Protest against Ruddock
PERTH — Twenty people protested against immigration minister Philip Ruddock here on February 9. The protesters demanded the repeal of the Border Protection Act, full welfare rights for migrants and refugees, and an open door policy for all refugees.
Grant Coleman, a Resistance member who managed to get into the meeting Ruddock was addressing, said that privileging the entry to Australia of skilled migrants while quotas are in place meant shutting the door to the Third World's poor. Government preference for business, rather than humanitarian, migration and government support for dictatorships were hotly debated in the meeting.
"Australian governments are responsible for implementing policies which keep much of the world in poverty", Coleman said, pointing to East Timor as an example.
Protective Service action
CANBERRA — Community and Public Sector Union members of the Australian Protective Service took industrial action around the country on February 9, following several months of rolling strikes.
The workers rallied outside federal Parliament House to press their demands, following an offer from management of only a 3% pay rise for the life of the three-year agreement. The last pay rise these workers received was in October 1996. The operational officers are classified at low levels (ASO2 and ASO3) and regularly have to work overtime to take home a reasonable wage.
Management is also attempting to cut overtime rates and introduce longer hours, and is offering the "incentive" of a 10% pay rise if staff give up their 11 rostered days off. Protective Service members around the country have rejected the offer.
East Timor vigil ends
MELBOURNE — The long-running vigil outside the Indonesian consulate here to protest against the treatment of East Timorese refugees in Indonesian camps ended on February 6.
The action was wound up at the request of East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao who said it would be a gesture of reconciliation to the Indonesian government. Thirty people gathered to reflect on the campaign and assist with dismantling the vigil.
The vigil was set up five months ago under the auspices of the Free Timor Coalition, shortly after the Indonesian military and militia campaign of terror started in East Timor. The FTC includes trade unions and community and solidarity groups.