While green activists around the country discuss last week's call by Tasmanian independent MP Bob Brown for a national green party, it seems some leaders of the green movement are pressing ahead already. Green Left Weekly has received a report
Issue 8
News
Lesbian/gay awareness week at UQ By Philippa Stanford BRISBANE — Gays and Lesbians on Campus at the University of Queensland have organised a lesbian and gay awareness week April 15-19. Lesbians and gay men on campus frequently experience
Australia moves on oil By Richard Ingram The Hawke government is moving swiftly to sell off Timorese oil following implementation of the Timor Gap treaty with Indonesia. Federal resources minister Alan Griffiths announced on April 9 that the
By Dick Nichols SYDNEY — A small paper products plant in the outer Sydney suburb of Emu Plains has become the latest battlefield in the ongoing drive to break the back of Australia's already weakened trade unions. On March 4, at Vista Paper
Prisoner release 'a stunt' Israel's much publicised release of 1000 Palestinian political prisoners on April 9 was an "annual theatrical move" according to Palestine Liberation Organisation representative Ali Kazak. The prisoners released had
By Michael Bell BRISBANE — Three weeks after the March 23 Brisbane City Council elections, Labor's Jim Soorley was declared lord mayor on April 13. Soorley was elected after winning 70% of Green preferences. Green Alliance candidate Drew Hutton
Walkout over Murdoch sackings By Andrew Bath and Jolyon Campbell MELBOURNE — Journalists with Murdoch's Herald-Sun and Sunday Herald-Sun walked off the job on April 11, following the sacking of Australian Journalists Association house committee
Vic ALP brawls towards defeat By Melanie Sjoberg MELBOURNE — As the Victorian Labor Party staggers towards almost certain defeat at the next state elections, public brawling has intensified in the party's leading circles. With an election
Progress on NT heritage bill By Adriaan Anarco-Troika DARWIN — Long-awaited legislation to protect the Northern Territory's heritage might be introduced in the May sitting of the Legislative Assembly, according to a spokesperson from the
WA students want Austudy reform By Angela Walker PERTH — Western Australian students are calling for major improvements to student income support through reform of the Austudy scheme. Plans include a tent city and rally and a joint public forum
By Bill Mason BRISBANE — Queensland conservationists are angered by a government-appointed task force's recommendation to approve the controversial Tully-Millstream hydroelectric project. They are considering a Franklin-style mass civil
The Committee to Defend Black Rights has launched a letter-writing campaign to press the federal and state governments to change conditions and practices leading to deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in police custody. The
Support for Timor By Dawn McEwan SYDNEY — The struggle of the East Timorese people against Indonesian occupation was highlighted at a public meeting of 100 people at the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre on April 7. The speaker was Robert Domm, whose
By Ken Davis SYDNEY — Red paint on cathedrals, media headquarters and government offices downtown and in Parramatta: Sydney's morning news on April 8 was dominated by the actions of a new, clandestine gay group, One In Seven. The previous
By Tracy Sorensen Once the royal commission hearings began on March 12, it didn't take long for the WA Inc fiasco to break loose from the state government's damage control mechanisms and start running wildly in the direction of Canberra. As
By Peter Boyle Official unemployment rose by 82,400 in March, bringing the total to 777,100 or 9.3% of the workforce. The greatest loss in jobs was in Victoria (59% of March losses) and NSW (27%), where most of manufacturing industry is located.
Abortion campaign continues in Brisbane By Susan Price BRISBANE — As part of regular actions around the abortion issue in Queensland, Children By Choice held a successful picket outside Parliament House on April 9. About a dozen women waved
Qld students campaign for security By Philippa Stanford BRISBANE — Staff and students at the University of Queensland are campaigning for increased security on campus. While this has always been an issue, the fight intensified after a woman was
By Ariel Couchman MELBOURNE — The Campaign Against Militarism is preparing protests against the Australian International Defence and Equipment Exhibition (AIDEX), scheduled for November. CAM argues that the exhibition is not in the best
Aborigines, environmentalists sign accord By Philippa Stanford BRISBANE — Queensland environmental groups and Fraser Island Aborigines have signed an accord which many want to become the basis for state land rights legislation. (Premier Wayne
World
Farmers seize US base By Mark Delmege PERTH — One hundred angry wheat farmers from northern wheat belt towns attacked a NASA facility at Yarragadee, about 100 km South of Geraldton, on April 7. Protesting against US wheat subsidies, the
Ozone layer vanishing at increased rate The ozone layer in the northern hemisphere is being depleted twice as fast as previously believed, the US Environmental Protection Agency said on April 4. New data from NASA showed that ozone had thinned by
US waste incinerator fails test The State of Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology announced on April 2 that a controversial mobile incinerator at a chemical waste site had failed in testing and would not be permitted to burn dioxin
By Paul Fauvet MAPUTO, Mozambique — The only agreement between the Mozambican government and the South African-backed Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo or MNR) seems close to collapse as rebels announced in mid-March that they were reneging
By Norm Dixon Production at the Australian-owned Vatukoula gold mine on Fiji's north-west coast remains at a virtual standstill as 900 determined miners continue their strike. Anger on the mass picket lines has reached boiling point following
By Richard Ingram New studies in the United Kingdom and in the United States have found alarming confirmation of increased leukaemia caused by exposure to levels of nuclear radiation previously considered safe. Two studies were published in the
US company targets Chile's rainforest A US development company Washington has made bids on 750,000 acres (300,000 hectares in the heart of southern Chile's old-growth-forested fjords. Horton-Davis Enterprises, a relatively small company, has
By David Kattenburg After municipal and legislative elections in El Salvador in which the governing Arena party captured close to a majority of seats in the National Assembly, charges of fraud continue to fly. The left-wing Democratic Convergence
US victimising Gulf War opponents Twenty-one US Marine Corp reservists who refused to take part in the Gulf War are being subject to all forms of maltreatment while in detention, according to the news service of the Paris-based organisation
EMLYN JONES participated in the "Pilgrimage to the Philippines" organised by the Philippines-Australia Ecumenical Church Conference in January. Printed here are excerpts from her diary of the period. Wednesday, January 9 I sat next to a
By Will Firth BERLIN — In the former German Democratic Republic, 787,000 people were registered as unemployed in February. This took the rapidly rising unemployment rate to 8.9%, compared with a stable 7.0% in west Germany. The situation will
Culture
The Trials of Life Channel 2 The Life Revolution SBS Reviewed by Dave Riley When someone allocates credit for the widespread resistance to logging of old growth forests, some of it must fall to the television "nature" documentary. No matter
Blood on Their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific By David Robie Pluto Press. 313 pp. $19.95 Reviewed by Robin Osborne A group of villagers declaring their people's independence by raising a flag on a homemade pole has become
By Jeremy Lawson The seminar was held in the plush offices of the local council. I could pick out the other invitees from the people who normally did business in the building. The receptionist had no trouble doing the same. She silently
Folk festival draws the crowds By Adam Hanieh ADELAIDE — The 25th National Folk Festival was held at Flinders University over the Easter weekend. Folk music encourages audience participation, and this festival was no exception. There were
Multicultural film guide Insights is a guide to films and videos, made since 1980, reflecting many aspects of Australia's complex society and history. The titles have been arranged into categories including Multiculturalism — an overview,
By Kerry Parnell SYDNEY — The annual Lesbian and Gay Mardi Gras has emerged as an important cultural institution and, according to professional archivist Kimberly O'Sullivan, it is important that its history doesn't slip away. Two years ago, an
The crow singing Hark, a crow singing. Listen: a stream racing. A young sparrow's tone amongst the waves' crashing foam — this movement of mind is split. The funny and the witty bloom with the ugly and pretty, and greedy piggies continue