Communist Party of Australia

Hands off penalty rates! – Workers’ Rights Campaign

PM Tony Abbott and his union-bashing team have promised their employer mates a life without unions in deregulated workplaces where they can drive down wages and conditions to levels found in low income countries. Towards these ends Treasurer Joe Hockey has commissioned a review of the Fair Work Act by the Productivity Commission, a body notorious for its pro-corporate, neo-liberal policies. The following are some of the measures the Commission is considering: more ...

Current Issue of The Guardian

September 23, 2015 - click here for index of articles.

Different face, different rhetoric – Same anti-people policies

The main reason Tony Abbott was dumped was the government’s policies. The May 2014 budget shook the electorate. The Abbott government broke its pre-election promises not to cut health, education, the age pension and ABC funding. Public hospitals and education faced $80 billion in cuts. The broken promises continued in the 2015 budget as did the lies. more ...

Editorial – Europe’s breaking union

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had announced that all were welcome – winning her a reputation as the most humane leader in all Europe. But suddenly the line was changed; German crossing points from Austria were shut down. Then Austria closed its entry points from Hungary, while Hungary, by far the most brutal, plugged up its entry points from Serbia with razor wire and, when it felt necessary, with batons, tear gas and multiple arrests. Now Serbia has followed suit, followed by Croatia and those Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and other refuge-seekers who survived dangerous crossings through ever stormier seas are caught in a series of mouse-traps. Their loud chants of “Germany, Germany” and joyful waving of Merkel portraits have largely vanished. more ...

CPA solidarity with Simón Trinidad

The Communist Party of Australia sends greetings to the protest being held outside the US super-max prison in Florence, Colorado where Colombian citizen Simón Trinidad is being held. Simón’s treatment is outrageously unjust and emblematic of the arrogance of the US in its dealings with Latin America and developing countries around the world. more ...

10 days of airport turbulence

Passengers at all eight international airports around the country have been warned of potential disruption, as Immigration and Border Force workers launch at least 10 days of strike action to defend their rights, conditions and take-home pay. more ...

Coal’s last gasp

Australians are being subjected to a high energy advertising campaign selling the “benefits” of coal. The Minerals Council of Australia, perhaps sensing that the jig is up for the malodorous fossil fuel, is seeking to win friends for the “little black rock” and squeeze the last remaining super-profits from it. more ...

US rejected Syria deal in 2012

In the United States it is considered fashionable to maintain a steadfast ignorance of rejected peace offers, and to believe that all the wars launched by the US government are matters of “last resort”. Our schools still don’t teach that Spain wanted the matter of the Maine to go to international arbitration, that Japan wanted peace before Hiroshima, that the Soviet Union proposed peace negotiations before the Korean War, or that the US sabotaged peace proposals for Vietnam from the Vietnamese, the Soviets, and the French. When a Spanish newspaper reported that Saddam Hussein had offered to leave Iraq before the 2003 invasion, US media took little interest. When British media reported that the Taliban was willing to have Osama bin Laden put on trial before the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, US journalists yawned. Iran’s 2003 offer to negotiate ending its nuclear energy program wasn’t mentioned much during this year’s debate over an agreement with Iran – which was itself nearly rejected as an impediment to war. more ...

Culture & Life – No union mines left in Kentucky

Underground coal mining is dirty, hard and dangerous work. Apart from accidents, miners are liable to lung damage from coal dust. In South Africa, England, Australia, the US and many other countries, miners have fought often vicious battles to improve their pay and conditions. In few places were those battles harder than in the US. more ...

Pete's Corner

Over 10 years worth of sharp humour from The Guardian's very own cartoonist Pete Andrew can be accessed from the main menu – or just click here.

Half A Century of Pain

A selection of images from the book Half a Century of Pain – 50 Years of Agent Orange Disaster in Vietnam – 1961-2011, published by the Ministry of Information and Communication of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. more ...

Maritime Bulletins and leaflets from the CPA Maritime Branch

This web page was last updated: Tuesday, September 22, 2015