University students are taking action against the Abbott government’s decisions to load education costs onto their shoulders. Two weeks ago students booed Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and former Liberal shadow cabinet member Sophie Mirabella as they attended university functions, and students unfurled a banner and interrupted the ABC TV program Q&A.  more ...

Since the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia, federal-state relations have been a hotly fought issue. The process leading to federation was a difficult one, fraught with contradictions arising out of the recognition of the benefits of federation and the reluctance of vested interests to relinquish their considerable sovereign powers. When on January 1, 1901, six self-governing British colonies became states in the new Commonwealth of Australia, these differences were far from resolved.  more ...

Remember the Coalition’s pre-election promises of no cuts to education, health, or the ABC or SBS; no forced redundancies in the public service; no change to pensions; restoration of accountability and improved transparency; no increase in university fees; no increased taxes; etc. All torn up in its first budget. But the deceit is not confined to broken policies. The spin that accompanied each broken promise, each attack on pensioners, students, the unemployed, families, Indigenous Australians, the public service, etc, is accompanied by neo-liberal mythology, outright lies and deception in an attempt to justify them.  more ...

The next phase of the roll-out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is set down for July 1. It will spread from regions in NSW, Victoria, SA and Tasmania to new trial sites in WA, the ACT and Northern Territory. The expansion is taking place to the sound of sharpening federal budget knives and the early stages of the scheme have been clouded by cost blow-out claims and administrative shortcomings. The chatter from conservative forces is all about the “sustainability” of Australia’s current levels of social security spending, including funding of the NDIS.  more ...

It’s longstanding US policy. In his March 18 address on Crimea, Putin was right saying: “We have every reason to assume that the infamous policy of containment, led in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, continues today.” Western nations are “constantly trying to sweep us into a corner because we have an independent position, because we maintain it, and because we call things like they are and do not engage in hypocrisy.”  more ...

Critics have labelled them “a huge corporate wish-list” and a “blank cheque for US companies”. Under the guise of restarting the lagging world economy, two sweeping free-trade treaties are under negotiation that, if agreed, would swing the power balance away from states in favour of big business.  more ...

May this year was the 60th anniversary of the defeat of the French colonial empire at Dien Bien Phu. The anniversary was celebrated with a long holiday in Vietnam, but passed without notice from the Australian media. This is oddly perverse, because the Australian capitalist press is always keen to tell us how Australian military forces “defeated” a North Vietnamese army at the Battle of Long Tan, despite the fact that that particular battle was neither decisive nor even indicative, since the Vietnamese went on to very decisively win the war.  more ...