Keating's call — one might almost say "threat" — to business to invest some profits to prevent a wages push is yet another signal that he is bereft of foresight.
Throughout the '80s, Keating's economic "leadership" was of
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Doctor Phillip Nitschke, formerly a resident medical officer (RMO) at Royal Darwin Hospital, probably wishes he could forget the last 12 months of his life. During that time he lost his job twice, his professional ability was
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A meeting of reactionary minds"Vote against social engineering. Vote for democracy. Vote 1 for Australians Against Further Immigration", the ALP's Graeme Campbell urged electors in the Mackellar and Warringah by-elections.
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A long way to go Women continue to be judged according to community stereotypes, by what people think we should be, by how we are expected to act and according to someone else's moralistic, simplistic assessment of our role in society. In
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ADELAIDE — Dean Brown's Liberal government celebrated 100 days in office in South Australia with the minister for correctional services, Wayne Matthew, launching an attack on those in society least able to effectively fight back
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RU486, the "abortion pill" manufactured by Roussel Uclaf, has again hit the headlines. It is to be trialled in both Sydney and Melbourne by the World Health Organisation (WHO), although Roussel has said it has no intention at this
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According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, somewhere between 2 and 4 million US children have sufficient lead in their blood to diminish their IQ, reduce their physical stature, damage their hearing, decrease their
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People and Places: The Global Family — The hippo was almost hunted to extinction during the '50s and '60s. Today it is protected and numbers are on the increase, yet it still faces many new environmental problems. SBS, Tuesday, April 5, 6pm.
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Songs and stories of Australia — Kev Carmody: Singer and Storyteller — A program recorded in conversational style. Through his folk songs and storytelling, Carmody reflects on the cultural differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
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Clutching at straws I must endorse, with feeling, the recent WET Tank's award of the brass tampon to the Court government of WA for monumental incompetence and uselessness. Not only have we had Court denouncing the Gay Mardi Gras with the
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During the Easter long weekend, a major international political event is occurring in Sydney. The International 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Conference will bring together activists from around the world to discuss strategies for social change. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly
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Senator Graham Richardson, 44, is retiring from politics, probably to enter business. This is symbolic of the likely new niche that parliament will have in the career paths of those who enter the service of big business in
News
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Perth — Community opposition is growing to the WA police "Operation Sweep", which, under the pretence of defending young people "in moral danger", is harassing them on the street at night. The socialist
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Rail workers picket GossBRISBANE — More than 100 angry rail workers booed Queensland Premier Wayne Goss outside a Labor Party function in Townsville on March 23 over plans to close the Townsville railway workshops by the
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Environmental rallyADELAIDE — Nearly 500 people gathered for a rally outside Parliament House on March 24 to oppose the Hindmarsh Island Bridge project, the Craigburn Farm subdivision and the development of the Mt
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Cashing in on chipsIn its path from Australia's 130,000 farmers to 17 million consumers, our food passes through around 30 major processing companies, involving 3500 individual factories, to only four supermarket chains. This
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Starcke: 'Historic alliance'BRISBANE — One hundred and twenty people attended a March 21 meeting here organised by the Wilderness Society to protest against the proposal by the Goss government to establish a 10,000
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Day of action on unemployment The radical youth organisation Resistance has initiated a petition calling for a national day of action in protest at the federal government's failure to seriously address the unemployment crisis. Following is the
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Youths held in adult jailBRISBANE — Queensland Aboriginal and Islanders Legal Service vice-president Sam Watson said on March 22 that the service would appeal to the High Court or even the United Nations to "stop children
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'Revivalist meetings' Environmental activists George Marshall and Brent Hoare will be whizzing around Australia throughout April to hold "evolutionary revivalist meetings" with as many people as possible who are interested in striving to ensure
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The Democrats' budget proposals, launched on March 21, are aimed at encouraging business to invest and employ. According to Democrat leader Senator Cheryl Kernot, the package pushes for a transfer of taxes from business inputs to
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Success story "Russia will be a success story, whatever the difficulties." — International Monetary Fund managing director Michel Camdessus after agreeing to provide the Yeltsin government with a US$1.5 billion loan if it implements new taxes and
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Completion of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has brought agricultural trade into the agreement. This will further integrate Australia's food industry into the world market. The
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Students rally against voluntary unionismMELBOURNE — Around 1000 students marched through the streets on March 23 in opposition to the Kennett government's proposed voluntary student unionism legislation. The legislation
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One anomaly of the new trade regime is that it appears to allow the sale of contaminated meat in Australia. The March 24 Financial Review reported that meat from 452 quarters of beef which had been rejected for human consumption by
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Greens (WA) Senators Dee Margetts and Christabel Chamarette released their submission on the 1994-95 federal budget on March 22. In their initial response to the government's Draft Fiscal Framework, the WA Greens said that
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Good votes for Brisbane Greens, socialistsBRISBANE — The Labor Party under Lord Mayor Jim Soorley was swept back to office in council elections here on March 26, with a swing to it of up to 7%. Soorley won 52% to Liberal
Analysis
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North Korea: don't be confused "Chaos. Corruption. Civil war. He's back to lay down the law" runs the promo for Hollywood's latest extravaganza of violence, Robocop 3. It just about describes US policy on North Korea. The US-supported
World
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JAKARTA — Well-known sociologist and lecturer George Aditjondro has publicly criticised the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. Aditjondro, from the prestigious private Satya Wacana University in Java and a popular columnist
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The Brazilian Workers Party (PT) has been tipped by many commentators to become part of a new government in the country's national elections in October. The PT is part of an electoral alliance with a variety of progressive parties,
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JOHANNESBURG — The ANC's southern Natal chairperson, Jeff Radebe, flanked by the ANC's candidate for premier of Natal, Jacob Zuma, said here on March 23 that "the time has come for the Transitional Executive Council to take
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"The James Bay Project is the ultimate arrogance of the engineering mentality in its devastation of the North American continent", says Thomas Berry, the author of Dream of the Earth. What is at stake is the entire
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JOHANNESBURG — The hated military leader of the Ciskei bantustan, Brigadier Oupa Gqozo has been toppled by a revolt by Ciskei public servants and police. Gqozo is better known here as the "Butcher of Bisho', after his troops
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Storm over Indonesian arms salesBritain's Conservative government is facing a growing row over its decision to sell 24 Hawk ground attack planes to Indonesia. Hawks have already been extensively used by Indonesian forces
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SAN SALVADOR — FMLN-Democratic Convergence (CD) presidential candidate Ruben Zamora, achieved a vote of 25.29% in the March 20 elections. With 83.6% of the vote counted, the ruling ARENA's candidate, Calderon Sol, had 49.26%.
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German Green resurgenceSpectacular local election results for Germany's Green Party have thrown calculations about the likely result of the October 1994 general election into turmoil. In the March 20 elections in the
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MOSCOW — Years ago, it would have been sensational news. The Russian state authorities, President Boris Yeltsin announced on March 9, would not import grain in 1994. The country, he explained, had sufficient reserves to last
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JOHANNESBURG — The African National Congress has called on the National Party government and its leader, F.W. de Klerk, to come clean about its knowledge of the criminal political activities planned and committed by the most
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MOSCOW — Early in March a parliamentary deputy from Orenburg province in the southern Urals contacted Greenpeace Russia with alarming news. Shunted up a side track just outside the town of Svetly were 16 open-topped
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NINA LANSBURY, who visited Vietnam in December-January, reports on the country's environmental problems and opportunities. Speaking with a visiting environmental economist from the University of Hong Kong, it was encouraging to hear him talk
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Challenge to Britain's racist immigration lawsThirty-five thousand people marched through London on March 19 to oppose racism and fascism. The demonstration, organised by the Trades Union Congress, reflected concern at the
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JOHANNESBURG — Following a week of mass protests in South African prisons, the Transitional Executive Council agreed on March 22 that all prisoners will be allowed to vote in this country's first democratic elections.
Culture
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Disturbing the War: Melbourne Catholics and Vietnam By Val Noone Spectrum, 1993 Reviewed by Karl Miller This account of the Vietnam War and the movement against it targets Melbourne Catholics from around 1960 until Australian troops were
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The Pelican Brief With Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington Reviewed by Arun Pradhan It sounds like a good idea: rework the familiar Watergate plot, get some big names like Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington, chuck in some suspense and
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Penny Arcade has had her share of romantic traumas, but she has found the antidote. Once, following a particularly nasty break-up with an emotionally crippled boyfriend, she and a 21-year-old gay friend
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Max Shachtman and His Left: A Socialist's Odyssey through the "American Century" By Peter Drucker Humanities Press, 1994. 346 pp., $29.95 (pb) Reviewed by Phil Shannon "If there is a gram of Marxist blood left in me, it will take a hundred
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Philadelphia Directed by Jonathan Demme Starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Jason Robards Reviewed by Russell Pink Since the AIDS pandemic began, more aware or bolder film producers have noticed the potential of the screen for enlarging
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Germinal Directed by Claude Berri Reviewed by Dick Nichols Nobody except, perhaps, students "doing" French literature reads the novels of 19th century French realist Emile Zola any more, and that's not surprising. It would be difficult to
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Feast for the eyes, not the brain The Scent of the Green Papaya A film by Tran Anh Hung Mandolin Cinema, Sydney Reviewed by Peter Boyle This film won two prizes at Cannes 1993 and has been hailed by many critics as a masterful film of
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King Lear By William Shakespeare Sydney Theatre Company Drama Theatre, Opera House, March 24 to April 30 Parramatta Riverside Theatre May 10 to 28 Reviewed by Helen Jarvis Lear himself undeniably dominates any production of this play,
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"To me Dili was a really nice place, very peaceful. Everyone was free, living life without much planning for the future", Timorese painter Sebastiao Silva recalls his home, which he left behind in 1984, prior to the Indonesian invasion. It is