The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) was set up a year ago to review the Australian health system. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd聮s pre-election promise 聴 聯to end the blame game between Canberra and the states when it comes to health and hospitals聰 聴 merely registered the obvious fact that the hospital system is in crisis.
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ADELAIDE聴 South Australian public school and TAFE teachers have been awarded a 3.75% interim pay rise by the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) 聴 the first pay rise for SA teachers in 16 months.
News
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Such is the outrage caused by Israel聮s latest attack on Gaza in December-January that even some local governments in New South Wales have passed, or are considering, motions condemning the attack and calling on the Australian government to ban the sale of any military material to Israel.
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聯The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) plans to shed thousands of full-time jobs and drastically increase outsourcing in areas including debt collection, tax refund management and business activity statements as part of a new efficiency drive聰, according to the February 13 Australian Financial Review.
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In minutes released of its February 17 board meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia flags that its cuts to official interest rates may slow. It seems that the financial gurus at the RBA are unhappy that their cuts to interest rates (passed on only in part by the banks to home-buyers, and even less to credit-card debtors), have failed to stimulate enough spending.
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Telstra workers, members of the Communications Plumbing and Electrical Union and the Community and Public Sector Union, took 24-hour strike actions nationally (except Victoria on account of the recent bushfire tragedy) on February 9.
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On February 13, more than 100 people rallied outside the Moorabool Street 7-Eleven in the heart of Geelong, Victoria.
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Resistance members set up an 聭Israeli military checkpoint聮 outside Flinders Street train station to call on the state government to not renew Connex聮s contract to run Melbourne聮s train system.
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The 22 November 2008 edition of the 91自拍论坛 Weekly (GLW #776) contained an article written by Margarita Windisch entitled 鈥淎LP, media targets militant ETU unionist鈥.
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聯One quarter of a million people are trapped between a concentration camp and a war zone聰, said Nish Vivekananthan, a young Tamil speaking on the current situation in Sri Lanka, at a public meeting on February 19 in Footscray.
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SYDNEY鈥 After a week of morning community assemblies at Circular Quay, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has won a collective agreement with the private operators of the new fast ferry service to Manly.
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It聮s no secret that students are increasingly working late shifts after school to get by.
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One month after 400 people entered an Upper Florentine 聯exclusion zone聰 to protest against the logging of old-growth forests in Tasmania on January 18, charges of trespass have been laid against 11 people.
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From December 2008 to January 2009, activists travelled to Cuba for the Southern Cross Solidarity Brigade from Australia and New Zealand, organised by the Australia-Cuba Friendship Society. Resistance member Ash Pemberton was in Cuba for the 50th anniversary of the triumph of the revolution. He spoke to 91自拍论坛 Weekly鈥檚 Jay Fletcher.From December 2008 to January 2009, activists travelled to Cuba for the Southern Cross Solidarity Brigade from Australia and New Zealand, organised by the Australia-Cuba Friendship Society.
Analysis
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The key United Nations report used as the basis for climate change policies in many countries, including Australia, seriously underestimated the dangers of global warming, one of its leading compilers has warned.
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The following statement is by Yingiya Guyula, a Yolngu man from North East Arnhem Land. His family is based in Millinginbi and Gapuwiyak.
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Less than a year ago, it was widely held among mainstream economists that the world economy was doing fine, and that, in the face of any eventual problems, Australia would be secure.
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Warrick Jordan is a member of the Huon Valley Environment Centre in Tasmania and is one of the Triabunna 13 (13 forest activists being sued by logging giant Gunns' Ltd). Jordan spoke to 91自拍论坛 Weekly鈥檚 Susan Austin about his activities and the relationship between forests and climate change.
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The federal government鈥檚 $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan stimulus package passed the senate on February 13 with the support of the Greens, Family First Senator Steve Fielding and independent Nick Xenophon.
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On February 13, Australian troops killed five children and injured at least two other adult civilians in a night-time 鈥渙peration鈥 in Afghanistan鈥檚 southern Oruzgan province.
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Flag raising ceremonies will mark the 33rd anniversary of the Saharawi Republic in most states for the first time in Australia, as a gesture of solidarity and friendship with the people of Western Sahara.
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Federal Labor鈥檚 proposed internet filtering policy is an attack on freedom of speech and needs to be stopped.
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Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on February 18 showed that retail sales increased by 0.8% (seasonally adjusted) in the December quarter.
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Looking back at the growth of the climate movement, it is clear we have made significant progress.
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As the world economy spirals down into its deepest crisis since the great depression, the writings of Karl Marx have made a return to the top seller lists in bookstores. In his native Germany, the sales of Marx鈥檚 works have trebled.
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The following letter was endorsed by 300 participants at a public meeting in Sydney on February 6 and sent to federal ministers and Labor backbenchers.
World
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The latest brutal attacks on Gaza have had a perverse effect on Israeli politics. Extreme right wing political parties have gained greater support in the recent Israeli elections.
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聯For us there is no valid definition of socialism other than the abolition of the exploitation of one human being by another聰, insisted Argentinean-born revolutionary Ernesto 聯Che聰 Guevara at the Afro-Asian Conference in Algeria, 1965.
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Five children were shot dead by Australian troops on February 12, near the village of Sarmorghab in Oruzgan province.
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After the June 27, 2008 putsch by Robert Mugabe, signs were always there that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were headed for surrender. It officially happened on January 30 when the party hoisted a white flag on top of its Harvest House headquarters.
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On February 9, 40 students from Glasgow University occupied its computer science research building. This was just one in a series of university occupations by students across Britain 鈥 involving as many as 24 campuses at one point 鈥 in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
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The article below is a statement released on February 16 by the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) in France on the situation in the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, which are still French-run colonies (French Antilles). It is reprinted from .
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The health of Zimbabwean human rights activist Jestina Mukoko has deteriorated as she enters her third month in jail.
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Published below is a statement initiated by young Tamil Australians for Australian citizens add their name to in order to protest against the brutal and genocidal war being waged by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) against the Tamil people.
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World food production will decrease by as much as 25% by 2050 due to 鈥渆nvironmental breakdowns鈥 associated with climate change, according to the United Nations.
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The below article is Abridged from . This strike action follows the successful actions of South African dockworkers, whose refusal to move Israeli goods resulted on February 6 in a ship carrying Israeli goods being unable to offload its cargo.
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聯Today we opened wide the gates of the future 聟 Truth against lies [and] the dignity of the homeland has triumphed聰, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez insisted to tens of thousands of celebrating supporters after Venezuelans voted to amend the constitution to end term limits on all elected politicians 聴 allowing Chavez to stand for re-election in 2012.
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If the gloomy predictions are to be believed, this crisis of capitalism will potentially prove worse than that of the 1930s Great Depression.
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The article below is an abridged editorial published by the US Socialist Worker on February 18. Visit .
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and others on the Italian right have had much to say recently about various medical matters.
Culture
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The Challenge and Burden of Historical Time: Socialism in the Twenty-First Century
By Istvan Meszaros
Monthly Review Press, 2008
480 pages, $59.49 -
Belching Out the Devil: global adventures with Coca-Cola
By Mark Thomas
Ebury Press, 2008
363 pages, $34.95 (pb) -
Message Stick: Voices From The Cape 鈥 Documents the "Community Prophet" approach to engaging young Indigenous people from the at-risk community of Aurukun, inspiring them to use their voices again using film. ABC, Friday, February 27,
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The Last Albatross
By Ian Irvine
Simon & Schuster, 2008
383pages, $29.95