Technicians employed by Radio Rentals who were locked out of work for a month have returned to work after the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the company agreed on an enterprise agreement that was better than Radio Rentals聮 original offer.
687
Queensland Murris (Indigenous Australians) and their supporters marched on the state parliament on October 10. In a protest called to coincide with the first sitting day of the newly elected Labor government, the 600 demonstrators confronted Premier Peter Beattie with the demand that senior sergeant Chris Hurley be sacked.
In a blow to Canberra聮蝉 campaign against the government of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, a no-confidence motion put by pro-Australian opposition leader Fred Fono was defeated on October 11 by 28 votes to 17 in the impoverished Pacific nation聮蝉 50-member parliament.
Pope Benedict XVI is reported to be on the verge of authorising the return of the Latin Tridentine mass. This would open the way for some of the most extreme clerical reactionaries and anti-Semites to rejoin the Catholic Church.
Political censorship
With media diversity under attack and the right to dissent under threat by the Howard government, dissenting alternatives such as GLW become even more important 鈥 or so you would think.
Not so for a majority at the
聯If you聮re angry, you聮re not mad聰 declared a banner at a march and rally of 120 supporters of the rights of the mentally ill on October 14. The action was part of the local Mental Health Week activities and was organised by the Association of the Relatives and Friends of the Mentally Ill.
The second Workers Charter conference, held at the Auckland Trades Hall on October 7, drew a broad cross-section of the New Zealand union movement and its supporters. The Workers Charter, launched 15 months ago, is a draft list of 10 demands aimed at guaranteeing workers聮 rights. Its demands cover rights such as a living wage, affordable housing and the right to strike.
One of the first things I usually do on a Saturday morning is read the 聯Number Crunch聰 column in the Sydney Morning Herald聮蝉 Good Weekend magazine. I find the assorted collection of interesting statistics irresistible.
A hunger strike will be held on October 20-21 in the Parramatta Activist Centre in solidarity with the 鈥渄eath fast resistance鈥 that has been carried out by Turkish political prisoners since October 20, 2000.
Gary Meyerhoff, long-time activist and founder of the Network Against Prohibition (NAP), died from an AIDS-related illness on October 7. A tireless campaigner for the rights all those who slipped through society聮蝉 cracks, Meyerhoff was an optimist and not afraid to push the limits. He organised around issues and with 麻豆传媒 of society that other activists usually put in the too-hard basket.
Australia has the most concentrated media ownership in the Western world. Nonetheless, the new media bill passed by the Senate on October 12 will further relax ownership regulation and allow the media barons to operate in two out of three media sectors 聴 print, radio and television.
On October 2, the Sydney-based Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) released its Deported to Danger II report, examining the fate of people whose claims for asylum in Australia were rejected. The report found that 39 of the 41 were deported to danger. Two have been welcomed in New Zealand.
- Page 1
- Next page