election. In the City of Sydney lord mayoral contest, the thinly veiled ALP manoeuver to gain Labor
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2 Public sector shuts down ADELAIDE — Historic strike action closed down most of the South Australian public service on March 26. For the first time in more than 20 years, members of the Public Service Association walked out en masse in
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Simon Tayler, Sydney Sydney's community TV channel, Channel 31, will remain on air for now, after a win in the courtroom for the many supporters of the station's current broadcasters. On March 18, the Australian Broadcasting Authority announced
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Paul Oboohov, Canberra The campaign to save the O'Connor and Bruce Ridge from the Gungahlin Drive extension escalated on March 22, when up to 100 protesters blockaded the work site. Nine people were arrested over two days of protests, organised by
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3 Afghan community discusses women's rights SYDNEY — Most women in Afghanistan are no better off since the country was "liberated" by the United States two years ago, Afghan academic Dr Nazir Gul told a packed hall on March 20. The
Analysis
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On March 23, federal ALP leader Mark Latham told Sydney radio station 2UE that a Labor government would bring back the Australian troops currently in and around Iraq, as soon as possible after the planned June installation of an interim Iraqi
World
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Jon Lamb, Darwin On March 18, East Timorese dock worker Pedro Henrique was crushed to death by a container at Dili wharf, while working for Darwin-based Perkins Shipping. Union officials in East Timor and Darwin claim that Henrique was fatally
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Barry Weisleder & Ahmed Nimer, Toronto As the reports are collated, it has become clear that millions of people worldwide joined the March 20 protests against the occupation of Iraq. Doug Nesbitt of the British Stop the War Coalition has collated
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Eva Cheng Despite winning 50.11% of the votes cast in Taiwan's March 20 presidential election — a big improvement from the 39.3% that won him the presidency in 2000 — incumbent President Chen Shui-bian's re-election remains in doubt. Along
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Robyn Marshall & Alison Dellit On March 23, the constitutional chamber of Venezuela's Supreme Court overturned a ruling of the court's electoral chamber regarding the validity of 876,017 signatures submitted as part of a campaign to unseat
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James Balowski, Jakarta The government of Megawati Sukarnoputri declared martial law in Indonesia's northern-most province of Aceh last May. It launched an "integrated operation" to smash the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and restore "law and order".
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Lou Plummer, Fayetteville, North Carolina On the day after his 19th birthday in 1966, my father received his commission as an officer in the same North Carolina National Guard unit that took his father to Europe in World War Two. By 1969, having
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Amid a sea of red, white, and blue flags and chants of "Homeland — yes, Communism — no", the right wing held its eerie celebration on the evening of March 21, election day in El Salvador. By an unexpectedly high margin, Tony Saca, the
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Nidal al Haddad On March 24, the United Nations Human Rights Commission adopted a resolution condemning Israel's assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. Thirty-one countries represented on the commission, including UN Security
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Doug Lorimer A top US official in Baghdad, who asked not to be named, has admitted to reporters at a dinner meeting on March 21 that the planned June 30 hand-over of "sovereignty" from the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to an "interim
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Chris Slee The Tamil National Alliance will contest the April 2 Sri Lankan parliamentary elections on a platform calling for the creation of an interim self-governing authority for the north-eastern part of the island. The TNA, an alliance of four
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Murray Smith, Paris The verdict in the first round of the French regional elections on March 21 was unambiguous. The electorate massively rejected the right-wing government led by Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. Parties supporting the
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Doug Lorimer "An opinion poll suggests most Iraqis feel their lives have improved since the war in Iraq began about a year ago", BBC News reported on March 16. The BBC was referring to a survey of 2652 Iraqis conducted over the last six months for
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Three days of talks between India and Pakistan in February sought to find a "roadmap to peace" in the disputed territory of Kashmir, but Kashmiri representatives are yet to be involved. Iqbal Khan, a Kashmiri living in Canberra, spoke to Green Left
Culture
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The Secret Death of Salvador DaliBy Stephen SewellStables Theatre, SydneyMarch 24 to April 17 REVIEW BY BRENDAN DOYLE In the foyer, a violinist in dinner suit and angel wings plays sitting in a suspended picture frame. You climb the stairs into
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Tong Tana: The Lost Paradise — A Swedish TV crew and Swiss environmentalist Bruno Manser travel to Borneo to film the devastation of the ancient forests. SBS, Friday, April 2, 2pm. Message Stick: Customary Law — Many Indigenous communities
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Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark PrinceBy Marc ElliotAndre Deutsch, 2003305 pages, $30 (pb) Review by Phil Shannon "Who's afraid of the Big Bad Walt?", read the placards of striking Disney cartoonists in 1941, mocking the popular lyric from Walt
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John Tomlinson Beyond the New Paternalism: Basic Security as EqualityBy Guy StandingVerso, London, 2002320 pages In early December, I finally got around to reading Philippe Van Parijs' 1997 book Real Freedom for All. I needed to read it before