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By Jo Brown "The Australian government betrayed the people of East Timor. It supported the invasion. It supported Suharto. It signed the Timor Gap oil treaty with Indonesia. It supported Indonesia remaining in charge of security before, during and
National Textiles workers paid After nearly nine weeks on the picket lines, 340 workers sacked from the National Textiles plant at Rutherford near Newcastle have been paid $11 million in wages, annual leave, pay in lieu and redundancy. Some workers
By James Vassilopoulos CANBERRA — East Timor solidarity activist Gareth Smith faced charges of willful damage in the ACT Magistrate's Court on March 24. Last September, Smith painted "Shame Australia shame" on the front of Parliament House. If
New crimes compensation legislation falls short By Sarah Lantz and Melanie Heenan In Victoria in July 1997, the Liberal state government abolished crimes compensation awards for pain and suffering. For the majority of victim/survivors of sexual
Forests Successive Governments have forced West Australia down a path of environmental destruction. It started with paying farmers to clear land to produce wheat for export dollars and is continuing with the felling of the South West forests to
Somali refugees to be deported By Sean Healy Three Somali asylum seekers announced on March 25 that they will ask the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to deport them because they are so exhausted by the three years they have
Environmental criminals Yet another toxic spill by an Australian mining company in the Third World provides a compelling argument for tougher laws against polluters. It also exposes the futility of "industry self-regulation". On March 22, one
By John Gauci SYDNEY — Over the past two weeks, Rupert Murdoch's Daily Telegraph has attacked teachers and their union, the NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF), in a series of sensationalist front-page stories that contain little more than gross
By Nick Fredman LISMORE — Chanting "Stop these racist laws!", 200 people marched through the streets of Lismore on March 25. They had just heard speakers condemn the federal government's inaction on mandatory sentencing. The protesters were also
EE The History of Australian Feminism: Getting EqualBy Marilyn LakeAllen & Unwin$29.95 Review by Rachel Evans In her introduction, Marilyn Lake states that the aim of The History of Australian Feminism: Getting Equal is to correct common
By Norm Dixon Turkey's military dominated government is cynically exploiting the Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) unilateral political concessions. Rather than respond with a relaxation of its hardline opposition to Kurdish political, language and
DSP: stop the attacks and restore democracy! The following letter of protest was sent to the Pakistan's General Pervaiz Musharraf by the Democratic Socialist Party in Australia on March 25. We strongly protest the raids by Pakistani army and