The social history
of the Commonwealth of Australia

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The history in general of Australia
The history of Australia's Aborigines and the Torres Straits Islanders

The history of women and gender in the Commonwealth of Australia
The history of children and youth in the Commonwealth of Australia

Angry People against Kop Abuse
From Bren bren%barricad@xchange.apana.org.au, 2 April 1996.
Stop the attacks on public health care!
Jennifer Thompson, Green Left News, 16 March 1997. Government using talk of a supposed health care crisis to push reforms that would destroy the system of public health care, especially that of pensioners.
Sexism in student media
By Amanda Lawrence, in Green Left Weekly 14 September 1997. Disturbing signs of gender hostility at secondary school level.
Exposing the myth that migrants take our jobs
By Chris Slee, Green Left Weekly, 23 November 1997. Pauline Hanson blames migrants for unemployment, crime, drugs, disease and has called for the cessation of immigration ". The previous Labor government had already reduced immigration, supposedly to protect jobs. Numerous media commentators also propagate the view that immigration causes unemployment. This view is false, because it wrongly assumes that the number of jobs is fixed.
Thorpe loses bid to take case to international court
From ABC Australia - Online News, 12 December 1997. Aboriginal activist Robert Thorpe lost final High Court bid to have allegations of Aborginal genocide taken to the International Court of Justice.
Racist laws are valid, court told
By Margo Kingston, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 February 1998. The 1901 races power law gave Australian states the ability to enact racist legislation. A 1967 referendum aimed to correct this by transferring races power from States to the Federal government. However, the 1997 Hindmarsh Island Bridge law deprives Aborigines of protection of their land so that developers can expropriate them.
Let Not Racism Divide the Oppressed Peoples of Australia
Statement of Migrante-Australia, 1 August 1998. Long before Pauline Hanson her became the new mouthpieces of racist prejudice, racism has been out in full force in Australia. While white Australians have yet to come to terms with their shameful treatment of Aborigines, racism has reared its ugly head, this time towards the Asians in Australia. MIGRANTE-Australia, an organisation of Filipinos in Australia does not tolerate Pauline Hanson nor the Australian government's racist bent.
For a non-sexist future
Green Left Weekly, [3 November 1998]. A recent report in the Sydney Morning Herald, cites statistics from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, highlighting the increasing number of women and children seeking protection from domestic violence.
Economy Dodges Asian Crisis, But Income Gaps Growing
By Andrew Nette, IPS, 3 December 1998. While Australia's economy continues to be strong, it is becoming far more unequal. Wealth is increasingly concentrated in fewer hands, while majority see their job security and quality of life erode. The IMF commended Australia's sound macroeconomic policy and structural reforms; there has also been some freeing up in the labour market, which has meant there has not been increased pressure for wage increases. Australia now has the second largest gap in the world between rich and poor after the United States.