Farmers take on the banks Rebellion in the countryside By Peter Boyle When local bank managers hear that a rural action group has been set up in their district, they press the panic button according to Jim Cronin, a co-founder of Bankwatch.
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SYDNEY — Employment discrimination against the Catholic population of Northern Ireland will be the focus of an international campaign to boycott the National Australia Bank, launched here on August 24. Irish Civil rights
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British courts and battered women The case of Kiranjit Ahluwalia seems to confirm the view of many that battered women who kill their abusers get little justice in British courts. On July 31 the Court of Appeal quashed Kiranjit's murder
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Tony Smith International dilemma in the bush Cowra belies the stereotype of the sleepy NSW country town. Because of the 1944 break-out of prisoners of war, it has a special Japanese connection. Perhaps because of this, some far-sighted
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Vandalism of Aboriginal sites at Marandoo The cave at Marandoo in Western Australia, where evidence has been found of occupation going back 18,000 years, has been vandalised by heavy equipment. In the past six weeks a drilling rig has put a
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Genetic engineering is hailed by some as a means to solve the global problems of disease and hunger, to increase plant and animal productivity to supply food for an overpopulated world. Others worry that it is another attempt at a technological
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Environmental activists aiming to "blow the lid on the pollution licensing system in New South Wales" have been permitted to begin a court action against the NSW Environment Protection Authority and pulp and paper manufacturer
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Stompen Ground '92 — Prepare to party all night! The Kimberley Aboriginal Arts and Cultural Festival is to be simulcast live nationally from Broome on Triple J, ABC Regional Radio and on ABC-TV. Among top Aboriginal bands and performers to take
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In the recent federal budget an Austudy loan scheme was introduced. Austudy was wiped out altogether for 38,000 students. The HECS tertiary tax was increased 3.6% (twice the level of inflation) and made even more
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If you didn't see it, you missed the eye of the storm. Sex By Request, Channel Nine's one-hour special, went to air August 20. The campaign by the Lighthouse Christian Centre and the Australian Family Association to have the
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Family values Just as I stopped feeling sick about Hewson's conference I hear the fascist bible bashers at the Republican Convention in Texas talk about family values. Speaker after speaker ranted on in the best Nazi traditions about their
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Menu of Transgenic Foods Appetisers Spiced Potatoes with Waxmoth genes Juice of Tomato with Flounder gene Entree Blackened Catfish with Trout gene Scalloped potato with Chicken gene Corn bread with Firefly gene Dessert Rice Pudding
News
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Bannon's 'bail-out budget'ADELAIDE — The South Australian budget, brought down by Premier John Bannon on August 27, has been described as the "bail-out budget". Massive amounts of money will be poured into failed
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Nose already in the trough New South Wales politicians have long creamed the benefits of a superannuation scheme which has given them millions. After the government axed public servants' super entitlements, Labor leader Bob Car suddenly saw the
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Call for inquiry into attack on KurdsSYDNEY — At a rally in Town Hall Square on August 29, the Committee of Solidarity with Kurdish People called upon the Australian government to investigate an unprovoked attack by the
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Queer Collaborations ConferenceSydney — "People are hungry for a forum like this", said Nic Connolly, one of the organising collective for the Queer Collaborations Conference, held in Sydney over the weekend of August
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MELBOURNE — The Liberal-National industrial relations policy for the Victorian elections, released on August 23, is similar to the system brought in by the National government of New Zealand. The award system is to be replaced
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Public Sector Union national secretary Peter Robson has failed to push through the ACTU/ALP agenda for enterprise bargaining in the Australian public service. An overwhelming vote by members on a wages log of claims, completed
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Abortion debated in WollongongWOLLONGONG — A debate on abortion was held at Wollongong University on August 20 as part of Blue Stocking Week. Jill Hickson from the Wollongong Abortion Rights Campaign and state
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Coode Island commemorationMELBOURNE — "Coode Island is an accident waiting to happen" state MP Joan Coxsedge told a vigil on the banks of the Maribyrnong river a year after the infamous toxic blaze at the inner-city
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Brisbane abortion rally cheers pro-choice candidateBRISBANE — More than 250 people rallied and marched for women's abortion rights on August 29. A rally organised by the Women's Abortion Campaign heard speakers including
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BRISBANE — Within an hour of bringing down the state budget, Premier Wayne Goss dissolved parliament and called an election for September 19. The surprise short campaign was calculated to throw both parliamentary and community
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PERTH — Backed by Perth's daily West Australian, the Lawrence government has launched a concerted campaign to marginalise opposition to the controversial development of the old Swan Brewery site. In fact, opposition to the development is widespread, as even the press have been forced to admit.
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MELBOURNE — Many years ago Shannon Ewart was assaulted by police in Queensland, and since then has heard stories from many people who have suffered the same. One night in April, "on impulse", she did a "spray job" on the South
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Democratic Socialists stand in BrisbaneBRISBANE — The day after Queensland Premier Wayne Goss called the September 19 poll, abortion rights activist Susan Price announced her campaign for the Democratic Socialists in the seat
Analysis
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Police raids on the Democrats Federal police raids on the Sydney headquarters of the NSW Democrats and the home of at least one senior Democrat raise some serious questions. What was the purpose of the excessive show of state force against
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A century of union gains threatened Industrial relations law in New Zealand has become an issue in Australia, with both Victorian and federal Liberal parties intending to introduce similar policies here.
World
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The British Labour Party is looking for a new way of presenting itself to an electorate that has rejected it at the last four general elections. Major changes are needed if the party is to find success at the polls five years hence; the battle
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The German Constitutional High Court has blocked the Bundestag's liberalisation of abortion laws. An alliance of the Catholic Church, the staunchly conservative Bavarian government and 241 members of parliament, including
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Women to wait longer for pensionsLONDON — A committee set up by the government has recommended that women wait five years longer to receive their state pensions. The Social Security Advisory Committee proposes that the
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MANAGUA — "It was an unforgettable afternoon. The sound of fireworks and cries came from outside. The university rectors looked like children dressed up as old men as they raised their arms and jumped from their seats with
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Irish women denied access to abortion in their own country are still being denied information about abortion services in Britain. Fourteen students have been threatened with criminal prosecution defying a court injunction
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Burn the bookLONDON — The scent of a scandal is wafting from the walnut-walled boardrooms of the British financial centre, known as the City. Some big companies have had their books in the oven, and Terry Smith has
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BETHLEHEM — I recently had the opportunity to visit a Palestinian refugee camp near here. There I spoke with Fatima and her son, Khalid, about the conditions in the camp. Just half an hour before my visit, there had been a
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Indonesian death threat Arief Budiman, an outspoken intellectual and sociologist from the Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, central Java, has complained to local security authorities after receiving anonymous death threats.
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NZ pulp and paper workers fight backWELLINGTON — Although there have been pockets of determined resistance since the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act in May 1991, in general workers have been on the back foot,
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PHNOM PENH — Cambodia is tense and uncertain. The present impasse cannot go on much longer, with the Khmer Rouge continuing to flout all the conditions laid down in the Paris peace agreement signed last October, and the UNTAC
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"You cannot keep a people under detention for four years and expect the world to turn a blind eye. What Papua New Guinea and Australia have been doing to Bougainville is no longer a secret. The word is out!", exclaimed Mike
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Tory crackdown on travellersLONDON — The British government on August 18 announced that camping without permission is to become a criminal offence. Caravans of trespassers will be liable to confiscation. The
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Demanding more trees, an end to welfare and teacher merit tests, one well-thought-out proposal to rebuild Los Angeles has been virtually ignored by the local and national media. The proposal emanates from the city's infamous
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Libya: sanctions' toll Hundreds of Libyans have died as a result of the air embargo imposed on the country by the UN Security Council. The fatalities include 150 adults and children, as well as 100 infants who required medical treatment not
Culture
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Riff Raff Directed by Ken Loach Written by Bill Jesse Starring Robert Carlyle, Emer McCourt, Ricky Tomlinson At the Kino, Melbourne, from late September Reviewed by Bronwen Beechey Ken Loach has been responsible for some widely acclaimed
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Giving cities back to people Winning back the cities By Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy Pluto Press and the Australian Consumers' Association, 1992 Reviewed by Tracy Sorensen With colour photographs on almost every page and information
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No condom no startSYDNEY — Building workers on 30 building sites around Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle will be thinking about sex, specifically safe sex, in their morning and lunch breaks from August 25 to September
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Off the white beaches The Indonesia Kit By Elaine Brière and Susan Gage Available for $10 plus $2 postage and handling from Stephen Langford, 25 Comber St, Paddington NSW 2011 Reviewed by Michael Tardif Topical and current, The
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Women's Radio NetworkMELBOURNE — "Betty Blacktown" is how one Sydney news director of a commercial radio station described his audience. "She's not too bright and listens to the radio from home where she's looking after
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Tu Galala. Social Change in the Pacific Edited by David Robie Bridget Williams Books/Pluto Press 233 pp. $24.95 Reviewed by Norm Dixon Tu Galala — the title derived from a Fijian phrase meaning "sovereignty, freedom and
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Greenhouse strategies in the north The Greenhouse Effect: Science and Policy in the Northern Territory By Ian Moffat North Australia Research Unit, 1992 95 pp. $15 pb Reviewed by Yvonne Sorensen According to Ian Moffat, the key aim of
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Images of the KimberleyFremantle — Home Country is an exhibition of paintings and photographic prints of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It brings together works by Aboriginal artists and a European Australian