Analysis

Evidence emerging from the Australian government-appointed commission of inquiry, headed by Terence Cole, into whether or not AWB Ltd, Australia's wheat export monopoly, had violated the rules governing the UN's "oil-for-food" program, has revealed

Playing God The announcement that 20,000 Chinese students and their families, living in Australia at the time of the Tienanmen Square massacre, have been granted residency is a welcome one. Australia is doing no more than honouring a moral duty

Back to the trenches "Our willingness to compromise has been callously rejected. We will not stand by and allow the irreplaceable old growth and wilderness forests of the south-east to be trashed by the woodchip industry. It's back to the

A sick system "Disturbing", "scandalous", "disgusting": these are among the long list of adjectives used in Brian Burdekin's report on the human rights of people with mental illness to describe their plight. Yet words are inadequate to paint the

Next on the chopping block? In its decade in office, the federal Labor government has repeatedly demonstrated its lack of commitment to public ownership. Already partially privatised are the Commonwealth Bank, Qantas, the manufacture of defence

Ho-hum for the republic Ignoring calls from Prime Minister Paul Keating for an unemotional and non-inflammatory debate on the prospects for a republic as the findings of the government's Republic Advisory Committee were handing down on October

Kennett's failed experiment One year ago Jeff Kennett became premier of Victoria because of widespread disillusionment in the previous state Labor government. He immediately launched a blitzkrieg of cuts to education, health, public transport

The real thing Seventy-two of Australia's "bidding elite" are descending upon Monte Carlo to hear the International Olympic Committee's decision on which city will host the Olympic Games in the year 2000. Asked to explain the purpose of the

The Greens and the budget Just before Prime Minister Paul Keating flew off to Washington, he dismissed the attacks on his budget in the Senate as "sport" preventing him from governing in the national interest. But the Green and Democrat

Middle East peace? The decision by the Israeli government to sign an agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organisation to allow the Palestinian Arab population in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho limited

Labor's 'Son of Fightback!' The Catholic bishops have accurately described the Keating government's budget as "Son of Fightback!". It introduces indirect taxes that hit low- and medium-income earners the most and lavishes the largest cuts in

Keating's creeping GST Even ACTU president Martin Ferguson felt the need to make a pretence of attacking the 1993 federal budget. We cannot "defend the undefendable", he said. He failed, of course, to use the opportunity to announce the