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Victorian AMWU plans industrial campaign

BY SUE BULL MELBOURNE — Craig Johnston, the secretary of the Victorian branch of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), may be under attack, but along with the rest of the militant union branch's Workers First leadership, he is

Tony Abbott slams AMWU

BY SUE BULL MELBOURNE — Tony Abbott, federal workplace relations minister, used parliamentary privilege on May 29 to savagely attack the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and, in particular, Craig Johnston, the secretary of the

Students support refugees, bureaucrats block action

BY STUART MUNCKTON CANBERRA — More than 100 students attended the Australian National University Students' Association May 27 annual general meeting, at which students voted to make opposition to mandatory detention and support for asylum

Katherine looks for healing

BY FELICITY MEAKINS KATHERINE — This year the Katherine Regional Stolen Generation committee chose to rename Sorry Day — May 25 — "Healing Day", in a move intended to highlight that reconciliation begins, not finishes, with an apology.

Write on: Letters to the editor

Israel I Boaz Magal (Write On, GLW #493) makes several correct criticism of Israel, but then tries to salvage some legitimacy for the Zionist state by saying, "there is no other place the Jews really can call home". If this is true, how do you

Museworthy: Tampa: For the Drowning

Museworthy: Tampa: For the DrowningWho Were Watched The air's carcass lieson the earth's bright back. A newborn baby has been introducedto waterand waggles its headlike an ocean bird. This is the day coming after the oneon which we gave

Indigenous languages suffer in budget

BY FELICITY MEAKINS Indigenous languages and the stolen generations were another casualty of the 2002-03 federal budget. The $7.2 million previously allocated to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) for preserving and

End military ties with Indonesia!

SYDNEY — On June 1, activists picketed defence department offices. The protest, called by Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific, demanded that Australia end its military ties with Indonesia, and called for freedom for Aceh.From Green Left

Socialist Alliance calls for no Telstra sale

[On June 1, the Socialist Alliance sent the following letter to the Greens national council.] Dear comrades and friends, Last night, at its regular monthly meeting, the national executive of the Socialist Alliance voted to contact the

What's behind the medical insurance crisis?

BY DAVE RILEY At the heart of the current medical insurance crisis is the private health-care system. Without specialist doctors on call and guaranteed liability coverage, private health care — much praised by successive Labor and Coalition

Huge salaries for witch-hunters

BY MARGARITA WINDISCH MELBOURNE — As the political witch-hunt against the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union continues in the form of the royal commission into the building industry, on May 28 it was revealed that the

Leigh Hubbard: ALP needs 'a complete re-stuffing'

[MELBOURNE — On May 11, the Socialist Alliance sponsored a trade union seminar, discussing, among other things, unions and political representation. This question of relating to political parties, and specifically the ALP, has been an