News

  • SA campaign to keep Telstra public

    A key plank of the Howard government's attacks on the public sector is its proposed partial privatisation of Telstra. In preparation, the job cuts are rumoured to be around 24,000 within 18 months. In South Australia the Keep Telstra Public Alliance,

  • Railway workers under threat

    Australian National workers face serious doubts about their future following moves by the federal government to investigate the performance of the government-owned enterprise. A letter from AN's chairperson, Jack Smorgen, to federal

  • Retreat on Queensland juvenile laws

    BRISBANE — The Queensland government has been forced to reconsider controversial changes to juvenile justice laws, after widespread protest. The changes were criticised by Criminal Justice Commissioner Frank Clair as "seriously

  • Stop the stack!

    WOLLONGONG — Some 500 Port Kembla residents rallied on July 14 in anger over plans to reopen the Southern Copper smelter, chanting "stop the stack — we don't want it back!". Dan Meehan, spokesperson for the

  • Australia a leading trader in toxic waste

    Investigations by Greenpeace and Indian environmental group Srishti have revealed that, in the last two years, Australia has exported 9034 tonnes of toxic waste to India. This makes Australia the second highest exporter of toxic zinc

  • Undemocratic changes at Wollongong University

    WOLLONGONG — In the latest sequence of undemocratic moves initiated by the vice-chancellor, the last meeting of the university council decided to decrease student representation on the Board of Management by half. The

  • Brown says 'tax rich, not sell Telstra'

    BRISBANE — Tasmanian Greens Senator Bob Brown, speaking at a meeting on July 20, said that the Coalition government had "boxed itself into a corner" on the sale of Telstra, whereas those opposing privatisation had a clear

  • Loose cannons

    Democratic process "I didn't think that people should be disqualified from appointment to important boards or commissions just because they'd supported [me]. That seemed to me to be just the reverse of how the democratic process ought to work."

  • Rockhampton anti-cuts rally

    ROCKHAMPTON — A rally opposing federal and state budget cuts drew 300 workers here on July 19. Speakers included local MLA Robert Schwarten, Gordon Rennie, general secretary of the State Public Service Federation (Queensland),

  • 'Breaking the links of oppression'

    NEWCASTLE — Nico Wahid from the Indonesian People's Democratic Party (PRD) and dissident Indonesian researcher George Aditjondro spoke at a July 25 workshop attended by 30 people. The workshop discussed the links of oppression

  • Public servants strike against the cuts

    The Community and Public Sector Union held stop-work meetings on July 23 to vote on a National Executive (NE) motion to strike on July 25. Motions calling for an ongoing service-wide campaign against the cuts, and for the ACTU to call a strike to

  • Maritime restructuring 'prepares new disasters'

    FREMANTLE — July 26 marked the fifth anniversary of the Kirkis shipping disaster. The Kirkis, an unseaworthy ship not inspected by unions, broke up off the WA coast, spilling 20,000 tonnes of oil into the Indian Ocean. To mark