Editorial

The war on Iraq was one of the most opposed wars in history. Millions of people marched to stop it before it began, and now that it clear that it was a war based on lies, outrage against the main warmongers, particularly US President George Bush, has

At a media conference in Canberra on April 7, called by PM John Howard and Treasurer Peter Costello to release the report of the Taskforce on Reducing the Regulatory Burden on Business, Howard revealed that his government was "reviewing" the process

Australian and US government representatives finally agreed on a free-trade agreement (AUSFTA) on February 9, after 11 months of negotiations and widespread protest and controversy in both countries. Amid claims and counterclaims about which national

Over the last few weeks it has been confirmed by the government-initiated commission of inquiry that AWN Ltd, Australia's wheat export monopoly, paid $300 million in bribes to the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein between 1999 and 2003 to

The August 27 Court of Appeal decision to jail militant unionist Craig Johnston is a sharp illustration of the class prejudices of Australia's legal system. While Johnston is locked up because of property damage sustained during an industrial

On July 5, 107 Western Australian construction workers who had worked on the Perth to Mandurah rail project became victims of some of this country's most draconian anti-union laws. They face persecution at the hands of the Australian Building and

It's called democracy "With the pace-setter across the Tasman hobbled, the pressure for reform in Australia — especially the labour market— will be diminished", wrote Steve Burrell in the Financial Review. Reason enough to celebrate the

On the last day of the NSW government inquiry into building products firm James Hardie's asbestos compensation fund, the barrister representing the company at the inquiry made an anouncement implying that James Hardie would pay full compensation to

On July 23, defence minister Brendan Nelson announced that Canberra is willing to contribute armed Australian soldiers to a "robust" (meaning armed and prepared to carry out combat operations) international "peacekeeping" force to "stablise" Lebanon.

Playing God The announcement that 20,000 Chinese students and their families, living in Australia at the time of the Tienanmen Square massacre, have been granted residency is a welcome one. Australia is doing no more than honouring a moral duty

Back to the trenches "Our willingness to compromise has been callously rejected. We will not stand by and allow the irreplaceable old growth and wilderness forests of the south-east to be trashed by the woodchip industry. It's back to the

A sick system "Disturbing", "scandalous", "disgusting": these are among the long list of adjectives used in Brian Burdekin's report on the human rights of people with mental illness to describe their plight. Yet words are inadequate to paint the