News

  • Bus drivers strike for decent pay

    Duncan Meerding, Hobart On February 2, 3 and 6, bus drivers for Tasmania's main public transport supplier, Metro Tasmania, will be taking industrial action to win a wage rise. During the week of January 15-20, Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU)

  • Jailed anti-war activists gain support

    Anna Samson, Sydney Will Saunders and David Burgess commenced their first weekend of periodic detention on February 14. The pair were found guilty of malicious damage after painting the words "No war" on the highest sail of the Opera House. They

  • Defend community television!

    Rihab Charida, Sydney Channel 31, Sydney's public access community television station, may be forced off the air if its broadcasting license is not renewed. Community Television Sydney (CTS) Channel 31 has been broadcasting for more than 10

  • Act passed to impose nuke dump

    Justin Tutty, Darwin The Radioactive Waste Management Act was passed by federal parliament on December 8 after debate was postponed to allow 20 days for an inquiry into the legislation. The inquiry was uncommonly brief — it failed to visit the

  • News briefs #3

    #3 SIEV X book launched BRISBANE — The story of SIEV X, the unseaworthy, overcrowded refugee boat that sank in October 2001, drowning some 350 asylum-seekers off the Indonesian coast, involves a "massive Australian government agency cover-up",

  • Police charge alleged bashing victim

    Tony Iltis, Melbourne Activists from the Western Suburbs Community Coalition Against Racism (WSCCAR) picketed the Melbourne Magistrates Court on February 12 to protest charges laid against TAFE student Hussein Farah. He has been charged with five

  • Students stop defence department meeting

    Simon Cunich, Sydney Students inflicted a small blow to the Australian military machine on July 18 when they stopped a department of defence briefing at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). The defence department was on campus to promote

  • News Briefs

    Band banned for politics HOBART — On August 24, Hobart College band Mr Mukhole played at the school's assembly. Before the band started to play, the lead singer, Bryn Heathwood, explained the band's name and reason for existing. As Heathwood

  • Challenge to Peter Beattie

    Socialist Alliance candidate for the seat of Brisbane Coral Wynter held a Challenge to Beattie rally on February 4. "We all know that Premier Peter Beattie will win this election", Wynter said. "The real question is: what will Labor do with its

  • Privately operated detention ship?

    SYDNEY — The ABC reported on August 1 that the federal government had issued a "$17 million contract for a private boat that will be fitted with machine guns and used to patrol the waters off the Northern Territory and Western Australia ... The

  • Venezuelan revolution is 'democracy in action'

    Jim McIlroy, Brisbane The Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela is an "unprecedented revolution in participatory democracy", Leonel Vivas, Venezuelan ambassador to Australia, told an audience of around 70 people on August 7. When Hugo Chavez was

  • NTEU calls for release of jailed unionist

    Jeremy Smith The national council of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), meeting in Melbourne on September 30-October 2, voted to support the campaign to end the imprisonment of militant unionist Craig Johnston. Attended by 200