World Notes Australia

The five clergymen stood behind a wooden cross outside a power station in a Brisbane suburb two weeks ago singing We Shall Overcome. Within minutes, they were themselves overcome, spirited away by the police. Since March, similar scenes have been re-enacted almost daily in Queensland, Australia's northeastern state, where 231 people have been arrested in protests against harsh new labor legislation sponsored by the state's right-wing Premier Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, 74, who is called "Jackboots Joh" by detractors. Among other things, the laws require unions to give up to seven days' notice of their intention to strike.

The laws were rushed through the state parliament following a ten-day walkout by power workers, who feared losing their jobs to outside contractors. Clergymen and civil rights and labor activists, who see the legislation as a threat to Australian unionism, have joined in the protests. Recently the unions blockaded the state's transportation links for 24 hours. Sir Joh afterward attacked the unions as a "bloodthirsty lot trying to grind down the community." Said he: "They do not realize their days of threatening and bullying people in this state are over."