Tribute in the House, Daryl Melham MP

House of Representatives Adjournment Debate – Chamber 14th June 2011

Mr Speaker, Bob Gould was a unique individual. He was born into a socialist family in 1937 and died, where he would have preferred to die, in his Newtown bookshop on May 22nd 2011.

Killer Company. James Hardie exposed

A review

Killer Company. James Hardie Exposed, by Matt Peacock, ABC Books, 2009.

James Hardie lied. The company executives knew for decades the dangers of asbestos.

Gran Torino: a review

A film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, distributed by Warner Bros. In cinemas now

Gran Torino is produced and directed by Clint Eastwood and he is also the star of the film, but this may be the last Clint Eastwood film.

Frost/Nixon: a review

Jenny Haines

A Ron Howard Film for Universal Studios starring Frank Langella as Richard Nixon and Michael Sheen as David Frost. Now showing, all cinemas

In this film Ron Howard brings to the screen a Broadway play about a series of interviews David Frost did with Richard Nixon after his resignation from the US presidency.

Blacktown: a review

Shane Weaver, Bantam Press, 2003

Reviewed by Jenny Haines

When trendy liberals and avowed socialists talk about the working class, it is often without having any personal experience of working class life. Shane Weaver’s book about growing up in Blacktown in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s is a personal and painful recounting of his working class childhood, in a family that lived with the terror of a drunken stepfather and random domestic violence. The cover of the book recounts just some of the terror the family lived with: “the screen door bangs shut. The silence that follows is like the collective intake of breath between the split second a guillotine falls and when it thuds home…unable to get a clear shot, he rips the bed away from the wall. I scream as the first lick of the electric cord stings my back…”

The Secret River: a review

Jenny Haines

The Secret River, by Kate Grenvill, Text Publishing, Melbourne 2005

Recently Kevin Rudd on behalf of the Australian Parliament and the people said sorry to the aboriginal people of Australia for the past appalling mistreatment, abuse and massacres. But after reading The Secret River I wonder if saying sorry once is enough or if we should keep saying it again every year for the next 220 years.

Labor ranks revolt on privatisation

Jenny Haines

Something unusual and historic in the NSW Labor Party happened today. About 200 active rank and file members of the party filled the Sydney Trades Hall auditorium for a forum, in revolt against the plans by the parliamentary party in power to privatise the electricity industry in NSW.

The Breaking Point, a review

Jenny Haines

The Breaking Point, Hemingway, Dos Passos and the Murder of Jose Robles, by Stephen Koch, Robson Books, 2006

When I was given The Breaking Point, as a birthday present, I approached the book with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. The title alone spark my interest, but I am not a fan of murder mysteries. But this is no ordinary murder mystery.

Sugar slaves, a review

Jenny Haines

Sugar Slaves, made by Film Australia and the ABC, executive producer Sharon Connolly, director/co-producer Trevor Graham, producer, Penny Robins. Available on DVD

As the Rudd Government prepares to say sorry to indigenous Australians on February 12, it is to be hoped that the apology will include the Pacific Islanders, or Kanakas as they were once widely called, who are descendants of what the traders called “blackbirding”, but the islanders call the Pacific slave trade.

Suite Francais. A review

Jenny Haines

Suite Francais is an unfinished novel by Irene Nemirovsky, written at the time of the fall of France and its occupation by the Nazis. It was meant to be a suite of stories, similar to a symphony, but only two parts of the suite were completed before the author was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz in 1942.

War on democracy

Jenny Haines

War on Democracy, a film by John Pilger

As a country whose own revolution was inspired by the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity, the US might be expected have more insight and understanding of the demands and needs of the peoples of Latin America and the Carribean.

Emergency sex and other desperate measures

Jenny Haines

Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures. A True Story from Hell on Earth, by Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson, Ebury Press, 2004

If you picked up a book at a book fair titled Emergency Sex, you might expect something different from this book’s actual content. There are only a few accounts of desperate sexual encouters while passing through holiday destinations.

Sicko

Jenny Haines

Sicko, a movie by Michael Moore

Having swaited in eager anticipation for so long for Michael Moore’s new film, Sicko, and missing Moore’s wonderful, satirical sense of humour, I managed to get into an advance screening of the film. I was not disappointed. It was more, much more, than I had hoped for or expected.

Rally against Howard’s industrial Gestapo

Jenny Haines

Supporters of the 107 Leighton’s workers from Mandurah, WA, gathered at the Sydney Trades Hall on August 29, at a meeting organised by the NSW branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. The rally was held on the day the workers were due to face court in Perth.

Work Choices on steroids

The Building Industry Improvement Act

Jenny Haines

“Who’s got $28,000 sitting aside to pay for something like this? We are ordinary working-class people. We live from week to week. If we can’t pay, he will have to go to jail. I can’t sleep at night.” Bernie, mother of three, whose husband is among one of the 107 construction workers victimised for taking industrial action.

On July 24 I attended the solidarity evening held by the NSW CFMEU (Construction, Forestry, Minining and Energy Union), for the 107 West Australian workers who are facing $28,000 fines or jail under the Howard Government’s Orwellian-named Building Industry Improvement Act.