News

For over a decade now, Australian universities have been under attack. PM John Howard’s whittling away at the public funding of tertiary education came to a head in 2005, with the implementation of the Nelson Review. The review promoted a shift away from government funding of universities, which meant that they had to seek funding elsewhere — fee-paying students and big business.

Members of grassroots climate change action group Rising Tide chained themselves to a coal train on November 19 to stop the train reaching the port of Newcastle, the world’s largest coal export port, with a record 80.8 million tonnes being shipped in the 2006-07 financial year.

Chickenhawk-in-chief "I would say that we would always try diplomacy first. In other words, I've committed our troops into harm's way twice, and it's not a pleasant experience because I understand the consequences firsthand." — Emperor George

Two years on, the full impact of “voluntary student unionism” (VSU) is now being felt at Australian universities. Legislation to implement VSU was introduced in 2005 by the Howard government, despite the opposition of much of the student population. Its intention was to defund student organisations and cripple their ability to take effective political action in support of their members’ interests.

The Wilderness Society (TWS) has lost its Federal Court appeal, in which it argued that then-federal environment minister Malcolm Turnbull’s assessment of the Tamar Valley pulp mill was inadequate. The appeal was dismissed by three judges on November 22, but TWS spokesperson Greg Ogle said the it would not give up campaigning. “The pulp mill is no closer to being built today than it was yesterday”, he said.

On November 21, up to 10,000 Victorian teachers went on strike, travelling from around the state to fill the Vodafone Arena in Melbourne. Around 150 schools were closed as a result of the industrial action. The teachers are calling for a 10% per annum pay rise over the next three years.

Three members of Iraq’s Olympic soccer team and one of the team’s assistant coaches announced their intention to apply for asylum in Australia after an international game in Gosford on November 17. They are currently on three-month temporary visas as athletes, and as such are not being sought by the immigration department.

A struggle to reignite, restore and respect Aboriginal community control is being waged in Fitzroy, a place of historical significance to the contemporary Indigenous rights movement.

Twenty-year-old Lismore resident Ben Cooper was awarded a “Kids in Community” award in June, for his work as a queer activist in the community. Cooper organised two equality rallies in Lismore for the same-sex marriage National Days of Action and is the founder of Lismore Activists for Same Sex Equality (LASSE). LASSE has recently been involved in a campaign against Regeneration, a Lismore Baptist church group that aims to “convert” young gays to heterosexuality.

“These are the worst days in Pakistan’s history”, Ali Khan, a student from Pakistan, told a rally in Burke Street Mall on November 15. The rally was called by Australia Asia Worker Links and the Socialist Alliance to protest the state of emergency imposed by Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff and president, Pervez Musharraf.

Brewery workers at the Foster’s Yatala plant, near Beenleigh south of Brisbane, are continuing their campaign for a union collective agreement. The workers — members of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union — are holding pickets outside the brewery gates from 1-5pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, as well as some night-time pickets.

At a 100-strong October 26 Your Rights at Work election forum, Sue Cory, Greens candidate for the federal seat of Leichhardt, spelt out her party’s policies supporting the rights of workers to organise and take industrial action, in contrast to those of the ALP, which would maintain the existing anti-worker laws introduced by the Howard government.