News

Women students conference planned LISMORE — Organising is well underway for the annual Network of Women Students Australia (NOWSA) conference, to be held at Southern Cross University on July 12-16. The theme "Women making it real" has been chosen

HOBART — On April 3, the Tasmanian University Union voted down a motion from education officer Michael Harris to support the ACTU's June 28 workers' rights protests and to encourage students to participate in the demonstrations. All but three of

MELBOURNE — On August 30, a picket line was held at CSR Sugar in the western suburb of Yarraville by Union Solidarity in support of sacked occupational health and safety representative Craig Marshall. A member of the Australian Manufacturing

SYDNEY — On March 29, as news of the general strike in France began to reach Australia, 20 Sydney University students and staff attended a Resistance-organised forum on the revolt against the French government's new First Employment Contract (CPE).

Clive Haggar, Canberra On June 6, the ACT government budget cut 120 secondary and 15 primary teaching positions, 10 itinerant and 90 support staff positions, and has foreshadowed the closure of 39 public preschools and schools. In addition the

Sarah Stephen On March 23, the immigration department announced that 42 of the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers who arrived in Australia on January 18 and have been held on Christmas Island since then, had been granted refugee status. They will be

Marcus Greville, Melbourne "Not paying these workers is in fact theft", Electrical Trades Union (ETU) organiser Shaun Leane told Green Left Weekly. He was commenting on the refusal of electrical parts manufacturer Heinemann Electric to pay wages to

Ben Courtice, Melbourne Australian climate and refugee policy was condemned by British professor Norman Myers, an expert on global warming issues, in his address to a seminar in Melbourne on the topic of environmental refugees on March 21.

Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne A coalition of welfare and legal groups launched Operation Smart Justice on September 19. It aims to challenge "law and order populism" in the lead-up to Victoria's November 25 state election. Anthony Kelly from the

Peter Boyle Share prices for BHP Billiton (Olympic Dam uranium mine) and Rio Tinto (Ranger mine) leapt up when Labor leader Kim Beazley announced that he would campaign to overturn Labor's "no new uranium mines" policy at the next party conference.

Tim Gooden, Geelong An important test case for the federal government's new industrial relations laws, which aim to destroy organised labour, has arisen involving all building unions on an isolated construction site in Victoria's west. The

Amanda Freund, Newcastle Newcastle City Council will fly the West Papuan flag from City Hall on December 1 as a gesture of support for the West Papuan people's struggle for independence from Indonesian rule. Council general manager Janet Dore