In the midst of enterprise bargaining, members of the National Tertiary Education Union at the University of Melbourne were shocked by a management proposal to cut at least 220 full-time positions by the end of 2009. The university claimed the sackings were due to the economic crisis.
806
On August 4, theatrical pre-dawn raids in Melbourne by more than 400 Victorian, NSW and federal police and ASIO agents — including paramilitary units armed with sub-machineguns — launched Australia’s latest terrorism scare.
The frustration of rank-and-file building workers who marched to the ALP national conference on July 31 was obvious. They demanded Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Labor government honour its promise to abolish the Howard government-created Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
A pledge to create 50,000 new green jobs was a showpiece announcement in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s speech to the ALP national conference on July 30.
The largest demonstrations for same-sex marriage in Australia’s history took place on August 1. A 3000-strong rally marched on the national ALP conference in Sydney. Four thousand took to the streets in Melbourne. Record crowds mobilised in other cities.
In the state that claims to have the greenest energy on the Australian mainland, South Australia’s climate camp will confront two of the country’s dirtiest power stations. The Northern and Playford B plants, fuelled by cheap but low-grade brown coal, are just outside Port Augusta, a four-hour drive north of Adelaide.
On July 28, Castlemaine members of the Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan (SAWA) organised a birthing kit assembly day at the local hospital.
A chill wind was blowing early last Thursday outside my local train station. Commuters had their collars turned up and their arms folded as they hurried into the station. Dave, the suburb's iconic Big Issue seller in his red wheelchair, and I with the latest Green Left Weekly, were trying to attract those with windproof consciences.
BRISBANE — Seven hundred teachers staged an after-school rally outside state parliament on August 5. The rally was organised after the Industrial Relations Commission ruled against a planned statewide strike.
Arthur MillerChristopher BigsbyWeidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008739 pages, $79.99 (hb
On the verge of another racist push?
Suddenly, the Rudd government has discovered the need to pump up the "terrorist threat". First, the Attorney-General discovered the so-called "anti-terrorist laws" were not strong enough.
Now, the biggest
MELBOURNE — Ambulance workers in Victoria have stepped up their campaign for a 10-hour break between shifts and for wage justice. A mass meeting of 400 ambulance officers voted on August 4 that they would not work on their days off.
- Page 1
- Next page