News

  • Solidarity brigade farewelled

    MELBOURNE — Sixty people gathered at Comrades Bar on July 1 to farewell participants in a soldiarity brigade to Venezuela. The even was jointly organised by Green Left Weekly, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) and the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity

  • Almost $100 poorer due to welfare changes

    SYDNEY — A new analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) of the impact of the federal government's changes to welfare, announced in the May budget, reveals that many people who find part-time work or undertake study after July

  • Maleny protesters prepare to confront developers

    Jim McIlroy, Brisbane "Now's the time — we're in the trenches", Platypus Action Group spokesperson John Woodlands told protesters on June 24. "Enough is enough. It's now or never.... We're not moving until we save this place." Woodlands was

  • Loose Cannons

    What it's really all about "An early withdrawal would have serious negative consequences. Iraq would be in danger of exploding into civil war; jihadists would claim they had beaten the American infidels; many Iraqis would feel abandoned by the

  • Refugee-rights activists to stand trial

    SYDNEY — On June 9, refugee-rights activist Sunil Menon was committed to stand trial in August on a charge of aiding and abetting an Iranian asylum seeker to make a false statement in the course of obtaining an Australian passport. Rezai Mohsen

  • Centrelink workers face battle over agreement

    Jim McIlroy, Brisbane Workers in the federal government's main social welfare agency, Centrelink, face a major struggle in their campaign for a new enterprise agreement this year. During negotiations between Centrelink and the Community and Public

  • Loose cannons

    Expert opinion "In a News Ltd newspaper, Labor powerbroker Robert Ray labelled the frontbench a 'bunch of dills'." — Melbourne Age, June 21. Being a dill among a bunch of dills? "I think he's been doing a very good job in very difficult

  • Forum opposes IR laws

    MELBOURNE — A local fight-back against PM John Howard's industrial relations "reforms" kicked off in Melbourne's western suburbs on June 22, when a newly formed coalition of community and union members organised a 100-strong forum in Footscray.

  • Winter Solstice raises climate change

    NEWCASTLE — Environmental group Rising Tide staged an evening protest in Civic Park on June 21 to highlight the damaging impact of climate change. More than 200 people gathered for the winter solstice, symbolising a period of peak energy

  • Aladdin Sisalem - one year on

    When Kuwaiti-born Palestinian refugee Aladdin Sisalem arrived in Melbourne on May 31, 2004, greeted by the glare of television cameras and the welcome of supporters, his emotions were tinged with a sense of triumph and relief.

  • UTS introduces full fees

    SYDNEY — On June 20, the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) council voted 13-to-three in favour of introducing full-fee-paying places for up to 35% of domestic undergraduate places next year. Michelle Sparks, president of the UTS Students