News

  • 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

  • Howard has worked to 'dehumanise asylum seekers'

    Graham Matthews, Melbourne Prime Minister John Howard's Coalition government has "worked to dehumanise asylum seekers, to use them as a tool in wedge politics", David Ristrom, the lead Victorian Senate candidate for the Australian Greens, told an

  • Don't add insult to injury!

    Chris Latham, Perth On May 13, chanting, "What do we want? — Workers' comp!", more than 2500 workers marched on the Western Australian parliament. The rally was organised by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the

  • '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

  • Loose cannons

    Had the royal touch "He came across very arrogant, like a total pompous git." — Comment made about Richard Butler, the recently resigned Queen's representative in Tasmania, quoted in the August 11 Sydney Daily Telegraph. Selfless "I was

  • US court declares military commissions illegal

    Pip Hinman Human rights activists have welcomed the US Supreme Court's decision, on June 29, declaring the military commissions for Guantanamo Bay prisoners illegal. Raul Bassi from the Cantebury-Bankstown Peace Group, which has campaigned to free

  • May Day rallies oppose Iraq occupation

    Adam Leeman, Sydney May Day rallies took place around Australia on the May 1-2 weekend. In Sydney, 1000 people marched, including contingents from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous

  • Further set back for Coles workers

    In the wake of the sacking of 1000 warehouse workers in Sydney and Melbourne by Coles, the company has further betrayed those sacked. After suggesting that positions would be available for those workers wanting to be redeployed, it announced on July

  • Cameron uses AMWU conference to attack militants

    Sue Bolton The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) held its biennial conference in Sydney on July 26-30. Delegates to the conference report that it was quite different to the previous conference with a lot of guest speakers and not a lot

  • Residents oppose toll bridge

    Paul Benedek, Brisbane "This bridge will mean more cars, more pollution, more asthma, more road deaths, and it will be the vulnerable — pensioners and children — that will suffer the most", a resident told a rowdy June 20 meeting discussing the

  • WA agricultural workers still seeking justice

    Chris Latham, Perth A herbicide used in the highly toxic chemical mixture Agent Orange — widely used during the US war in Vietnam — was still being used in Australia as late as 1985. A group of workers, employed by the Western Australian

  • Thousands rally on Hiroshima Day

    Rallies marking the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing took place in cities around Australia on August 6, including in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth. As well as opposing nuclear power and uranium mining, the protesters demanded