Margaret Gleeson, Sydney
In announcing the new childcare regulations to be introduced into NSW parliament on May 4, Carmel Tebbutt, the Labor minister for community services, revealed that existing ratios of one staff member to five babies (0-2
Issue 580
News
Annette Auri, Willunga, South Australia
The Onkaparinga council recently approved a high-density suburban development right next to a treasured natural resource: The Aldinga Conservation Park.
The council own website admits: "Many native plant
Shellie Morris performing at the annual Rage Against Racism benefit gig in Darwin. More than 200 people heard local bands and contributed much-needed funds for Green Left Weekly.
From Green Left Weekly, April 29, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly
Sue Bolton, Melbourne
Faced with intransigence from Victorian Premier Steve Bracks' Labor government, an April 20 mass meeting of public hospital nurses voted to reject the government's "offer" to remove previously won working conditions. The
Sarah Stephen, Sydney
"Each of us has to choose between being either a champion of human dignity or a collaborator with an increasingly inhuman system", Sister Susan Connelly from the Mary MacKillop Institute of East Timorese Studies told a crowd
2
Rio Tinto protest: 'Human rights, not mining sites'
BRISBANE — Anti-nuclear, West Papuan and Indigenous rights advocates joined together on April 22 to picket corporate mining giant Rio Tinto's Australian annual general meeting at the
Chris Latham, Perth
A herbicide used in the highly toxic chemical mixture Agent Orange — widely used during the US war in Vietnam — was still being used in Australia as late as 1985.
A group of workers, employed by the Western Australian
3
Suicide attempts in Port Hedland
Port Hedland immigration detention centre, in the far north of Western Australia, is the site of deep depression, despair and suicide attempts. All of its 54 prisoners have been there for more than three
Dave Andrews, Fremantle
The state ALP government is set to introduce long-awaited reforms to WA's workers' compensation laws in May. The reforms, outlined in a discussion paper Restoring Fairness, Balance and Certainty: Workers Compensation Reforms
@intro2 = As students campaign against proposals to make higher education more expensive and more polarised, many university workers are arguing for their union to actively support the protests. RMIT staff member LISA FARRANCE, a member of the
Stephen Garvey, Melbourne
On April 21, the Victorian state Labor government announced new legislation to force an end to strikes considered detrimental to community interests.
The Emergency Powers Act would establish an "independent" statutory
1
Wilkie: 'Troops out of Iraq!'
MELBOURNE — On April 22, 400 people crammed into the Victorian Trades Hall Council chambers to hear former intelligence officer Andrew Wilkie speak. The forum was organised by the Humanist Society and the
Sue Bolton, Melbourne
"Craig Johnston is being targeted because he's a leader, and that's the only reason he's been targeted", Jenny Kruschel, assistant Victorian branch secretary of the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA),
Simon Tayler, Sydney
Transmission by Sydney's community TV station, Channel 31, ceased at midnight on April 23, after the current licence holders, TV Sydney (TVS), refused an offer by the previous licence holders, Community TV Sydney (CTS).
TVS
Analysis
Friends of the Earth's Kim Stewart spoke to Nnimmo Bassey, a Nigerian activist campaigning against the destructive practices of oil companies.
World
Doug Lorimer
"There have been 98 [US troop] deaths [in Iraq] by hostile fire so far this month, more than in the opening two weeks of the invasion, when 82 Americans were killed in action", the April 17 San Jose Mercury News reported, adding that
Dale T. McKinley, Johannesburg
In the months leading up to South Africa's third national election (which took place on April 14), there was little doubt in anyone's mind that the African National Congress (ANC) was going to win.
Indeed, the main
Jack A. Smith, New York
The 9/11 commission hearings in Washington, for all their members' cacophony and fury, and front-page headlines, seem to have been constructed to avoid the real reason why the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York
@intro2 = Nurdin Abdul Rahman is the chairperson of the Acehnese Community of Australia. He spoke to Green Left Weekly's NONIE HODGSON about the results of the recent Indonesian parliamentary election and the movement for a free Aceh.
Rahman was
Doug Lorimer
Following Spain's announcement on April 19 that it would be pulling its contingent of 1300 troops out of Iraq over the following two weeks, the UN-authorised multinational force which the Spanish troops were part of has started to
Doug Lorimer
"What we're seeing in Iraq is an attempted power grab by extremists and terrorists", US President George Bush declared at an April 16 White House press briefing. The claim that Iraqis who are engaged in armed resistance to the US-led
John Pilger
Four years ago, I travelled the length of Iraq, from the hills where St. Matthew is buried in the Kurdish north to the heartland of Mesopotamia, and Baghdad, and the Shia south. I have seldom felt as safe in any country.
Once, in the
Robyn Marshall, Caracas
Tens of thousands of Venezuelans joined with 200 foreign guests — authors, political activists, teachers and students from across the world — to commemorate the first anniversary of the April 13 mass insurrection that
Jon Lamb
Human rights and solidarity organisations are deeply concerned by the Golkar party's nomination of General Wiranto for president of Indonesia. Wiranto, the former head of the Indonesian military, was indicted in February 2003 for his role
Jack Cohen-Joppa & Alison Dellit
As he walked out the prison door on April 21, the thumping beat of a police helicopter overhead, the shouts from the press and the cheers and jeers of demonstrators just outside the massive gate may have prevented
Rihab Charida & Nikolai Haddad
If the olive branch is the symbol of hope, then Israel's uprooting of hundreds of thousands of ancient olive trees from Palestinian land is a fitting metaphor for the current situation. With each passing day,
Doug Lorimer
On April 20, as the death toll of US troops in Iraq passed the 700 mark, US President George Bush nominated John Negroponte, currently Washington's ambassador to the UN, to replace Paul Bremer as US ambassador to Iraq.
If his
Culture
REVIEW BY EVA CHENG
Harvest of Death: Farmers' Suicides and Rural Starvation in the Shadow of GlobalisationBy V. Shankar and R. VidyasagarPublished by Indian Institute of Marxist Studies 200450 pages
Harvest of Death, a new pamphlet from the
In Iraq the Americans are winning the hearts and minds again.A week ago they batonned a man senselesshe refused to remove a poster from his car:the poster was a picture of Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr.Were the Americans protecting free speech?Were
Bill Nevins
The Black Eagle Drum Group brought honour, big time, to Jemez Pueblo and to all of New Mexico when it won a Grammy award for best Native American music album in February. Black Eagle - Flying Free, is the group's sixth recording and the
To Be and to Have (Etre et Avoir)Directed by Nicolas PhillibertShowing at Palace cinemas, Sydney and Cinema Nova, Melbourne
REVIEW BY JOHN GAUCI
All over France, you can still find "single-class schools" — schools that bring together all the
Radical Melbourne 2: The Enemy WithinBy Jill and Jeff SparrowVulgar Press, Melbourne256 pages, $50
Monumental propaganda — this is what I have in mind ... In many prominent places, on suitable walls or on some special scaffolding there should be
Editorial
The Australian government is continuing the disgraceful 30-year bipartisan foreign policy of utter disregard for the people of East Timor.
The second round of negotiations with the East Timorese government to settle the maritime boundary between