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Protest for free education MELBOURNE — About 250 students converged on the State Library on March 12 in protest against university fees and funding cuts. Victorian National Tertiary Education Union president Jeannie Rea told the crowd that free

Marcus Greville, Melbourne "Not paying these workers is in fact theft", Electrical Trades Union (ETU) organiser Shaun Leane told Green Left Weekly. He was commenting on the refusal of electrical parts manufacturer Heinemann Electric to pay wages to

SYDNEY — Anne Gardiner, an opposition candidate for general secretary of the Public Service Association (PSA), the union covering state public servants in NSW and general staff on NSW universities, has described NSW Liberal Party leader John

HOBART — With 78% of the vote counted by the end of polling night on May 1, Socialist Alliance candidate Kamala Emanuel had received 860 votes or 5.27% in the Tasmanian upper house seat of Elwick. Greens candidate Helen Burnett gained 14.79% of

Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne A coalition of welfare and legal groups launched Operation Smart Justice on September 19. It aims to challenge "law and order populism" in the lead-up to Victoria's November 25 state election. Anthony Kelly from the

Lizzie Nagy& Kylie Moon The Senate sat an extra day on August 13 to enable the passage of the Marriage Amendment Act, which declares that marriages between same-sex couples in other countries will not be legally recognised as such in Australia.

CANBERRA — One-hundred-and-fifty people demonstrated here on April 8 in support of a bill proposed by ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope that would give same-sex couples access to civil unions. After a noisy march through the city amid a sea of

Mission impossible "One of the hardest parts of my job is to console the family members who have lost their life." — Emperor George Bush II, April 13. Untermenschen I "One senior [British] Army officer told The Telegraph that ... American

Peter Boyle Share prices for BHP Billiton (Olympic Dam uranium mine) and Rio Tinto (Ranger mine) leapt up when Labor leader Kim Beazley announced that he would campaign to overturn Labor's "no new uranium mines" policy at the next party conference.

Sue Bull, Geelong On July 31, militant unionists from Melbourne and Ballarat converged on Geelong for a day of discussions with local unionists about how to build unions that are fighting instruments in defence of their members' economic and

Sue Bull, Geelong At Geelong's Basell plant, in the Shell refinery complex, construction workers were forced off the job on March 28 by fears, which were later confirmed, of a legionella outbreak and chemical leaks. One worker went to the hospital,

Unoccupied I "This is [US President George] Bush's 33rd visit to his ranch since becoming president. He has spent all or part of 233 days on his Texas ranch since taking office, according to a tally by CBS News. Adding his 78 visits to Camp David