F E A T U R E S

Interview: Taking Stock
Labor Council secretary John Robertson reflects on 2002 and outlines the challenges for the year to come.

Bad Boss: Pushing the Envelope
Ongoing and resolute commitment to principles advanced by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott have seen Australia Post make history as the first recipient of the Tony Award, recognising Australia's worst employer.

Unions: The Year That Was
From Cole�s witch-hunt to funky union tunes, Peter Lewis reviews the biggest stories from the world of work in 2002.

Republic: Still Fighting
Three years since the constitutional referendum, and despite constant reports of its impending demise, the Australian Republican Movement is still around and active

International: Global Ties, Global Binds
Labourstart's Eric Lee files his annual wrap-up of the year from an international perspective.

Politics: Turning Green
Union support for the ALP is no longer a given, with trade unionists turning to the Greens, as Jim Marr reports.

Technology: Unions Online 2002
Social Change Online's Mark McGrath looks at what worked best for unions online in 2002.

Industrial: The Past Is Before Us
Neale Towart argues that 2003 will be a year where traditional industrial campaigns come back into fashion.

Economics: Market Insecurity
Sydney University�s Frank Stilwell looks back at 2002 from a political economist�s perspective.

Review: Shooting for Sanity
Michael Moore's new movie Bowling for Columbine looks at America's love affair with guns, writes Mark Hebblewhite

Poetry: The PM's Christmas Message
Workers Online has secretly obtained an advance copy of the text of the Address to the Nation that the Prime Minister plans to make. We reproduce the text below.

Culture: Zanger's Sounds of Summer
If 2001-02 was the summer of political and musical terror then this summer 2002-03 is where irreverent Aussie music runs rife.

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Tread Carefully - Very Carefully
Nick Housten argues that structural weaknesses could keep federal Labor in Opposition for many years to come.

The Locker Room
A Year Of Two Halves
It was one of those years. It started with a lot of sport and it ended with a lot of sport. Noel Hester and Peter Moss check the runes and dish out the gongs in this year�s Workers Online Sports Awards.

Bosswatch
Footloose Capital
It was a year where the corporate world finally came close to consuming itself with bloated salaries, off the wall options and a string of mega-collapses

Predictions
Into the Beyond
Every year we ask our readers to gaze into the crystal ball. While history shows the view is mirky, we�ve don it again.

E D I T O R I A L

Terror Australis
When the historians get down to chronicling 2002 their analysis will read simply: the Bali bombing brought the new era of terror home to Australians and heightened our feelings of insecurity and fear at our ill-defined place in the world.

N E W S

Abbott Gears For Grocon Stoush

Delo Brushes Taubmans Pay Off

Restaurateur Takes Knife to Wages Protection

Legal Double Whammy to End Year

We�re Dreaming of a Sweat-Free Christmas

Star Organiser Takes Off

Abbott's Xmas Message: Go To Jail

Nurses Perform Wage Surgery

Woolies Discount Spirit of Christmas

New Collapses Prove Entitlements Farce

Suncorp Ballot Draws Fire

Unions On Big Day Out

UN Migrant Worker Charter Welcomed

L E T T E R S

WHAT YOU CAN DO

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Still Fighting

By Allison Henry

***********

While the republican issue remains on the back burner of the Australian people's consciousness, the Australian Republican Movement has been working hard to establish true grassroots support and activism across the country, so that when our time comes again, we're well equipped for the challenge.

Having spent most of 2002 rebuilding the foundations of the organisation - establishing local community forums in areas as diverse as Penrith, Armidale, the Hills and Sutherland, for example - the ARM is looking forward to another productive year in 2003.

The ARM in 2003 will focus on a range of community and political initiatives. At a grassroots level, the Movement will be aiming to build upon the broad community support for an Australian Head of State, with special focus on young Australians, women and rural and regional communities. Politically, the ARM will continue to lobby all Australian political parties to declare their own plans for an Australian republic,

Community initiatives

Young people born as recently as the early 1990s may well be voting in the next republican referendum so it is essential to the future of the movement that they get on board. A major focus of the ARM in the New Year will therefore be to encourage more young Australians to become involved in the republican debate. Starting with a nationwide push to establish student republican clubs during university O-weeks, the ARM will also be launching curriculum materials for senior high school students and establishing a TAFE network later in the year.

The ARM will also be looking in 2003 to improve its engagement with women of all ages, and all backgrounds, on the issue of an Australian Head of State. As polling has consistently identified a distinct hesitation in female support for an Australian republic, the ARM has established a Women's Network that will increasingly be seeking to connect with Australian women on this issue.

The ARM acknowledges that an Australian republic will only come to fruition with support beyond the inner metropolitan areas of our cities. To that end the ARM is developing a regional strategy and will continue to support, as a matter of priority, the establishment of local ARM forums in outer metropolitan and regional areas. We will continue to undertake whatever activities we can to broaden and enhance the debate concerning an Australian Head of State beyond our traditional areas of support.

Political initiatives

In addition to these grassroots community pursuits, the ARM in 2003 will be undertaking a myriad of activities to drive the political debate forward. Following on from the release of the Six Models for an Australian Republic discussion paper in 2001, the ARM will early in the New Year release a discussion paper examining the various processes available - such as plebiscites, constitutional conventions and parliamentary committees - to move towards an Australian republic.

The ARM will also continue to engage with Australia's political leaders - who will ultimately be responsible for bringing an Australian republic to fruition. During 2003 the ARM will be particularly supportive of parliamentary initiatives - such as that currently proposed by the Democrats in the Senate - that will reexamine the republican issue.

A recent Newspoll found that a majority of Australians were in favour of an Australian Head of State and wanted another referendum within five years. The ARM will be pursuing all means at its disposal to bring this intention to fruition in 2003.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005