Hobart art school under attack
HOBART — Students at the University of Tasmania will meet on February 7 to plan their campaign against the university administration's plans for the School of Fine Arts.
The university wants to cut the number of student places by 60, cut three academic staff positions, reduce the number of technical and administration staff, reduce the budget for studio area materials and cut Art Forum programs by 20%.
Melbourne protest against GST on tampons
MELBOURNE — Two hundred and fifty people joined a lively and noisy demonstration in the Bourke St Mall here on February 4 to protest against the GST, in particular the discriminatory tax on tampons.
Friday night shoppers and workers on their way home stopped to listen to speakers describe the federal Coalition government's social and industrial relations policies as an attempt to take women "back to the 1950s". A national day of action against the GST on tampons has been called for February 25.
ACT unions support Pilbara miners
CANBERRA — The ACT Trades and Labor Council on February 2 pledged its support for miners in the Pilbara battling against BHP's attempt to impose individual contracts. TLC delegates condemned the action of police against unionists and their families on the picket lines at BHP sites in Port Hedland and Mount Newman.
The TLC also passed a motion opposing the application of the GST to tampons and sanitary pads, which it described as sexist. The council called on the ALP to give a public undertaking to scrap the entire GST when it next wins federal government.
People's Inquiry slams government
CANBERRA — The People's Inquiry into successive Australian governments' "special relationship" with Indonesia came to town on February 3. Attended by 28 people, the forum strongly criticised Australia's role in the genocide in East Timor.
James Vassilopoulos, spokesperson for Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET), argued that, in contrast to Indonesia, where those responsible have now been named, in Australia, no government bureaucrat or politician has been officially denounced for their complicity in the killings.