This weeks stories: Government Implicated in Siev-X Sinking...Telstra's Family Friendly Policy Copied From Government...Branch Stacking Still Common In ALP...But Drugs Are Better For The Economy...Quote of the Week - Bill Gates Is Reading My Mail.
Last week's All the News That Fits reported that four people had been charged with slavery in connection with running a brothel (Club 417 in Fitzroy). This story was taken from the Melbourne Times. The same issue of the Melbourne Times carried an ad for Club 417. A former diplomat says that the Australian government may be implicated in the sinking of the SIEV-X boat which resulted in 353 deaths. Tony Kevin, former ambassador to Cambodia, told the ABC about information he had received from Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty, about a 'disruption program' involving Australian and Indonesian police. "The point of the matter is that Mr Keelty's organisation trained the Indonesian police and set up the disruption teams selected by the AFP out of the Indonesian police," Mr Kevin said. "I believe that there is substantial evidence leading towards the likely conclusion that SIEV-X was sunk as part of an Australian government disruption program to disrupt people smuggling in Indonesia". (The Age, July 30). A woman who stayed at work up until an hour before she gave birth, was still sacked on her first day back after taking maternity leave. Anne-Marie (who did not want her last name used) had worked for Telstra for nine years before being made redundant. Stephen Jones from the Community and Public Sector Union said that Telstra's Human Resources policy "talks at length about valuing staff and their families". (Herald Sun, August 1). Ordered to leave Australia without her baby, a Russian mother said she was prepared to spend the rest of her days in the Villawood detention centre if it was her only chance to see her son grow up. The 30-year-old woman, who has an 18-month-old son to an Australian father, made the declaration after the full bench of the Family Court upheld the Federal Government's right to deport her without her child. The unanimous decision, by Chief Justice Alastair Nicholson and Justices John Ellis and Stephen O'Ryan, found that the Migration Act overrode the child's right to know and have regular contact with both its parents. Acknowledging it might be 'difficult' for her to get a court order for contact with her son if she was sent back to Russia, the judges said "she may well be able to do so from a country like New Zealand". At least two other foreigners in the centre have Australian children and are fighting deportation orders. One is a Malaysian mother of two who has not seen one of her children in three years. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she fled Russia after witnessing a murder in a nightclub and after being raped by casino security guards and police. (Sydney Morning Herald, July 30). Branch stacking is still very common in the Labor Party, according to ALP national President Greg Sword - including Opposition Leader Simon Crean's electorate. More than one in ten of the ALP's members in Victoria is not on the electoral roll. Most of these 1320 members are not Australian citizens. Mr Sword said that the ALP could not verify a member's stated address if they were not on the electoral roll. In Mr Crean's seat of Hotham, 43 ALP members are not on the electoral roll. Mr Crean's supporters say that the right-wing Labor Unity faction has begun stacking the branch in order to gain control of it once Mr Crean leaves politics. Mr Sword accused Labor Unity of undermining Mr Crean's attempts to clean up the ALP. "They are continuing to do everything they can to subvert the rules so people they have stacked into those electorates can vote [in internal elections]", he said. (The Age, July 29). A vegetarian diet is roughly as good at fighting cholesterol as an established cholesterol-lowering drug, according to a new study. A study had one group of people take the drug lovastatin. Another group adopted the so-called 'ape diet' - based on the diet of gorillas and orangutans in the wild, but actually a fairly typical vegetarian diet including meals such as ratatouille and vegetables. After four weeks, levels of the harmful LDL-cholesterol were lowered by roughly 30 percent for people in both groups. (New Scientist magazine). Quote of the Week: "By posting messages, uploading files, inputting data, submitting any feedback or suggestions, or engaging in any other form of communication with or through the Passport Web Site [Passport is the system that you use to log on to the Microsoft network, including hotmail and MSN Messenger]...you are granting Microsoft and its affiliated companies permission to: 1. Use, modify, copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, publish, sublicense, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any such communication. 2. Sublicense to third parties the unrestricted right to exercise any of the foregoing rights granted with respect to the communication. 3. Publish your name in connection with any such communication... The foregoing grants shall include the right to exploit any proprietary rights in such communication, including but not limited to rights under copyright, trademark, service mark or patent laws under any relevant jurisdiction. No compensation will be paid with respect to Microsoft's use of the materials contained within such communication". (Microsoft). 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. If you like All the News That Fits, forward it on to people or lists who might be interested in it, or post it on your local Indymedia: http://www.indymedia.org. Some other Australian anarchist contacts: Love and Rage is an anarchist, non-profit record label. Our CD is available by mail order. 20 songs for $10 within Australia, $15 in New Zealand, $10 in the USA, $10 in Canada, 5 pounds in Britain, or 10 euros in the rest of Europe. Other countries, or enquiries from shops and distroes, email us and ask. Address for orders is PO Box 1191, Richmond North VIC 3121 (Australia). Please make cheques or money orders out to J. Hutchings. http://www.loveandrage.rocks.it http://www.angry.at/thegovernment - anarchist website with fliers for download, contacts etc. http://www.angry.at/racists - Anarchist/anti-racist music site with free mp3s, Real Audio, Real Video, internet radio, band interviews etc. Also includes the text of 'Escape', an anarchist novel - http://www.geocities.com/skipnewborn/novel.doc http://www.dolearmy.org - information for unemployed people. http://www.activate.8m.com - anarchist magazine aimed at teenagers. All the News That Fits appears in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review (http://www.vicnet.net.au/~anarch - PO Box 20 Parkville VIC 3052) and The Ham (http://www.theham.cat.org.au). Media outlets mentioned in All the News That Fits are sources - items are not direct quotes from news media. Background information may have been gathered from sources in addition to media outlets cited. Where no source is cited, the information has been gathered from direct sources. .-- 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]