News

  • Tax workers demand union agreement

    MELBOURNE — As of October 18, 11,475 employees of the Australian Taxation Office, 53% of all ATO staff, have signed a petition calling on management to negotiate a new agency agreement with the Community and Public Sector Union when the current

  • 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

  • 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

  • Deeper thinking on same-sex marriage rights

    Jonathan Strauss, Sydney Discussion at the Marrickville Socialist Alliance's July 25 Politics in the Pub probed the significance of the demand for same-sex marriage rights. Rodney Croome, a spokesperson for the Equal Rights Network, and Bernard

  • Little Johnny helps festival go left

    CANBERRA — A statue of Prime Minister John Howard titled 'If the boots don't fit', helped set the scene for one of the most radical national folk festivals in years, over the Easter weekend. The statue, by Melbourne sculptor Greg Taylor, was

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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