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Issue No. 125 22 February 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

Unfair and Dismal
As the credibility of the Howard Government sunk under lies and conceit this week, Tony Abbott � for a moment - looked uncharacteristically subdued.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: If Not Now, When?
New Labor Council organiser Adam Kerslake talks about his plans to bring unions back to basics.

Activists: Fighting Back
Jim Marr talks to Keysar Trad, a unionist who's left the security of the Tax Office for a much bigger challenge.

Industrial: Croon And Divide
Fly a kite, obfuscate the issues, divide your opponents and continue to hammer people: the one-card-trick Howard Government�s latest kite is unfair dismissal reports Noel Hester.

Politics: Politics of Extinction
Trade unionism is a spent force; a dinosaur. This alleged truism is often heard these days, in one form or another. Rowan Cahill unpacks the lie.

History: Harry Bridges: International Labour Hero
Zoe Reynolds marks the centenary of the birth of an Australian waterfront worker who went on to lead one of America's largest unions.

International: Rats in the Ranks
The relationship between Britain�s Blair Labour Government and the union movement has hit a new low, as Andrew Casey reports.

Review: Follow The Fence, Find The Truth
Tara de Boehmler reviews a new flick that sheds light on the debate around the Stolen Generation.

Satire: Howard Screws Refugee Kids: G-G Turns Blind Eye
Startling claims that Prime Minister John Howard screwed refugee children prior to the last election, and also during a hunger strike at Woomera, have been dismissed by the Governor-General Peter Hollingworth.

Poetry: Let It Be
When a certain former Minister for Defence visited England recently, he met Sir Paul McCartney. The former Beatle thought there was something strange about him, but he didn't say anything. He decided to just Let It Be.

N E W S

 Building Workers' Bid to Win Back Lives

 Dog-Tired � Long Hours Leave Beagles Buggered

 Home Care Workers Reject Sweat

 Building Commission's Costly Spin

 Caltex Asked To Explain Price Hikes

 Palm Sunday Resurrected for Refugees

 Dismissals: Labor Blocks The Lot

 Company Collapses: Union Wants Bank Powers

 Women Wanted for Wharf

 Sanity Returns to the West

 Big Brother Raises Hackles

 Legal Action to Block Job Exports

 New Dawn for Dili Workers

 Councils Targeted in Contracting Campaign

 CFMEU Constructs Lebanese Bridge

 Israeli Aircraft Destroy Most Of Palestinian Union HQ

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Shorten's Suite
AWU national secretary Bill Shorten outlines his vision for unionism - from the relations with the ALP to its efforts to regain the heartland.

The Locker Room
Bunnies in the Headlights
Despite their triumphant return to the League, Souths story won't be the last example of tradition being trampled, writes Jim Marr.

Week in Review
Tories in Turmoil
With a constitutional crisis and a dangling mandate, it was compelling viewing for the Howard jeer squad.

L E T T E R S
 Dirty Politics Won't Wash
 Tom's Foolery
 Give Us a Spray!
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Review

Follow The Fence, Find The Truth


Tara de Boehmler reviews a new flick that sheds light on the debate around the Stolen Generation.
 
 

Rabbit Proof Fence

***************

Rabbit Proof Fence tells the true story of three young Aboriginal sisters who are taken from their mother and placed in a settlement 1000 miles away to be "given everything our culture has to offer" in the 1930s.

This is the brief outlined by Chief Protector of Aboriginals Dr Neville (Kenneth Brannagh), the man all children unfortunate enough to find themselves in his care nickname Neville the Devil.

What society has to offer children branded half-caste in the 1930s is an organised State-run program that systematically breeds out the blackness of their skin over a period of several generations, in return for a lifetime of servitude.

The three sisters, Molly (Everlyn Sampi), Daisy (Laura Mongahan) and Gracie (Tianna Sansbury) cling to each other when they are taken from their mother, making a tight little unit whose bond is their only protection. Together they escape just days after their capture, attempting to follow the rabbit proof fence all the way home.

There is something in the way they take on the rough desert terrain as though convinced that no matter how inhospitable the land and how seemingly hopeless the journey, taking it on is their only chance of survival. Intent on being reunited with their mother, following the fence seems to keep the children's spirits alive even during long absences of earthly sustenance.

Meanwhile for Neville the Devil the shit is hitting the fan. Worried about what the press will say if they find out about the escape, Mr Neville earnestly explains that the cost will be "not just to our pride" but to the "reputation of the whole department". The problem of half-casts won't go away and if left will fester he says adding, "these children are that problem".

But nowhere is the bitter irony of white Australia's shallow defence better summed up than when Dr Neville in exasperation exclaims, "the bush natives have to be protected from themselves. If only they could see what we are trying to do for them."

Phillip Noyce's Rabbit Proof Fence is a devastating account of white Australia's less than proud and excruciatingly vain history told in a matter-of-fact way. As an adventure story it is always engaging, entertaining and truly cathartic on a national scale.

John Howard must see this film.

Rating: **** (Nation building)


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