MELBOURNE — The campaign to defend the Austudy Five has called for supporters to rally from 9.30 a.m. at Brunswick Magistrates Court on November 2 and November 23. The five, members of the International Socialist Organisation arrested after an Austudy demonstration earlier this year, will face magistrates for mention on the former date and begin a committal hearing on the latter. Badly needed donations and solidarity messages can be sent to: Defend the Austudy Five, GPO Box 1473N, Melbourne 3001.
PERTH — Some 40 people attended an afternoon seminar at the Fremantle Education Centre titled "Elite and Popular Discontent in Indonesia" on October 17. Speakers Ian Chalmers and Vedi Hadiz from Murdoch University's Asia Research Centre said that changes in Indonesian society had created new political space for the emergence of grassroots and democratic movements. Participants agreed on the need to establish an Aksi (Action Solidarity Indonesia) solidarity group here. A convener was chosen to organise an initial meeting for early November.
- President Mary Robinson of Ireland was welcomed to Australia by Aboriginal activist and president of the Aboriginal Provisional Government, Clarrie Isaacs on October 22. At Perth airport, Isaacs handed her a letter comparing the 800 years of colonialism the Irish have suffered with the 200 years of white rule in Australia. Activists from Australian Aid for Ireland picketed Robinson's first official engagement at the Irish Club in Subiaco. They handed out leaflets calling for the repeal of Section 31, a law that prevents Republican political party Sinn Fein from being heard on the electronic media.
SYDNEY — Tasmanian Green MP Bob Brown addressed a forum of 100 people at University of New South Wales on October 22 on the topic of the national Green Party. After outlining the development worldwide of green parties and the need for a parliamentary alternative to the two major parties, Brown also stressed that parliament is only one component of the struggle to save the planet. Criticising economic rationalism and the so-called "free" market as a "moving feast of patriarchal power, controlling people's destinies and rights", Brown stressed the need to plan ahead for future generations. While describing social justice as central to green thinking, Brown also believed the planet's carrying capacity for human population has already been exceeded.
- Greenpeace, in a letter to foreign minister Gareth Evans on October 23, called on the federal government to release details of any negotiations it has had with Japan and to join with other countries in announcing its disapproval of the Japanese plan to transport plutonium from France.