Analysis

  • Looking out: Deaths in custody

    Hypocritically surprised Recently I received the following in a letter from an Australian friend, Stephanie Wilkinson: "A few days go I met the delightful Mrs Lettie Scott. Lettie is the widow of an Aboriginal man, the late Mr Douglas Scott, who

  • Write on: Letters to the editor

    Defending the ALP At its meeting following the very successful rally it organised on November 23, the Anti-Racism Campaign (ARC) in Ipswich discussed the outcome of the rally. One non-aligned activist said that it was extremely positive to hear a

  • Working hours

    The secretary of the ACTU, Bill Kelty, has finally come around to the idea of shorter working hours as a means of reducing unemployment. It's about time. In the past decade the ACTU has not been willing even

  • Migrant bashing in parliament

    Editorial: Migrant bashing in parliament Migrants, she declared before parliament, were "being offered the opportunity to ride on the backs of battlers from the day they arrive". No, this was not Pauline Hanson, the fish and chip proto-fascist

  • A brand new empty slogan

    The previous Labor federal government labelled its Aboriginal Affairs policy direction "self-determination". The new minister for Aboriginal affairs, Senator John Herron, has announced that the catchphrase for his regime will be "self-empowerment

  • Profits first, democracy last

    On November 9 in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, a peaceful conference discussing "Peace in East Timor" was attacked by a hundred thugs from the ruling National Front political parties. They smashed down the door to the function room and

  • Let Gerry Adams speak!

    Federal cabinet decided on November 8 to deny Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams the right of entry only recently granted to him by the United States, the UK and Canada. By Australian government standards, Adams is not considered of "good

  • ALP wins another union

    The defeat of the Bill Ethel leadership in the elections of the Western Australian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union is a blow to the already too small left wing in the union officialdom. The prize goes to the Labor Party,

  • The real betrayal

    The Democrats' agreement to support the Howard government's anti-union Workplace Relations Bill (WRB) should be condemned, but the real betrayal was by the Labor Party and the ACTU. While Labor leader Kim Beazley postures about the ALP's "total

  • No alternative

    The results of the Lindsay by-election in western Sydney on October 19 mean more attacks on working people with Howard claiming a new mandate. The strength of the Liberals' victory — a swing in the two-party preferred vote from Labor to Liberal

  • Kill the bill

    On October 16, the Democrats took a step closer to fulfilling Cheryl Kernot's prediction of a few days' before — that the Coalition's industrial relations law would be in force by the end of the year — by voting for the bill to move to the

  • Another threat to women's right to choose

    Few people are aware of the existence of the Model Criminal Code Officers' Committee (MCCOC), yet it may be about to change many women's lives. Established in 1991, this standing committee of attorneys general of Australia