News

  • Campaign for Habib and Hicks launched

    Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne A meeting of 500 people packed the Coburg Town Hall on July 11 to discuss the plight of David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, two Australians detained in the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The meeting was organised by the

  • Workers contaminated at Ranger mine

    Jon Lamb, Darwin Twelve workers at the Ranger uranium mine near Jabiru were sent home on March 24, after they were poisoned by uranium-contaminated water. The workers complained of bad nausea and headaches after drinking "strange tasting" water.

  • Anti-nuke dump make inquiry submission

    Kathy Newnam, Darwin Opponents of the nuclear industry took their message to the federal parliamentary inquiry into uranium resources when it met in Darwin on October 24. Deceptively calling itself "the inquiry into developing Australia's

  • Seventy refugees arrive from Nauru

    Sarah Stephen On June 29, the first group of 35 Afghan asylum seekers arrived in Australia from Nauru. A second group of 35 Afghans arrived on July 6. The remaining 76 Afghan asylum seekers on Nauru who have been assessed by the immigration

  • Tariq Ali: 'Punish the politicians with blood on their hands!'

    Norm Dixon, Sydney US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Australian PM John Howard — "politicians with blood on their hands" — should be "punished" at the ballot box for invading and occupying Iraq, renowned political

  • Strike at Glebe Island car terminal

    SYDNEY — Members of the Maritime Union of Australia employed at the Glebe Island car terminal refused to go to work on October 14 after hearing of a NSW Labor government plan to fast-track the site's closure. With the support of Unions NSW and the

  • Injured construction workers support group set up

    Ruth Ratcliffe, Sydney On March 11, 35 workers attended the first meeting of the Construction Workers' Compensation Support Group. An initiative of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the meeting was organised by Wayne

  • Troops out of Iraq!

    Pip Hinman Around the globe, anti-war activists are gearing up for the protest rallies to mark the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Across Australia, activists are doing the same, spurred on by the oil-for-food scandal, the new terror

  • News briefs 3

    3 NTEU initiates education campaign The Victorian division of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) launched a "Cost of education" campaign at its February 28 council meeting. Targeted at schools, community groups, families and other

  • Loose Cannons

    Ready to snap "Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the [US] Army has become a 'thin green line' that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon. Andrew Krepinevich, a retired army officer

  • News briefs 2

    MELBOURNE — Many unions have passed motions in support of the March 20 international protest against the occupation of Iraq. They include: the Geelong Trades and Labour Council; the Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and

  • 'Free West Papua! Let the refugees stay!'

    SYDNEY — Sixty people gathered in front of the DIMIA offices on January 20 to protest the removal of the West Papuan refugees to the Christmas Island and call for their release into the community while their asylum claims are being assessed. The