Airport transport workers have accepted a 6% wage rise following strike action last week by aircraft refuellers and tanker drivers. The strike was the third major action in 18 months over award restructuring in the industry. PERTH — The
Issue 62
News
By Martin Mulligan MELBOURNE — Encouraged by the response to the campaign of Phil Cleary in the Wills by-election, political activists here are planning a rally for social and economic justice on October 10. This is expected to be close to
Fahey bashes building union By Steve Painter SYDNEY — The minority Liberal government of NSW, under new Premier John Fahey, is preparing legal action for deregistration of the Building Workers Industrial Union (BWIU) in line with a
Rail workers fight for jobs By Steve Painter SYDNEY — Industrial action is to continue in NSW over State Rail Authority (SRA) plans to shed about 5000 jobs, says railways union (ARU) state vice-president Andrew Baker. Several days of
Forest protesters bamboo the Regent By Steve Painter SYDNEY — Rainforest activists planned to erect a symbolic bamboo barricade across the entrance to the Sydney Regent hotel on July 13 in a re-enactment of a similar protest at the
Affirmative action under review By Monique Choy SYDNEY — Proposed changes to the Affirmative Action Act will shortly be presented to federal parliament. Earlier this year, interest groups and individuals participated in discussions around
10,000 march against privatisation By Peter Boyle MELBOURNE — The Kirner Labor government's program of public asset sales and corporatisation and commercialisation of the public sector was "paving the way" for the next Liberal government's
By Lenore Tardif MELBOURNE — Australian Liberals and the New Right have looked to New Zealand, and the economic policies of both National and Labour governments, as a possible model for what they would like to do here. But the New Zealand
By Rose McCann SYDNEY — NSW education minister Virginia Chadwick has backed away from changes to the years 7-10 geography syllabus after an unrepresentative elite of private school principals rammed through a number of amendments. The course
High Court challenge to Cleary By Peter Boyle MELBOURNE — The High Court will hear a challenge to left independent Phil Cleary's victory in the April by-election for former prime minister Bob Hawke's Victorian seat of Wills. The
By Deb Sorensen MELBOURNE — As increasing public attention focuses on youth anger over persistent unemployment, Resistance held its 21st national conference here on July 4-6. Young activists came from across the country to plan action around
By Peter Boyle Official unemployment for June reached a postwar record high of 11.1% nationally, up from 10.6% the previous month. In South Australia the jobless rate was 12.5%, in Victoria 11.9% and in Tasmania 11.8%. Unemployment among
A 16-year-old retail worker currently earns $192 a week, rising to $346 at the age of 20. Under Hewson's plan, this person old would get only $114 a week, and 18-20-year-olds would get $133. Peter Ritchie, the managing director of McDonald's fast
Queensland forests 'cleared like Amazon' By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Queensland is losing proportionately as much forest and woodland each year through clearing as the Amazon basin of South America, according to state officials. Queensland
Cleary urges 'progressive independent' candidates By Pip Hinman MELBOURNE — "The ALP has lost its way and the Opposition is a joke," Phil Cleary, independent MP for Wills, told a public meeting of about 200 people on July 9. The meeting on
Forum praised on environment Greenpeace has welcomed the emphasis of the South Pacific Forum, just concluded, on environmental issues, but says there is still a long way to go. "The South Pacific leaders know that environmental issues are not
World
In the British House of Lords on July 2, the following questions were addressed to the government by Lord Avebury. The government's reply has not yet been reported. Whether Kustanto Widiatmoko, platoon leader in the First Armour Squadron of the
By Norm Dixon LONDON — Central London was brought to standstill for several hours on Saturday, June 27, as a crowd estimated at more than 100,000 joined the EuroPride '92 march for gay and lesbian rights. Gays and lesbians and their
Superphenix will not rise PARIS — The French government's decision not to restart the controversial Superphenix plutonium "fast breeder" reactor (FBR) is the final curtain call for the plutonium economy, Greenpeace said on June 30. The
By Greg Peters When the Wall fell, the rubble rolled towards Bonn. One of the hidden political costs of reunification was the problem of rubbish. Germans throw away 40 million tonnes of it every year. Bonn was used to paying to dispose of waste
By Steve Painter What is foreign minister Gareth Evans trying to hide in Bougainville, asks Australian lawyer Rosemary Gillespie, just returned from a visit to the blockaded island, which she entered via a small boat from the neighbouring
During World War II, the industrial city of Chelyabinsk in the southern Urals was dubbed "Tankograd" (Tank City), as its huge tractor factory was switched to producing the tanks crucial to Soviet victory. Today Chelyabinsk and its people are
By Max Lane The leftist Partido ng Bayan (People's Party) has called on the new Philippines president, Fidel Ramos, to take specific measures towards a political settlement of the country's ongoing insurgency. Ramos, who was inaugurated on
Judith Ward was released from prison on May 11 after successfully challenging the British system of justice which had confined her to 18 years imprisonment when for years nearly all those concerned — the police, the courts and the British Home
By Norm Dixon LONDON — "The South African government is responsible for the violence because it does not want to stop it ... De Klerk is lying when he says he knows nothing about it. Either his government is directly concerned or they are
By Steve Painter The risk of a nuclear disaster in one of the most densely populated parts of the world is about to increase dramatically as the Indonesian government presses ahead with a nuclear power program to build up to 12 reactors on the
Culture
Bigger than the dinosaur Bully for Brontosaurus By Stephen Jay Gould Penguin, 1992. 540 pp. $16.95. Reviewed by Allen Myers You can't judge a book by its cover, but the cover may contain a few hints. It says something, for example, when
We have already run two conflicting reviews of Alien 3. ALAN GREEN takes a long at the film from a third standpoint: the alien's. I would like to write a few words in favour of the alien in Alien 3. The film's author, Vincent Ward, does not
By Cameron S. Boyd MELBOURNE — A recent art exhibition, War and Peace, staged in the Universal Theatre, represents a new direction for Budinski's Theatre of Exile, which has previously concentrated on the performing arts. Tania Bistrin,
Too many cops em = By John Tomlinson There are too many cops here in Canberra, coppers who lie and cheat. But the bourgeoisie of the ACT wants more of them on the beat. There are too many cops here in Canberra coppers who bash and who
Melbourne's only citywide community radio station is having its annual Radiothon from July 6 to 19. "We need to raise $100,000 in the fortnight so that we can continue to bring our unique style of broadcasting to Melbourne", station manager Bruce
By Katrina Newton and Loretta Asquini MELBOURNE — Ladysmith Black Mambazo performed to and dazzled a near capacity audience at the Melbourne Concert Hall on June 29. The South African a cappella group, which has sung with Paul Simon and
My Sky, My Home A film directed by Slamet Rahardjo Djarot Showing at AFI Cinema, Paddington, Sydney Until July 16 Reviewed by Sarah Armstrong My Sky, My Home has been touted as another Salaam Bombay — the Indian film which gave such
Editorial
The Liberal convention The Liberal Party is the only thing in Australian politics capable of making the Labor Party look relatively good, and the Liberals did their darnedest to that end in their July 2-5 national convention in Sydney. Besides