Kennett's unabashed class partisanship ("Ours will be a pro-business government", he promised before the elections) is making even the federal opposition nervous. John Howard thinks Kennett should have declared his intention to
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MELBOURNE — There have been squatters for as long as there has been the concept of owning land. At certain times it has been condoned, but not today. Last century, Australian land was settled by the "squattocracy", the
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What is the difference between a racist's house and a porcupine? A porcupine has the pricks on the outside. Triple J, as part of the Human Rights Commission's Different Colours, One People campaign, has announced a special award for Australia's
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In August, Tim Cornwell received the 1992 National Energy Award from resources minister Alan Griffiths. In September, he got the sack for pursuing the energy efficiency initiatives that won him the award. For five years,
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The New Zealand government's assault on the trade union movement is falling well short of its main aim, says Alan Millar, a leading NZ public sector unionist who visited Australia recently. When the
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Anti-worker legislation Laws being rushed through the Victorian parliament include the Employee Relations Bill, the Vital State Industries Bill and the Public Sector Management Bill. Together they will: Abolish all state awards from March 1,
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Federal public servants voted overwhelmingly in October to authorise Public Sector Union officials to negotiate with the government on enterprise bargaining in the current 8% wages campaign. A survey in August showed that 60%
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MELBOURNE — Victorians used to joke about "political refugees" from Queensland under the former Bjelke-Petersen government. But soon, it seems, there may be a flight to the north, to what a local wit said was now a relative
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[This is a reply to the article "Population and the environment" in our October 28 issue by Jenny Goldie, president of Australians for an Ecologically Sustainable Population (AESP).] Jenny Goldie doesn't have to
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As new entrants to the work force, young people will be the first hit with exploitative individual employment contracts. That has been the experience in New Zealand. In addition, the abolition of weekend penalty rates and the
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Thousands of women around Australia rallied, marched and demonstrated last month to Reclaim the Night. Like International Women's Day in March, Reclaim the Night every October attracts feminists, women involved in various women's services (often
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Urban activism Phil McManus' discussion on issues facing urban activists, while containing positive elements, also contains many errors. On the positive side unlike so many advocates of urban reform, such as eco-cities, he at least attempts to
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ADELAIDE — Grand Prix time has to be one of the most wasteful, stinking, noisy, dangerous and hateful weekends to spend in Adelaide. There are fly-overs of air force planes, every shop displaying "their" car
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MELBOURNE — Supporters of the Austudy 5 gathered at Melbourne Magistrates Court on November 2 when the five, arrested following a student demonstration earlier this year, appeared for a brief hearing. One of the defendants later told the crowd
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MELBOURNE — "Nine years of concessions under the ALP-ACTU Accord have left the unions seriously weakened. Labor politicians continue to assure big business that they can better deliver wage cuts and industrial peace", said
News
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MELBOURNE — Complaints about the behaviour of members of Victoria Police almost doubled in the last financial year according to a report in the November 2 Age. In the year ending June 30, 1992, there were 4525 complaints
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Victoria Police racist, says ex-adviserMELBOURNE — The former Koori adviser to the Victoria Police, Ken Saunders, who resigned his position last month because of the "inherent racism in the police force", has accused the
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A meeting of traditional leaders from central Bougainville has condemned the attack on the area by Papua New Guinea Defence Force troops and called for their immediate withdrawal. The chiefs vowed not to cooperate with the PNG
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Forum discusses censorshipADELAIDE — Almost 100 people attended a Democratic Socialist Party forum on censorship and pornography on November 4. Speakers were Melanie Sjoberg of the DSP and Helen Vicqua, the secretary of the
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Police hassle Canberra squattersCanberra — Young squatters in the disused Fortune Theatre have been harassed by police and accused of stealing or damaging hundreds of cars. In what appears to be a media and police
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ALICE SPRINGS — The Northern Territory Country Liberal Party government is trying to privatise Yirara College, a public secondary college here for Aboriginal people. It proposes to hand the college over to the Lutheran Finke
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SYDNEY — Environmentalists and supporters of Aboriginal rights will rally outside state parliament on Friday, November 13, to oppose the government's resource security legislation. The legislation would in effect privatise
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How Cuba is tackling the energy crisisBRISBANE — "One thing Cuba has to be grateful the US blockade for", Cuban environmental scientist Rolando Alfredo Hernandez Leon told a forum here on November 4. "It's taught us to be
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The survivors of an industrial disaster are now fighting for compensation and medical treatment for diseases contracted over decades. The Baryulgil catastrophe was a creation of asbestos mining companies, which needed
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Arithmetic A tax return by one of Australia's top 100 companies had listed its stocks as a deduction, leading to "an arithmetic error in excess of $80 million. It was only after numerous tax office requests and some 20 months had elapsed that
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Public transport campaignBRISBANE — Brisbane Environmental Youth Alliance launched its Public Transport Campaign on November 4 as part of Youth Week '92. More than 70 people attended the "Anti Traffic Jam" — a public
Analysis
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Keating's cynical ploy A desperate, irresponsible idea that has been floating in the political stratosphere for many months was finally brought to ground last week when Paul Keating blustered in parliament that Labor would not block the GST in
World
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LIDY ALEJANDERO is secretary-general of BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance) in the Philippines. In Sydney for an Australian-Philippines solidarity conference, Alejandero was interviewed for 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ by MAX LANE. Question: Could you explain just
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Clinton and Gore, Clinton and Gore — Both of them born after the war! They're not liberals, like before — Technocratic, to the core. Clinton and Gore, Clinton and Gore. — from a poem by Calvin TrillinThe
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Anderton banned from Tonga The leader of New Zealand's NewLabour Party, Jim Anderton, has been banned from delivering a keynote address to a pro-democracy conference in Tonga after intervention by the rulers of the Pacific kingdom. In a
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Fretilin representative Estanislao da Silva spoke at a Democratic Socialist forum in Sydney on the eve of the first anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre. The following is excerpted from his talk. The Santa Cruz massacre is an important event
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'Muslims must fight for their rights' Ifet Mustafic is the imam of the Islamic Society of Footscray in Melbourne, where he has worked for the past one and a half years. A Bosnian Muslim, he graduated from the Islamic faculty in Sarajevo. He
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MOSCOW — With a decree issued on October 28, Russian President Boris Yeltsin outlawed the country's major opposition formation, the National Salvation Front (FNS). The FNS had been set up four days earlier at a Moscow
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SYDNEY — The war in the former Yugoslavia has taken a tragic toll and nowhere more than in Bosnia-Hercegovina where it is estimated 100,000 Muslims have lost their lives as a result of Serbian aggression. Taken together, the
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PHNOM PENH — One year after the Paris Peace Accords were signed, about 15,000 UN soldiers are here. Some (including the majority of the Australian troops) are busy establishing a UN military communications system (supplied by
Culture
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Endangered species legislation Left anonymously on the doormat this week is what appears to be an early draft of the federal endangered species legislation. The document is particularly interesting in showing what clauses did not make it into
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Take Two: The Criminal Justice System Revisited By Tim Anderson Bantam, 1992. 376 pp. $34.95 Reviewed by John Tognolini Tim Anderson's new book is a stunning portrait of a police vendetta and an insight into this country's criminal justice
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One plum pudding would have been enough Until the end of the world Directed by Wim Wenders Script by Peter Carey and Wim Wenders Starring William Hurt, Solveig Dommartin, Sam Neil Reviewed by Ulrike Erhardt Co-productions which are
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The first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Music Festival, With Open Eyes, will be held in Sydney from November 30 to December 5. The festival comes at a time when Yothu Yindi, Kev Carmody and other
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The Fire Next TimeSYDNEY — Popping in for a quiet drink at Max's Petersham Inn to hear popular folk singer Peter Hicks' new band The Fire Next Time proved a very rewarding experience. At last, some overtly political music
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Dreamy, mystical mountain music Islands of the Sky Peter Crowe Distributed by Larrikin Records Available on CD Reviewed by Peter Hicks This is an album of ambient guitar pieces which Peter Crowe describes as "acoustic mountain music".
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In the dim past young people, when asking about sex, would be given vague answers about storks flying over chimney pots before the topic of conversation was quickly changed. In the liberated '90s it would be nice to think that we
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Timor mortis (From the Spanish of Uruguayan author Mario Benedetti. Translated by Rosemary Evans.) And, finally, death awaits me. She knows at what terrible moment she will come. But to me it is a mystery. So between us I build
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Vince Jones blows Greenpeace's trumpet Popular Australian jazz trumpeter Vince Jones' latest album, Future Girl, is to be launched with several shows at Sydney's Harbourside Brasserie. The album and shows feature Vince's commitment to the
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Life on a string A film directed by Chen Kaige Starring Liu Zhongyuan and Huang Lei Reviewed by Wayne Ruscoe Two blind musicians wander an achingly beautiful landscape, searching for spiritual salvation or, at least, the return of the power