LL:DDV:Forum: Is Medicare Sustainable?
Subject: Forum: "Is Medicare Sustainable?" Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 15:00:39 +1000 From: "Richard Dent, VCOSS" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],[EMAIL PROTECTED] The Health Issues Centre is hosting a one-day consultation on the topic "Is Medicare Sustainable?", in association with VCOSS and other community organisations. The date is May 13, the venue is VUT, Flinders Street, City. Further information, and a fax-back registration form, is available at http://www.vcoss.org.au/medicare.html This is a consultation for health consumers and community workers with an interest in health issues. The consultation will also involve medical practitioners with an interest in developing effective consumer-practitioner collaboration. Issues to be covered include the challenges to Medicare, including changes to GP funding; access to public dental care; paying for pharmaceuticals; and the place of private health insurance. There is no charge, but places are limited. Some funding is available to assist people from rural areas to attend. Please contact Diane Lowther at Health Issues Centre on (03) 9614 0500. --- Richard Dent Victorian Council of Social Service (03) 9654 5050 phone (03) 9654 5749 fax LL.VE Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDV:Brankov Bridge bombing alert
The Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said today NATO planes have finally destroyed Novi Sad's last remaining bridge across the Danube, Zezeljev Bridge despite Novi Sad residents forming human shields. The people of Belgrade are still guarding the Brankov bridge as a human shields against NATO airstrikes. If Nato does attack this bridge then we must gather in solidarity and defiance. Place: Flinders St SouthBank walk bridge Time: 5pm onwards Date : On day of attack Please bring candles, target signs and solidarity banners South Movement http://southmovement.alphalink.com.au/ LL.VE Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART:Defence Force on Y2K alert
From ABC on-line news on 23/4/99 - in case you've missed it! Defence Force on Y2K alert The entire staff of the Australian Defence Force has had its Christmas-New Year leave put on hold until contingency plans for the year 2000 computer bug are in place. The Defence Force says it is not anticipating mayhem from the glitch but is not turning its back either. A leaked memo shows that for the moment, any Christmas leave for more than 60,000 Defence staff has been frozen. The memo, from the vice chief of the Defence Force, Air Vice Marshall Doug Riding, says plans are being prepared. It is not just a case of Defence looking after itself - personnel will be in place to help the wider community. Senator Ian Campbell, who is overseeing the Government's Y2K program, says the move is in line with hundreds of other large corporations across the country. But he will not say exactly what the military will be needed for. "I'm not prepared to speculate at the moment and what we're doing now with 252-odd days to go is making contingencies and looking at those contingencies, there's a whole range of them," he said. "To speculate about what sort of risks are particularly involved doesn't even help anybody at this stage." The Defence Force says it hopes to finalise by next month how many staff will be needed on stand-by. Colonel Keith Jobson, the director general of Defence public affairs, says rather than troops being required in large numbers, it is more likely that teams of specialists will be used. The Government says it is all part of good planning. Communications Minister Richard Alston is confident all provisions will be in place in good time although the latest quarterly report on Y2K readiness shows a number of Government agencies still have a lot of work to do. For instance, the Australian Taxation Office has only repaired one-quarter of its computer systems and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority has also been criticised for lagging behind. Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL DDV: New Opportunitites for the Left
The Democratic Socialist Party, Freedom Socialist Party, Progressive Labour Party and Australian supporters of the Fourth International invite all LeftLinkers to a public meeting: NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE LEFT Speaker: Adam Novak, editor of "International Viewpoint" "International Viewpoint" is a well-respected socialist news analysis magazine published in Paris under the auspices of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International. Thursday 29 April @ 7.30 pm Resistance Centre 14 Anthony Street, Melbourne Plenty of time for discussion. Refreshments available For more information phone John Tully on 9314-0559 LL.VE Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDV: public meeting on heroin
Dear Comrades PLEASE POST THIS TO RELEVANT SERVERS AND LISTS! HEROIN TOLL OUTRACING THE ROAD TOLL HOWARDS "ZERO TOLERANCE" = "ZERO TREATMENT" !!! HEROIN IS A HEALTH ISSUE, NOT A LEGAL ISSUE !!! On Wednesday May the 5th, the Militant Socialist Organisation is holding a free PUBLIC MEETING on the HEROIN ISSUE at Trades Hall (Victoria) (Cnr Victoria St and Lygon St) starting at 7pm. This meeting follows a rally on Smith St Collingwood last week which was well attended and very well received. The aim of the Trades Hall meeting is to begin a broad based, community wide campaign on the heroin issue, a campaign which will include user groups, support and infrastructure groups, friends and families, students, concerned family members, trade unionists etc etc. We want as many people from as many fields / organisations as possible to attend. Items mooted for consideration in this united front campaign include free state distribution of clean, regulated heroin to registered, long term addicts; the introduction of safe shooting rooms with trained nurses present at all times; the expansion of needle exchange programs; increased funding to existing rehab centres and the creation of new ones; more education in schools and in the wider community etc etc. At present, we are building for this meeting. If anyone has a list of email addresses or web site addresses that we could send a serial email to to inform others of the meeting, please forward it to [EMAIL PROTECTED] as soon as possible. It would be much appreciated if those in the field could pass this email and request on to other groups and concerned individuals, and to all appropriate list servers, discussion groups, discussion pods, bulletin boards, and so on. For further information, call Militant on 9654 3636 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://werple.net.au/~militant Web: http://werple.net.au/~militant/old WITH COMRADELY GREETINGS, MILITANT Militant PO Box 1015, Collingwood, Victoria 3066, Australia Phone: (03) 9654 3636 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web site: http://werple.net.au/~militant LL.VE -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDV: NO TOLLS PROTEST THIS SUNDAY
Comrades, This Sunday, May 2nd at 11am, the Moreland City Council, Moonee Valley City Council, Carlo Carli MP, Judy Maddigan MP Peter Batchelor MP invite you to: "Commemorate the death of the Tullamarine FREEWAY by joining a funeral procession from Ormond Park, Moonee Ponds, along the Tullamarine Freeway to Moreland Rd and back." The location of Ormond Park is on Ormond Rd, Moonee Ponds (melways Ref 29 A3) For more information please call Chris on 0412606691 Christopher Anderson Office of Carlo Carli MLA Labor Spokesperson on Information Technology Multimedia email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 65 Moreland Rd, Coburg, AUSTRALIA, 3058 Ph: +61 3 93841241 Fax: +61 3 93840481 Mobile: +61 412606691 Carlo Carli MLA - http://www.vicnet.net.au/~ccarli Victorian Labor: New Solutions - http://www.vic.alp.org.au LL.VE -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: MAY DAY: A DAY TO SHOW THE FLAG
May Day -- a day to show the flag The following EDITORIAL was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, April 21st, 1999. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian Subscription rates on request. ** May Day has been celebrated for more than one hundred years in Australia. From the very first demonstration by shearers at Barcaldine in Queensland in 1891 it has been a workers' day with working class banners, slogans and flags -- the red flag of the revolutionary movement for socialism and the blue flag and southern cross of the Eureka Stockaders who fought for democratic rights. The right to vote owes much to the Eureka miners. Last years' demonstration was held during the MUA dispute and large crowds participated in the May Day marches around Australia. It was a proud day marking the tenacious struggle of waterfront workers against a malicious employer and government. This year another event -- the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia and its consequences faces every man and woman throughout the world. This is not to underestimate the importance of such issues as the GST, the privatisation of Telstra and the intention of the government to introduce a "second wave" of anti-working class industrial legislation. There is also the important issue of the right of the East Timorese people to independence from Indonesian occupation and annexation. Slogans about these issues are expected to feature prominently on the placards of the many organisations which participate in the May Day march. It is the bombing of Yugoslavia which will have the most far- reaching consequences although it may seem far away for many. The NATO aggression signals a major offensive by the US and European imperialist countries to try to re-establish their domination of the whole world. The attack on Yugoslavia has nothing to do with Albanian refugees. Their plight is only the excuse and phoney justification for the bombing. They are merely pawns in the game being played. If the NATO powers succeed in occupying Yugoslavia -- and that is their intention, and not merely Kosovo -- a campaign against Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus will then be unleashed. If that were to succeed the overthrow of socialism in China and the re- colonisation of the whole of Asia and the Middle East would follow. This is why the stakes are very high in Yugoslavia. That country is in the front line of the struggle to defeat the objective of NATO to establish its world domination. The attempts to achieve a peaceful settlement by Russia have been rejected by NATO out of hand. In rejecting these peace proposals, NATO leaders make it clear that they demand nothing less than the complete capitulation and occupation of Yugoslavia by NATO troops. Our slogans should be "STOP THE BOMBING". "HANDS OFF YUGOSLAVIA". At the same time we cannot neglect the important issues before the Australian Parliament. At the forefront is the GST and the privatisation of Telstra. The Australian Democrats and Senator Harradine are prepared to accept the GST providing there are some major changes but there is no such thing as a fair GST. Inevitably if the principle of a GST is established, even with some protection for low income earners, these protective measures will be eroded as time goes on. The whole aim of a GST is to shift taxes from the wealthy and from companies to the working people. The only correct position is that of the Labor Party which calls for the rejection of the GST in principle. Our slogans should be: "REJECT THE GST", "THERE IS NO FAIR GST", "KEEP TELSTRA PUBLIC", "REPEAL ANTI-TRADE UNION LEGISLATION". May Day is also an international day for workers around the world and there will be very large demonstrations in the cities of every continent. In Johannesburg, Santiago, New York, Paris, London, Berlin, Athens, Damascus, Moscow, Beijing, Hanoi, Delhi, Calcutta and many other cities and towns the red flags of the working peoples' organisations will fly together with innumerable banners carrying the demands of the people in each country. The people's movements and struggles are growing in every country without exception. Capitalist exploitation, the impoverishment of millions, mass unemployment and now a monstrous, illegal and aggressive war are all reasons why every reader of "The Guardian" should set aside other considerations and join the marches on May Day. Let everyone "show the flag". One of our slogans should be "WORKERS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!" The Guardian 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. 2010 Australia. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LL:ART: YUGOSLAV ROUND-UP
YUGOSLAV ROUND-UP The following articles were published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, April 28TH, 1999. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian Subscription rates on request. ** 1. MORE BLOOD ON NATO'S HANDS 2. TOTALLY OPPOSED TO THE WAR -- ALEKA PAPARIGA 3. SORTING THE REAL ISSUES 4. ARAB CPs CALL FOR POLITICAL SOLUTION 5. NATO'S "HUMANITARIAN" BOMBING -- PROF. MECHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY 6. APPEAL FROM COMMUNISTS OF MACEDONIA. *** BRUTAL AGGRESSION: MORE BLOOD ON NATO'S HANDS As the savage bombing of Yugoslavia entered its second month and the heads of NATO countries celebrated the war alliance's 50th year and its war against a small sovereign country, they marked the anniversary by stepping up the murderous bombing campaign and threatening to impose an oil blockade. US President Clinton and British Prime Minister Blair have emerged as the principle war-mongers, urging many less enthusiastic NATO countries to "keep up the pressure" and "see it through to the end". The American commander of the NATO forces, Wesley Clarke, is the most bellicose of all, authorising the indiscriminate bombing of a multitude of civilian targets such as water supplies, schools, ordinary factories, a fertiliser plant, homes, trains, bridges and Belgrade TV broadcasters. In a clear attempt at assassination, NATO cruise missiles bombed the home of the Yugoslav President, confirming that individual assassination is still a weapon of US policy. The NATO meeting in Washington also decided to eliminate the reference in NATO's charter that "The Alliance is purely defensive in purpose: None of its weapons will ever be used except in self-defence." This has been replaced by a decision to authorise the use of NATO forces anywhere in the world. That decision is a warning to all nations that NATO could intervene militarily in any country which pursues policies not acceptable to the US-NATO leaders. It signals that other wars are to follow should NATO succeed in destroying Yugoslavia and forcing it into submission. The intention to enforce an oil embargo is yet another illegal act and a provocation directed against Russia which is shipping oil through the Yugoslav province of Montenegro. Once again it indicates that NATO is prepared to violate all accepted laws of international behaviour. And once again the United Nations is ignored. Not only is the bombing destroying Yugoslavia's economy and infrastructure, but it is having catastrophic consequences on the economies of other Balkan countries. The destruction of bridges into the River Danube has halted normal shipping traffic -- the Danube is a main artery of trade between Balkan countries. As is to be expected, the tourist trade to Balkan countries has plummeted. These consequences will not concern either the US or Britain who are a long way from the frontline. In fact, the disruption and weakening of the economies of European countries helps to achieve one of the objectives of the US, which is to maintain its economic and political dominance over Europe. Anger and opposition to NATO aggression is growing throughout the world with massive demonstrations continuing in many countries. These are not now being reported by the Australian media which faithfully follows the CNN-NATO propaganda line of half thruths, outright lies and cover-ups. Anti-fascists in Israel have condemned the bombing, noting: "Fifty eight years ago, the Nazi German air force bombed Belgrade to enforce their hegemonic rule over all of eastern Europe. The Nazi Wehrmacht set up the puppet states of Croatia and Bosnia- Herzegovina and instigated them against the Serb population which fought a heroic struggle against the Nazi occupation." The parallels with NATO's policies towards Yugoslavia today are clear and ominous. An appeal by the Trade Union Confederation of Serbia says: "We workers, members of trade unions and citizens of Belgrade, have gathered at this big rally to protest against the brutal aggression on the Republics of Serbia and Yugoslavia. "As workers and trade unionists, whose voice is the voice of reason, peace and justice, we are appealing to you to help us stop the criminal bombings of our country and safeguard our right to live and work. "We are appealing to all trade unions in the world to demand that their governments stop this madness and try to find a peaceful, political and just solution for Kosovo, fully respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country." The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia sends its thanks to "all communist, workers, revolutionary, guerrilla and anti-imperialist organisations in the world which support the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia by organising demonstrations and other actions
