This week's stories: License to Kill...Labor Leader Tries to Stop
Debate...Union Leader Could Be Jailed for Protecting Shop
Stewards...Woman To Be Deported, Seperated From Child...Public Service
Heads Out Of Touch...Refugee Put in Danger By Immigration Department...
Murderers are having their crimes reduced, or even being let off
completely, by using a legal defence called the 'gay panic defence'.
In one case in the early 1990s, a man was charged with murder after
bludgeoning a gay man, stabbing him 40 times, and setting fire to his
flat. He was only found guilty of manslaughter after he pleaded the 'gay
panic defence'. The victim had supposedly put his hand on the
murderer's knee after they had been drinking for several hours.
(Melbourne Community Voice).
Labor leader Simon Crean has tried to stop any debate of the ALP's
refugee policy at an upcoming party conference on 'modernising' the
party. Labor's policy is to support mandatory detention of refugees,
which goes against the views of many of its rank and file members.
(Sydney Morning Herald).
A union leader could be jailed for up to six months after he was
formally charged yesterday with being in contempt of the building royal
commission. Victorian secretary of the Construction Forestry Mining and
Energy Union, Martin Kingham, repeatedly has refused commission requests
to reveal identities of hundreds of shop stewards who attended union-run
training courses last year and earlier this year.
Mr Kingham said he could not comply with the demands because he feared
those listed would be harassed and blacklisted for future employment.
Mr Kingham said the laying of charges against him had been accelerated
as part of a political point-scoring exercise by Workplace Relations
Minister Tony Abbott, who he accused of trying to increase industrial
conflict in Victoria before the state election.
(news.com.au)
A woman will be deported from Australia without her baby, after being
forced to leave her country because she witnessed a murder.
The woman has been in Australia for five years, and in Villawood
detention centre for five months. The day she arrived at the centre, her
son, still being breastfed, was taken by the authorities. She said she
cried for two months straight, during which time she was only allowed to
see her child for about an hour a week.
During her first months at Villawood, she says her child lost
recognition of her face, only responding to her song.
The woman witnessed a murder while working in at a casino in Vladivostok
six years years ago. The following night she was beaten and raped by the
casino security guards and suffered a miscarriage. She was six months
pregnant.
When she went to the local police, she said, they beat and raped her.
She then fled to Moscow, and then left Russia.
She decided to come to Australia after she learnt that her parents had
been beaten and her mother's leg broken. The baby was born in Australia
and is an Australian citizen like his father, who will keep him.
(Sydney Morning Herald).
Senior public servants are out of touch with their older workers.
A new survey has found that four out of five public servants aged
45-plus want to keep working beyond the age of 55, but their bosses
think their employees would rather take their superannuation and retire.
84 percent of bosses thought superannuation would most influence their
employees' decisions, only 40 per cent of public servants thought so.
Another 23 per cent rated their own health as most influential, compared
with bosses who rated it at only 8 per cent. Similarly, 15 per cent
rated 'other interests' highest, while none of their bosses rated it at
all.
Care for grandchildren scored 97 per cent from agencies but 47 per cent
from employees; working from home scored 96 per cent from agencies but
67 per cent from employees.
Mr Hume said that although managers said they placed a high level of
importance on some issues, few were actively implementing measures to
address them.
Asked if their agency was aware of ageing workforce issues, just 48 per
cent of public servants thought so, compared with 90 per cent of bosses.
And while all the bosses rated themselves prepared to deal with the
issues, only 40 per cent of public servants agreed.
A man has been taken from his hospital bed by the Immigration Department
and flown to detention in Nauru - even though there are limited medical
facilities there, and he suffers from a severe sickness which means it
isn't safe for him to fly.
The man suffers from Deep Vein Thrombosis. He was being held in
detention in Nauru and was flown to Australia for emergency medical
treatment. The Immigration Department planned to fly him back to Nauru
in the middle of the night even though he was still sick. People are
not supposed to fly for six months after treatment for his condition.
Refugee advocates including a doctor, a lawyer, and a representative of
his ethnic community were all refused permission to see him.
(ABC news, personal report from refugee supporter in Queensland).
anarchist news service
write to James, PO Box 503, Newtown NSW 2042
or email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
contact us to get ATNTF emailed directly to you.
All the News That Fits appears in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review
(www.vicnet.net.au/~anarchist - PO Box 20 Parkville VIC 3052).
Some other Australian anarchist websites:
www.angry.at/racists - Anarchist/anti-racist music site with free mp3s, Real
Audio, Real Video, band interviews etc.
www.dolearmy.org - information for unemployed people.
www.activate.8m.com - anarchist magazine aimed at teenagers.
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