News

  • Loose cannons

    Saw no point "The position of the Australian government is very well understood, and that may well explain why it wasn't raised." — Prime Menzies John Howard, pleased that Asian leaders at the APEC summit hadn't raised the issue of racism in

  • Meeting forms new party

    NEWCASTLE — Up to 60 people met here on November 23-24 and formed a new party of the left called the NewLabor Party. Participants and observers came from Melbourne, Sydney, Lismore, Wollongong, Canberra and Brisbane, and included

  • Black deaths in custody increasing

    Last year, 22 Aboriginal people died in custody — one and a half times the number reported in the previous year and the highest number since 1987. At least another 16 people have died so far this year. Over the last seven years,

  • Mental Health Act increases powers of WA police

    PERTH — Police in Western Australia are to receive increased power to detain mentally ill individuals and seize their possessions as part of the Mental Health Act 1996, which had its second reading in the Legislative Council on

  • Tax Management announces closures

    Tax Management announces closuresAustralian Taxation Office management has announced plans to close the Chatswood office in 1997, and the Bankstown and Cheltenham offices in 1998, with more closures likely to follow. The closures

  • Left-wing queer group kicks off in WA

    PERTH — Queer Radicals — a new lesbian and gay activist group which started as a way to get a left-wing political presence into the Perth Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade in November, decided after its first meeting to become an

  • UNSW academic staff vote for bans

    UNSW academic staff vote for bansSYDNEY — A general meeting of NTEU members at UNSW on November 19 voted to impose bans on submitting assessment results. This was one of a number of motions expressing anger at the restructuring

  • Call for ban on mutant soybeans

    Call for ban on mutant soybeans The Australian GeneEthics Network has called for a ban on US soybean imports contaminated with genetically engineered beans and herbicide residues. US multinationals Monsanto and Cargill want to import soya beans

  • Tjandumurra O'Shane Appeal

    Tjandumurra O'Shane Appeal Tjandumurra O'Shane, the six-year-old boy doused with petrol and burned at his primary school in Cairns, is undergoing treatment in Brisbane and will be hospitalised there for a long time to come. A fund has been

  • Carer's leave: a win for CPSU members?

    CANBERRA — A Community and Public Sector Union national bulletin authorised by the joint national secretary Wendy Caird in September heralded the new package of personal/carer's leave for Australian Public Service (APS) employees

  • Loose cannons

    Offensive? "I certainly won't be going to any of those discussions in any kind of defensive, anxious mode on that particular subject, far from it." — Prime Menzies John Howard, asked if the race "debate" in Australia made it necessary for him

  • Campaign to admit Gerry Adams

    Campaign to admit Gerry AdamsBRISBANE — "The Australian government decision to bar Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams takes away not primarily his rights, but most importantly the democratic rights of all Australians to hear the