NEW SOUTH WALES will hold a general election on the 22 March 2003. Australians Against Further Immigration (AAFI) intends to run candidates in 40 to 50 lower house seats as well as running for the upper house. It will be interesting to see how things turn out with the new voting rules for the upper house. Meanwhile the Australia First Party AFP will support "an independent nationalist candidate", presumably in a lower house electorate. Both groups are asking for donations. For those interested the addresses are: AAFI, PO Box 539, Lindfield, 2070. AFP, PO Box 593, Rockdale, 2216.

AUSTRALIA FIRST has been stirring the pot again, this time in the NSW country town of Griffith. Afghan refugees have been employed at Barrter Industries at Griffith. According to AFP the Afghans are hired as trainees, receiving only 80% of the award rate. Their workers compensation levies are paid by the State and the company gets a bonus of $1,375.00 for each worker hired under the scheme who stays for three months.

A GANG of teenagers terrorised a mother and her two children when they rampaged through her home in the outer Sydney suburb of Claymore. The gang, described as being of Pacific Islander appearance, threw rocks and bricks at the home breaking windows, screens and wall, and then beat up two police officers who attended the incident (Daily Telegraph 29/11/02).

A RIOT in the southwestern Queensland town of St George led to severe damage to a hotel. The riot followed the charging of a hotel licensee with murder following the death of a 26-year-old Aboriginal. About 60 people were involved, some armed with baseball bats, wood chunks and clubs. A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the hotel lounge (DT 14/12/02).

TEN SUSPECTED illegal migrants were arrested in a prostitution sting in inner Sydney. A number of women were charged with soliciting offences (ABC Online 12/12/02).

14 BOMBS were found in the home of a South African born Muslim in the western Sydney suburb of Liverpool. The devices were packed with ammonium nitrate, nails and metal. Ammonium nitrate is the same chemical used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing (DT 21/12/02).

WHILE the Federal government is trying to ban many handguns, 2,000 guns arrived in Victoria. The $2 million shipment of Italian-made Beretta pistols included at least three of the models on the list of banned weapons (Yahoo News 8/01/03).

DELIBERATELY LIT fires caused severe damage at a number of detention centres over the Christmas period. Asylum seekers started up to five fires at the Baxter Detention Centre in South Australia, causing at least $2.25 million worth of damage. More fires were started at Port Hedland in West Australia and Villawood in NSW. Those responsible for the fires at Villawood were not asylum seekers but migrants being deported for criminal or visa offences. They came from China, Vietnam, Spain, Jordan, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Total costs of the fires was about $10 million (Yahoo News 30/12/02 and 1/01/03). A group of 34 people, some suspected of having taken part in arson attacks were deported from Christmas Island to Sri Lanka in January (Yahoo News 14/01/03).

THE NSW Department of Education has advertised a position of "Project Officer, Racism. No Way". The salary is $78,070. Funny how a Department which cant keep up maintenance on its schools or install solid security to protect them from vandals can find funds for a silly ideological project like "Racism. No Way".

SENATOR ROSS LIGHTFOOT will not be taking appeal action after he was fined for making "racially offensive" comments. Apparently he said that Aborigines in their native state were the most primitive people on earth. Not that the Senator is going back on what he said but he thinks the cost of an appeal is not worth it (ABC Online 15/01/03).

MORE THAN 1,700 people died on the nation's roads last year but this is lower than the previous year. Nevertheless the toll did go up 9% in NSW and 10% in the Northern Territory (ABC Online 16/01/03).

10,000 ABORIGINAL children in the Northern Territory receive no schooling (ABC Online).