Leftlink Newsletter for Tuesday, March 09, 2004 Issue: 16 Leftlink's News:
: News Articles : Statement - Remove the Howard Government from office The following statement was adopted by the Central Committee Executive of the Communist Party of Australia at its meeting on February 14-15. The removal of the Howard Government from office in the coming Federal elections would represent a defeat for the extremely conservative social and economic policies of the Howard Government and its role as US "Deputy Sheriff". It would signal the rejection of the Government's support for the Iraq war and US missile defence, its lies about weapons of mass destruction and the attacks on public health and education, and social welfare. Read More...: http://www.leftlink.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=31 : News Articles : New laws to ban organisations TOTALITARIAN POWERS The federal government has been handed more totalitarian powers with the Senate last week giving the Attorney General broad, fascistic laws to unilaterally ban organisations. Anyone who is a member of a banned organisation, or gives financial or any other form of support to one faces a jail sentence of between 10 and 25 years (maximum). The Criminal Code Amendment (Terrorist Organisations) Bill 2003 was passed by the Senate on March 4 after the Australian Labor Party (ALP) rolled over contrary to previous promises to oppose proscription. Read More...: http://www.leftlink.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=30 : News Articles : All the News That Fits - March 2 - 8 The government and the Labor Party will unite to pass a new law which allows the Attorney-General to ban any organisation, without the decision being scrutinised by Parliament or any other body. Under the Criminal Code Amendment (Terrorist Organisations), members of a banned organisation can be jailed for up to 25 years, and the organisation can be stripped of its assets. Anyone who collects money for that organisation's legal defence or produces material that defends the banned organisation can also be jailed for up to 25 years. (Source: Indymedia) Read More...: http://www.leftlink.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=29 : News Articles : Bush seeks access to abortion records Bush seeks access to abortion records (Sydney Morning Herald) By Robert Pear and Eric Lichtblau in Washington, March 8, 2004 In a departure from its past insistence on the sanctity of US medical records, the Bush Administration is trying to force hospitals and clinics to turn over records of perhaps thousands of abortions. Federal law "does not recognise a physician-patient privilege", the Justice Department said last month in court papers that sought abortion records from Planned Parenthood clinics in California, Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York City and Washington. Moreover, the department said in another abortion case, patients "no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their histories will remain completely confidential". Read More...: http://www.leftlink.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=28 Please forward as appropriate. All browsers of the site can read the news articles and add calendar events. If you want to receive this newsletter directly, please subscribe at http://www.leftlink.net/ For more information, please visit the Leftlink web site at http://www.leftlink.net. Please do not reply to this email. -- Visit the proposed Leftlink web site at http://www.leftlink.net/ -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
