ADELAIDE — At least 50 people gathered outside the Commonwealth Building on May 6 to protest against the Keating government's white paper on unemployment. The spirited demonstration, organised by Resistance, included speakers from the Young Christian Workers and Flinders University Students Association. Speakers attacked the training wage plans and under 18 dole cut and demanded that the federal government fund real jobs at decent wages. Resistance also took up the planned cuts to the public service by the Liberal South Australian government, proposing an ongoing campaign against the planned sacking of teachers, public transport price hikes and privatisation of government services.
BRISBANE — "Capital punishment exists in Queensland", Brother Paul Smith, director of Boystown, run by the Catholic Church's De La Salle Brothers, said on May 5. "We don't do it officially, but we have prison suicides." Brother Paul urged jail managers to fight their superiors to address conditions that trigger suicide. He was launching the Boystown Legal Service, a new agency for young people.
LAUNCESTON — A vigorous campaign of direct action targeting employers who exploit the cheap labour provisions in the federal government's white paper is planned says Bill Bartlett of the Unemployed Workers Union. Pickets, occupations and boycotts would be used to make the schemes unattractive to employers. Many unemployed people will reject the training wage proposal at below award wages, Bartlett claims.
MELBOURNE — Members of Resistance and the Young Christian Workers picketed outside the Department of Employment, Education and Training on May 4. The picket took up three demands: no cuts to under 18 unemployment benefits; no below award training wage for young or old; real job creation, not more corporate handouts.
PERTH — More than 100 people rallied on May 5 to protest against the policy directions in the unemployment white paper. The rally, entitled "No-one Should Have to Live in Poverty", was organised by the Education Action Network.
- A rally here on May 7 called for the ending of experiments on animals. More than 150 people marched through city streets before hearing Don Barnes, once a scientific researcher for the US Air Force, speak on why animal testing should be opposed.