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Challenge, change, choice: NOWSA '96

By Vaarurfika Dharmapala PERTH — For the first time since its inception in 1987, the Network of Women Students of Australia's annual conference will be held here this year. The conference will be held at Edith Cowan University (Mt Lawley campus)

... and ain't i a woman? Women, work and choice

Women, work and choice Bettina Arndt has used the excuse of "debate" to launch an attack on feminism and to gloss over the social pressures that impose the bulk of domestic labour on women. In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald on April 9,

Action updates

Queensland University occupied BRISBANE — Two hundred and fifty students occupied the student union offices at the University of Queensland on April 18 in response to the student union's failure to represent them, in particular the union

ACT Greens move to lower voting age

By Lisa Macdonald On April 17, ACT Green MLA Kerrie Tucker moved in the ACT Legislative Assembly to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 in the ACT. The Greens' move, the first attempt in Australia to introduce such legislation, is supported by

Looking out: We need your help

We need your help "I would like to open up a place where people who are hungry could come and got a shower, a change of clothes and a good hot meal." — The Reverend R.B. Cottonreader Few things in this life can be more demoralising than

Rallies against racism

By Mark Cronin BRISBANE — About 50 people attended a picket against racism outside the office of the federal minister for Aboriginal Affairs on April 16. The picket was called by members of the Community and Public Sector Union and endorsed by 20

Striking wool scourers still defiant

By Geoff Spencer GEELONG — Wool scourers at E.P. Robinson are entering their eighth week on strike with no resolution to the dispute in sight. An unfair dismissal case in the Industrial Relations Commission on April 18 was inconclusive and

Further moves towards an education 'industry'

By Adam Hanieh ADELAIDE — The former federal Labor government's agenda of developing closer links between industry and education has been consummated in a deal between a South Australian high school and AWA Defence Industries. The $30,000 deal

* Shell polluted aquifer in Turkey

ISTANBUL — The multinational oil company Shell has systematically polluted a huge underground reserve of drinkable water in an aquifer near the city of Diyarbakir in south-east Turkey, where up to 2 million people live, Greenpeace revealed at a

May Day

May 1 is May Day, and since the 1890s workers have marched and rallied on this day to demand better wages and conditions. All around the world, people will take to the streets to show that despite the austerity drive by conservative governments in

ACT unions may escalate action

By Sue Bull CANBERRA — As Kate Carnell, chief minister of the ACT, begged the Legislative Assembly for an extra $14.2 million to fix the hole in the 1995-96 ACT budget, unions considered whether to reimpose industrial action. During the last few

Outcry after Pinkenba Six let off

By Bill Mason BRISBANE — The decision to place the "Pinkenba Six" police officers on probation after an internal inquiry into their dumping of three Aboriginal boys at Pinkenba in May 1994 has been denounced by civil libertarians and the