Workers Online
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  Issue No 36 Official Organ of LaborNet 22 October 1999  

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Features
*  Interview: When All�s Not WEL
Suzanne Hammond explains how the federal government�s decision to cut off funding to the Womens� Electoral Lobby wil impact on all women.
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*  Republic: The Great Constitutional Swindle
In an upcoming book, Peter Botsman argues the blanding out of Australian consitutional history is one of the big barriers to the Republican cause.
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*  Unions: Beaten by the Clock
Ron Callus from ACIRRT counts the social cost of increased working hours.
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*  International: Pakistan Military Urged to Protect Workers' Rights
The ICFTU is urging General Pervez Musharraf, who yesterday seized power in a military coup, to take urgent steps to ensure a return to constitutional rule in the shortest possible time.
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*  History: How the Cunning Fox Survived
Len Fox recently turned 94. He celebrated the event by sending out copies of his latest publication to friends; a booklet of his selected pencil and crayon sketches since 1925, with autobiographical commentaries.
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*  Satire: Direct Electionists to Keep Voting No
Pro-direct election republicans who plan to vote �no� in the upcoming referendum have announced plans to extend their approach to every future election held in Australia.
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*  Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre
Read the latest issue of Labour review, a resource for union officials and students.
*
*  Review: Bowing down before Globalzilla
It is my experience that books that have the word "globalization" in the title should be avoided at all costs.
*


Labor Council puts its case to the Senate

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News




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Stressed Out: The Incredibly Shrinking Lunch Break
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Kennett Fall a Warning to Carr
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Combet Steps Up To The Plate
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Thirty Hours at the Wheel - Then Sacked for Complaining
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Reith�s Plan for Universities Exposed
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Hockey Sticks With the Banks
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Push to Downgrade Industrial Tribunals
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Peace Stalks the Gong as Matters Bows Out
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Rock the Republic - It�s Time
Labor�s Republican campaign gains steam this Friday night with the �Yes, It�s Time� concert at the Metro, featuring Jimmy Little and Karma County.
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Letters to the Editor
  • Vizard Critics Peddling Lies

  • Republic Soapbox

  • Barbies and Kens Eye High Office

  • Guilty! I Agree with Howard

  • Egan Speaks - Des Moore's No Friend of Mine!

  • Editorial

    Rock the Republic

    Come on people, this is one hundred years too late. If the country can't survive as a nation without the assistance of a Head of State whose authority rests in a peerage from the other side of the world, then it deserves a bloody coup.

    In the coming fortnight we must, some of us reluctantly, enter the fray to a battle that should have been won a long time ago. Through the connivance of a leader dedicated to the proposition's defeat, the Referendum has become not a battle about whether we become a Republic but about what form that republic will take.

    And as we argue among ourselves, the impossible looms - we will actually retain the least favoured model - the continuation of the Queen of England as Head of State.

    Wish as we may for the Australian Republican Movement to get its come-up-ance, it will be nothing compared to the gloating of self-satisfaction that the politician formerly known as Honest John will carry through the coming festivities.

    But beyond spite, there are solid reasons why each and every Republican, including direct electionists, should vote yes. First, it will never get up. The Conservative forces will fight even harder and will be able to mount strong arguments about why another elected figurehead should not have ultimate power. It represents a far more radical alternative.

    Those dedicated to a direct election president have a far better opportunity to see the transition to Republic and wait for the election of a social-democratic government prepared to run a public debate free of the hysteria that the Monarchists have been able to so skillfully inject into the debate.

    If the Republic vote is to be won, the people who have called themselves Republicans since before Malcolm Turnbull whipped his first debating team have to give it an almighty shove. I'm talk about the trade union movement.

    There are enough waverers out there to actually vote this referendum down - either out of ignorance or spite (Mr Hayden). Let's get serious - the ALP is running the booths on polling day and those from non-affiliated unions should be contacting Head Office to get behind it.

    The Republic is there for the taking; again it will be left to the unions to rock it:

    Peter Lewis
    Editor


    Columns

    Soapbox Lockerroom From Trades Hall Toolshed
    Soapbox lockerroom trades hall Toolshed
    Costa on an X for President Olympic Crap Ticket Trading Club Naomi Steer on Fast Capitalism In Defence of the Realm

     


    
    

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