E D I T O R I A L

Our Historical Mission
It has often been argued that unions would cease to exist when employers civilised workplaces. Our historical mission would have been fulfilled and we could pack up and spend out time enjoying the equitable society that would be the fruit of our victory.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Something Smells
The Postal Union's Jim Metcher lifts the lid on the very strange goings-on in Australia Post

Cole-Watch: Credibility Crisis
Counsels Assisting the Cole Royal Commission face a humiliating public back down in an effort to bring some balance to proceedings, reports Jim Marr.

Unions: Union Cities
Labor Council's Adam Kerslake has returned from the USA with some new ideas on community unionism

Industrial: Lib Men Gang Up Against Working Mums
Working women are in danger of missing out on an adequately funded paid maternity leave scheme, if recent bleatings are acted upon says ACTU President Sharan Burrow.

History: Eureka!
Neale Towart finds an alternative to Baden-Powell�s imperialist scouting movement, where the youth of Australia was fed such radical ideas as solidarity, collective action, equal rights and internationalism.

East Timor: Don�t Rob Their Future
After 24 years of often brutal Indonesian occupation East Timor on 20 May 2002 finally achieved their independence, writes HT Lee.

Review: Black Chicks Say It All
Dorothy can be whatever colour she wants to be and black chicks can talk about anything, writes Tara de Boehmler

Poetry: Self Regulation
While President George W Bush,leader of the heart of unregulated capitalism, has responded to the recent spate of corporate cowboydom by whipping out a swathe of new corporate controls, Australia's Prime Minister has responded with a feathered touch.

N E W S

Cole to Hear of Criminal Takeover Conspiracy

Mad Monk Stamp on Aussie Post

Calls To End Woodlawn Logjam

ANZ Fined Over Freedom Of Speech Breach

Hotels Eat Up Living Wage

Qantas Union's Gorilla Tactics

Shearers Black Ban Their Hall Of Fame

Democrats Fire Shot for Workers

Teachers Walk Out At Aust College of Technology

Rail Operators Off Track

Airport Security Worker Spat At And Assaulted

CBA Workers Say Enough Is Enough

Union Made Songs For Masses

Doco Dishes Dirt On Howard�s Gas Wrangle

Activist Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Cole Comfort
The election of a federal coalition government in 1996 marked the advent of an aggressively anti union agenda that continues to be played out to this day, writes Paul Davies

The Locker Room
Salary Crap
Phil Doyle goes wading through the hypocrisy and hubris, and discovers where the smell is coming from.

Postcard
All At Sea
It�s on again - the coastal battle between the maritime unions, the government and the shipowners, reports Zoe Reynolds.

Week in Review
The Dogs of War
The battle drums were a-rattling across this wide, brown land and Jim Marr was getting a bit tetchy

Bosswatch
Speak No Evil
The majority of Australian firms stay silent on options they offer their executives as John Howard continues to stonewall corporate law reform.

L E T T E R S

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Black Chicks Say It All

Leah Purcell's new documentary Black Chicks Talking is due to air on SBS next Friday 30 August. Purcell's docco gathers together five Indigenous women from a variety of backgrounds, sits them around a large round dinner table and gets them talking about what it is like to be an Indigenous woman in Australia.

Secret life of Us star Deborah Mailman, the first Aboriginal Australia Katherine Hay, mother of seven Cilla Malone, community warden Rosanna Angus, and lawyer Tammy Williams, have each followed vastly different courses in their life yet many of their experiences are similar.

The first time they realised they were Aboriginal, their feelings of connectedness with their land and culture, their first experiences of racism, the feeble attempts of others to 'deal' with their blackness: these are just a few of the topics laid bare in a conversation packed with intimate insights and peppered with more than a few dirty jokes.

Frequent outtakes to one on one interviews between Purcell and each of the women provide the background to their life stories.

The most heart rendering of these is the story of Cilla, who grew up on a Queensland mission where she lived constantly in hope of finding her mother. Now a mum herself, she battles with long-term alcoholism and her grief over a falling-out with her mother whom she finally met in later life. Though she is haunted by feelings that her children "deserve better" the most touching scene in the movie comes when three of her daughters sing for the cameras a song about how much she means to them.

Another fascinating development captured within the program belongs to the beautiful Katherine Hay. She starts out in a state of confusion about "which part" of herself is Aboriginal and ends up with more of an understanding about her place in her culture that she has ever experienced before. Listening to such words of wisdom as, "It's up to the individual person to find out their connection with their culture and bring it into the future", she eventually realises she does not have to 'qualify' in order to identify herself as Indigenous.

In Hay's words: "I don't think I have ever learned so much over dinner".

Other highlights of the documentary include anything and everything that comes out of Deborah Mailman's mouth and a victory dance performed by Purcell and Tammy Williams, to celebrate the amazing breadth of Williams' achievements.

If there were a criticism of this program it would be (aside from a few sound quality issues early on) only that it does not go for long enough. This is the sort of project that could easily be aired as a series, with Purcell travelling around Australia to uncover the stories behind many more women's lives.

Or perhaps it is fairer to say that it could so easily be watched in this format. For Purcell's part she has already made it clear that this was an intensely challenging project and one that she needs no small amount of time to recover from before she can even think about embarking upon any next step.

Her advice to anyone calling for a sequel is: "You go out there and meet some black chicks and you talk to them".

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars (Indigeriffic)

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005