Victorian CFMEU misses chance to link ABCC to pay claim
A mass meeting of 6000 Victorian building workers, members of the CFMEU, in late August, voted to accept the latest EBA put to them by the union officials.
With...
Victorian abortion legislation a step forward, but restrictions remain
The Victorian government’s decision to legalise abortion rights is a slap in the face for the anti-abortion lobby. After the religious right’s attempts to undermine abortion rights, it is...
Failure to spread benefits of boom hits WA Labor
Labor looks to have lost its monopoly on power at a state level in the WA election.
Despite the extent of the boom in the WA economy, which has...
Prescribed communities in NT to target review
On September 29 a “Prescribed Area People’s Alliance” meeting will take place. This will be followed on September 30 by a major demonstration demanding the repeal of intervention laws,...
Solar power proposal shows renewables’ potential
A proposal to build a major new solar power station in the Pilbara region of Western Australia has been largely ignored by the mainstream press.
The project follows years of...
Students occupy to demand housing
HOMELESS MELBOURNE students and their student union supporters took action last month to address a housing shortage and associated rent rises. They are occupying a disused university-owned building...
Rudd’s work visa scheme: open the borders to our pacific neighbours
KEVIN RUDD’S announcement at the Pacific Islands forum that he would grant 2500 temporary work visas over three years to Pacific Islanders to pick fruit and vegetables has sparked...
The Senate games begin
BATTLE LINES have been drawn in the Senate. The Rudd government is accusing the Liberals of holding their budget to ransom by blowing a funding hole in it.
The Liberals...
Protest plans derail Adelaide arms fair
Activists from around the country are celebrating the cancellation of the first arms fair planned in Australia in 17 years.
The Asia Pacific Defence and Security Exhibition was to have...
No end in sight to instability in Pakistan
The resignation of Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf was greeted with jubilant demonstrations across Pakistan. But it will not remove the tensions within Pakistani politics.
His resignation was followed by...
China and the Olympics
Some of the China-bashing that accompanied the Beijing Olympics was nothing short of nauseating.
George Bush took time out to chide China over its “detention of political dissidents, human...
Pillars of the US establishment
After a week dominated by Barack Obama’s consecration at the Democratic convention in Denver, his Republican rival has succeeded brilliantly in upstaging him by selecting Sarah Palin as his...
Reviewing the Northern Territory intervention
One year, 810 federal public servants, $900 million on—Jean Parker’s intervention report-card
ON SEPTEMBER 30 the review commissioned by the Federal Government into the Northern Territory intervention will be released....
Caucasus conflict: bloody cost of the new world order
Paddy Gibson puts the recent flashes of violence between Russia and Georgia in context
WESTERN POLITICAL leaders have been sickeningly hypocritical in their response to the recent crisis in Georgia....
Mapoon: the burning of a community
With the government threatening to close so-called “unviable communities” as part of the intervention in the NT, Mark Gillespie looks at the shameful history of Mapoon—an Aboriginal community declared...
The AAA credit rating and other Treasury myths
There is a desperate need to invest in public services infrastructure in NSW. Lack of spending has led to ongoing scandals in the hospital system and the deterioration of...
Explaining Iemma’s privatisation obsession
Why would a Labor government push ahead with a power privatisation plan opposed by 85 per cent of voters, rejected by a massive majority at its own party conference,...
Greer’s rage no answer to the NT intervention
Review: On Rage
By Germaine Greer, Melbourne University Press, $19.95
RIGHT-WING SUPPORTERS of the NT intervention will find comfort in the pages of Germaine Greer’s recent short essay On Rage,...
Persepolis: Iran through a rebel’s eyes
Directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, Now showingWITH US-LED military threats against Iran showing no signs of abating, the release of Persepolis on the big screen couldn’t have...
Inside Kevin 07: Danger signs right from the start
By Christine Jackman, Melbourne University Press, $34.95THE BEST thing about this book is that we know how the story ends—Howard loses. However, a big question mark hangs over what...
The Dark Knight: Fighting terror with terror
Directed by Chris NolanTHE DARK KNIGHT, sequel to Batman Begins, is the latest recreation of the 70 year old modern myth that is The Batman. These two movies by...
A lifetime of struggle
Veteran Trotskyist Issy Wyner passed away in August, aged 92.
Issy Wyner
June 30 1916—August 13 2008
Wyner’s life was closely bound up with the development of the Trotskyist tradition in...
Things they say
“There’s never been an industrial dispute in this country that wasn’t solved by talking.”
Deputy PM Julia Gillard on the Fairfax dispute“If these things are not to be undertaken ......
Bosses side-step ban on AWAs
Companies including Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Telstra have moved to exclude unions from wage negotiations in an effort to maintain AWA wages and conditions.
In May Telstra...
Campaign against sell-off brings down Iemma
THE TOPPLING of NSW Premier Morris Iemma and Treasurer Michael Costa, and the defeat of their plans to privatise the power stations, is a real victory against Labor’s agenda...
Rudd’s plan for schools continues Howard’s legacy
Rudd's new schools plan has been widely condemned. Not only does it revive the former Liberal government’s attempt to implement a “league table” ranking schools, it mimics Howard's scapegoating...
Walden Bello: ‘US power its lowest for a quarter of a century”
Solidarity interviewed one of the key thinkers from the global justice movement, Walden Bello, of Focus on the Global South, during his visit to Sydney to talk about the...
