Australia and South Pacific
Australia: Fairfax journalists strike over job cuts
By Richard Phillips, 18 March 2016
The latest attack is part of a decade-long process of job destruction and restructuring at Fairfax Media.
Australian journalists condemn the axing of more Fairfax jobs
By our reporters, 18 March 2016
Striking editorial staff speak out against the latest attack on jobs and conditions by one of Australia’s largest media corporations.
Anti-protest laws attack democratic rights in Australia
By Mike Head, 18 March 2016
New laws in three states impose draconian punishments for allegedly disrupting or hindering business operations.
Australian Greens join government in ramming through Senate voting changes
By Mike Head, 17 March 2016
In the machinations over the electoral laws, the Greens have stepped forward, not just to assist the government, but to try to shore up the parliamentary system itself.
Australian media whips up fear campaign against African youth
By Richard Phillips, 16 March 2016
The state Labor government has seized on police clashes with youth in Melbourne on Saturday to demand greater police powers to “smash gang violence.”
Build the International Youth and Students for Social Equality!
A socialist program to fight the Coalition-Labor-Greens assault on education in Australia
By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia), 16 March 2016
The IYSSE is fighting for the development of an independent, socialist movement of the working class in opposition to the assault on education and the gutting of social spending.
Australian primary teachers resign in protest at standardised, assessment-based education
By Susan Allan and Linda Tenenbaum, 14 March 2016
The two teachers decided to go public, hoping to encourage other teachers to speak out about the escalating education crisis.
Australia: Despite deaths, no youth mental facility in Brisbane
By Declan O’Malley, 14 March 2016
The official inquiry is an attempt to cover up the refusal of successive state and federal governments to provide adequate mental health services.
US reignites controversy over Chinese lease of Australian port
By Peter Symonds, 12 March 2016
The Australian government is already feeling the heat from Washington for failing to carry out a military intrusion into Chinese-claimed waters in the South China Sea.
Arrium demands Australian mine workers take pay cuts
By Terry Cook, 12 March 2016
Under the threat of closure, steelmaker Arrium is working with the unions to impose a 10 percent wage cut in its iron ore mines.
Growing concerns about Australia’s housing bubble
By Mike Head, 11 March 2016
Australia’s economy has so far avoided a recession, largely because of debt-fuelled household spending, based on steep rises in house prices.
New Zealand: Anti-TPP protests promote Maori nationalism
By Tom Peters, 10 March 2016
At protests against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the opposition parties have promoted Maori identity politics to block a unified struggle by workers against austerity and war.
US Air Force to boost presence in northern Australian bases
By Peter Symonds, 9 March 2016
Citing Chinese “militarisation” of the South China Sea, the US Pacific Air Forces commander insisted that the US had to maintain “a credible combat power” in Asia.
Australian government wracked by rifts over US military demands and austerity
By Mike Head, 9 March 2016
Sharp divisions within the political establishment lie behind recriminations within the Turnbull government.
Australia: Labor Party, teacher unions prepare further assault on public education
By Patrick Kelly and Frank Gaglioti, 9 March 2016
The Labor and union campaign for a new “Gonski” school funding model is a fraud from start to finish.
Fiji cyclone: Australian and New Zealand military mobilised for “humanitarian” relief
By Richard Phillips, 8 March 2016
While thousands of Fijians desperately need assistance, Canberra and Wellington have seized on the disaster to advance their own geo-strategic interests.
Leaked Australian document reveals plans for mass surveillance of immigrants
By Max Newman, 7 March 2016
The Australian government is preparing continuous monitoring of immigrants and more severe visa and citizenship tests to block access to permanent residence.
Australia: Qantas reaps record profits by slashing jobs and wages
By Terry Cook, 5 March 2016
Deep cuts have been imposed on the airline’s workers through a combination of intimidation and the collaboration of the trade unions.
IYSSE campaigns against war at universities in Australia and New Zealand
By our reporters, 5 March 2016
The IYSSE’s campaign initiated a serious discussion among broad layers of students about the socialist and internationalist alternative to the preparations for World War Three.
Australia: Job cuts threaten Sydney water safety
By Richard Phillips, 4 March 2016
The elimination of vital jobs wipes out decades of expertise and imperils the quality of water for Sydney’s 4.5 million residents.
Australian Greens cover up Defence White Paper plans for war on China
By Mike Head, 3 March 2016
The Greens, who once postured as an anti-war party, have sent another signal of their readiness to support the US-led military build-up against China.
Ex-Australian PM calls for “freedom of navigation” challenge to China
By Peter Symonds, 2 March 2016
Abbott’s comments are part of growing demands for the Australian government to mount a military intrusion into Chinese-claimed territory in the South China Sea.
Australian Greens back government’s Senate voting “reforms”
By Oscar Grenfell, 2 March 2016
The legislation is aimed at shoring-up the political establishment and clearing out the Senate to push through the sweeping austerity measures demanded by big business.
The Australian Defence White Paper and the drive to war
By James Cogan, 1 March 2016
The militarist agenda spelled out in the White Paper is incompatible with the democratic and social rights of the working class.
Tens of thousands homeless in Fiji cyclone disaster
By Oscar Grenfell, 26 February 2016
Australia and New Zealand have responded by dispatching substantial military hardware to Fiji.
Hundreds of Australian climate-change science jobs to be axed
By Perla Astudillo and Richard Philips, 25 February 2016
The CSIRO cuts are a major setback for scientific investigation into ocean temperatures, greenhouse gas levels and other climate-change issues.
Australian media use US admiral’s comments to push for confrontation with China
By James Cogan, 24 February 2016
The aim was to lend an air of urgency to a decision by the Australian government to order a military response to alleged Chinese “expansionism” in the South China Sea.
At least 29 dead, thousands displaced after Cyclone Winston hits Fiji
By Oscar Grenfell, 23 February 2016
The most powerful storm ever recorded in the region has produced a mounting humanitarian crisis.
Australia: BlueScope Steel profits leap on back of union-imposed job cuts
By Terry Cook, 23 February 2016
After the AWU and other unions helped impose savage cost cutting, the Australian steel manufacturer doubled its profits.
Australian health care rallies promote election of Labor and Greens
By Zac Hambides, 23 February 2016
Not one of the speakers mentioned the cutting of health spending by the last Labor government, kept in office by the Greens.
Arrium threatens to close Whyalla steelworks in South Australia
By Oscar Grenfell, 22 February 2016
The Australian Workers Union, working hand in hand with the company, is preparing to impose another round of job cuts and attacks on working conditions.
Build the International Youth and Students for Social Equality!
A socialist program to fight war, austerity and dictatorship!
By the IYSSE (Australia), 22 February 2016
Young people confront the stark alternative outlined by the great revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg following the outbreak of World War One—either socialism or barbarism.
Labor Party steps up demands for Australia to “stand up” to China
By James Cogan, 20 February 2016
Labor is serving as the catspaw of the US military establishment and seeking to dramatically ratchet up military tensions with Beijing.
Fiji orders second arms consignment from Russia
By John Braddock, 20 February 2016
Moves by Russia to establish itself as a Pacific power, in response to the US drive to dominate the region, will only heighten tensions in the Asia Pacific.
Global volatility triggers concerns about Australian banks
By Mike Head, 20 February 2016
The ongoing collapse of commodity prices has placed question marks over the exposure of the banks to losses in the resources sector.
Australian union escalates nationalist campaign over shipping layoffs
By Oscar Grenfell, 19 February 2016
The Maritime Union of Australia is seeking to divide workers along national lines and obscure its own role in facilitating the job destruction.
Australian foreign minister echoes US demands against China
By James Cogan, 18 February 2016
Bishop’s visit to Japan and China underscored Australia’s role as a key partner of Washington’s aggressive “pivot to Asia.”
Australia’s “Closing the Gap” fraud: Indigenous conditions worsen
By Mary Beadnell, 18 February 2016
Deteriorating social conditions are hitting the entire working class, with Aborigines among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.
Australian ministerial reshuffle underscores political impasse
By Mike Head, 17 February 2016
Amid deteriorating economic conditions, Prime Minister Turnbull is under mounting criticism by the corporate elite.
Australian government-union conspiracy to sack “underperforming” teachers
By Richard Phillips, 15 February 2016
The unions have torn up teachers’ hard-won struggle for job security by implementing new anti-democratic inspection regimes and streamlined sacking procedures.
Australian government refuses to help children trapped in Syria
By Mike Head, 13 February 2016
The government’s reaction to the plight of these six Australian children displays its true contempt for the millions of victims of the predatory US-led war in Iraq and Syria.
New wave of job cuts in Australia as global slump deepens
By John Harris, 12 February 2016
The mining and resources sector is now in headlong decline, and the fallout is spreading throughout the economy, including the retail sector.
Australian shipbuilding workers sacked in takeover deal
By Terry Cook, 11 February 2016
Forgacs workers were escorted off the job following the completion of a takeover by Civmec, as part of a sweeping restructuring of the industry.
Human Rights Watch underscores Australia’s abuses of refugees
By Max Newman, 10 February 2016
The report documents Australia’s stripping of asylum seekers of basic democratic rights and the build-up of repressive police powers.
Australian establishment condemns government’s retreat over increased consumption tax
By James Cogan, 10 February 2016
Raising the GST is viewed in corporate circles as the most rapid means of shifting more of the tax burden onto the working class.
Trans-Pacific Partnership signed in New Zealand amid mass protests
By Tom Peters, 10 February 2016
The protest organisers do not speak for the working class but express the interests of less competitive sections of business that fear losing out to global rivals.
Australia’s High Court backs indefinite offshore detention
By Mike Head, 9 February 2016
The ruling sets a new global benchmark for the incarceration of innocent and desperate people in what amounts to Guantanamo Bay-style legal black holes.
Australian public hospitals face growing funding crisis
By Mike Head, 8 February 2016
According to the AMA’s annual hospital report card, waiting times lengthened in 2014–15 and funding shortfalls will worsen in 2017 when the latest cutbacks come into effect.
Australia: Sydney city council locks out community theatre group
By Richard Phillips, 8 February 2016
Closure of the inner-western Sydney Archway 1 theatre and exhibition space takes place amid ongoing federal and state government cuts to the arts.
Unstable government in Vanuatu following snap election
By John Braddock, 8 February 2016
Deepening popular opposition to the political elite has left no single party able to form a government.
UN panel condemns detention of WikiLeaks founder
Stop the persecution of Julian Assange!
By Bill Van Auken, 5 February 2016
Despite a ruling that Assange has been subjected to “arbitrary detention,” both the UK and Sweden vow to continue his persecution.
Australian High Court sanctions indefinite offshore detention of refugees
By Mike Head, 4 February 2016
The decision sets a new global benchmark for the incarceration of men, women and children in conditions that amount to torture.
Doctor challenges Australian government over refugee conditions on Nauru
By Max Newman, 2 February 2016
A paediatrics professor who worked in Nauru has condemned the indefinite detention of asylum seekers as torture, defying the police-state secrecy provisions of the Border Force Act.
Pressure mounts on Australian government to challenge China in South China Sea
By Peter Symonds, 2 February 2016
“Freedom of navigation” is the threadbare pretext used to disguise US-led preparations for war with China.
Australian teenager arrested for documents “connected” to terrorism
By Mike Head, 1 February 2016
The vague charges underscore the increasingly repressive sweep of Australia’s “anti-terrorism” laws.
Former army chief named “Australian of the Year”
By Oscar Grenfell, 29 January 2016
The award is part of a broader campaign to normalise military involvement in political life, under conditions of escalating militarism and war.
Australian Treasury head demands deep spending cuts
By Mike Head, 29 January 2016
Fraser’s speech is part of a mounting ideological offensive by the financial and corporate elite to combat public hostility to the austerity agenda.
Russian arms consignment arrives in Fiji
By John Braddock, 28 January 2016
The shipment underlines the deepening geo-strategic tensions in the Pacific.
Australian maritime union isolates and betrays Portland seamen
By Oscar Grenfell, 27 January 2016
The Maritime Union of Australia’s “Our Coast. Our Jobs” campaign divides workers and obscures the union’s role as the enforcer of sweeping cuts demanded by big business.
New Zealand government arrests alleged student loan defaulter
By Tom Peters, 27 January 2016
The arrest of Ngatokotoru Puna sets the stage for more attacks on thousands of students and former students, who owe a combined total of $14.8 billion.
Australian Dulux workers return to work but job cuts loom
By Mike Head, 26 January 2016
Together with the other trade unions, United Voice is seeking to contain the growing anger among workers over the mounting destruction of jobs.
Australia “central” to US plans for war with China
By James Cogan, 26 January 2016
The CSIS report demands a build-up of the Australia military, as well as US bases across the north of the continent.
CSIS report: A blueprint for US war with China
By Peter Symonds, 25 January 2016
The study is a master plan for an accelerating arms race in Asia in preparation for a conflict that would draw in the entire region and the world.
US threatens to withdraw from major Pacific fisheries treaty
By John Braddock, 25 January 2016
The US withdrawal from the 27-year-old Tuna Treaty threatens to devastate the economies of many small island states.
Australian industrial court bans port strikes
By Oscar Grenfell, 23 January 2016
The ruling will likely be invoked by the union to strike a backroom deal with the port company.
Australian prime minister visits US military commander in Hawaii
By Mike Head, 23 January 2016
Over the past year, the admiral has played a vocal role in inflaming tensions with China, particularly over its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Imprisonment periods lengthening in Australian immigration detention centres
By Max Newman, 22 January 2016
Detainees are now being incarcerated for an average 445 days, resulting in severe mental distress.
Labor Party in Australia demands “action” against China
By James Cogan, 21 January 2016
Shadow defence spokesman Stephen Conroy’s column underscores the Labor Party’s role as the most fervent supporter of the US-Australia alliance.
Australian government unveils new cuts to health care
By Mike Head, 21 January 2016
Malcolm Turnbull’s government has made the slashing of basic health services one of the priority targets of its austerity agenda.
Obama thanks Australian prime minister for war efforts
By Peter Symonds, 20 January 2016
While the tone was not as strident as his predecessor, Turnbull’s underlying message was the same: full support for US militarism around the world.
Australian nickel refinery crisis threatens thousands of jobs
By Mike Head, 20 January 2016
The livelihoods of workers in the northern city of Townsville and the French colony of New Caledonia are imperiled by the threatened closure of the Queensland Nickel plant.
Australian stocks fall sharply on China and global fears
By Mike Head, 12 January 2016
A new year sharemarket rout highlights Australian capitalism’s acute vulnerability to the slowing growth and signs of economic instability in China.
Two dead, scores of homes destroyed in Western Australian bushfire
By Oscar Grenfell, 12 January 2016
Residents of Yarloop, a town virtually destroyed by the blaze, were given almost no warning and were left without water.
Thirty-eight percent of Australia’s large companies paid no tax in 2013-14
By John Roberts, 11 January 2016
Tax office data reveals that the country’s major firms pay little or no company tax, while demanding an increased goods and services tax and the slashing of government spending.
New Zealand court approves Kim Dotcom’s extradition to the US
By John Braddock, 8 January 2016
The ruling is a significant legal victory for the US and New Zealand’s National Party government, which has operated in concert with Washington throughout the affair.
Papua New Guinea government ejects Australian “advisors”
By Patrick Kelly, 8 January 2016
The decision marks a setback for Australian imperialist interests in its resource-rich former colony.
Australian government seizes on trade union report to attack workers’ conditions
By Will Morrow, 7 January 2016
While the immediate target of the royal commission report is the trade unions, the real aim is to clear the way for a fundamental transformation of Australian industrial relations.
Australia: Over 100 houses destroyed in Victorian bushfires
By Margaret Rees, 4 January 2016
Victoria has been hit by more than 2,500 bushfires since October but the hottest months, when the most dangerous fires usually occur, are still to come.
Indonesian foreign policy tilts towards the US and its allies
By John Roberts, 31 December 2015
Amid rising tensions in the South China Sea, Indonesia has adopted a tougher approach to China, while at the same time seeking to avoid open confrontation.
Private operator to run New Zealand capital’s rail service
By our correspondent, 31 December 2015
Despite the denials of the trade unions, rail workers face a new round of attacks on jobs and conditions.
Widespread abstention in New Zealand flag referendum
By Sam Price, 29 December 2015
The opposition to the referendum reflects hostility to the promotion of nationalism and militarism to divert attention from social inequality.
Australia: One year after the Sydney siege, the cover-up continues
By Richard Phillips and Peter Symonds, 28 December 2015
The investigations into the Lindt café tragedy over the past year are above all aimed at obscuring the role of the state apparatus, especially the intelligence agencies.
Western Australia suffers “greatest revenue shock since Great Depression”
By Mike Head, 24 December 2015
Collapsing global iron ore and gas prices have triggered an abrupt economic reversal in Australia’s premier “mining boom” state.
Public meetings in Australia mark 75th anniversary of Leon Trotsky’s murder
By our correspondents, 23 December 2015
There was intense interest as speakers explained the significance of Trotsky’s life and work, and why and how he was assassinated by Stalin’s secret police, the GPU.
Workers and youth speak on Trotsky’s life and death
By our correspondents, 23 December 2015
WSWS correspondents interviewed some of those who attended the meetings last week in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne on “How and Why the GPU Murdered Trotsky” [link]. Members of the audience were asked about why they had come to the meetings and what they thought were the most significant aspects of the reports delivered on Trotsky’s life, his assassination and the Security and the Fourth International investigation, conducted by the International Committee of the Fourth International, into the circumstances surrounding Trotsky’s murder.
Australian report calls for cutting penalty wage rates
By Mike Head, 22 December 2015
Big business is demanding the further lowering of wages and conditions to match those imposed on workers across America and Europe following the 2008 global financial crisis.
Australia, Japan “strongly support” US, amid rising tensions with China
By Peter Symonds, 19 December 2015
As Japanese and Australian leaders met in Tokyo, an American paper reported a US military intrusion into Chinese-claimed air space in the South China Sea.
Report reveals Australian disability scheme’s cost-cutting agenda
By Max Newman, 19 December 2015
Under-funded NDIS service providers are struggling to cope with low prices set by governments and are employing an increasingly casualised workforce.
Job losses mount throughout Australian mining sector
By Terry Cook, 18 December 2015
Anglo American’s announcement last week of massive layoffs, globally and in Australia, is just one indication of the crisis throughout the mining industry.
Corporate elite demands deeper budget cuts from Australian government
By Mike Head, 18 December 2015
The global slump and collapsing commodity prices have shattered the government’s promises to return to a surplus by the end of the decade.
Warning of unrest in New Caledonia over Australian nickel smelter closure
By John Braddock, 17 December 2015
The repercussions of the looming plant shutdown are a sign of the escalating turmoil being caused by the sharp drop in global commodity prices.
What is the BBC doing in the South China Sea?
By Peter Symonds, 16 December 2015
A BBC news crew deliberately intruded inside the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit around a Chinese-controlled reef to provoke a reaction in an already tense situation.
Australian budget position worsens as cuts deepen
By Nick Beams, 16 December 2015
Even the government’s own dubious growth figures show that its much vaunted transition to a more broad-based economy is based on lowering real wages.
Australian PM unveils plan for indefinite detention of “terrorists”
By Mike Head, 12 December 2015
Turnbull’s announcement came amid an intensive campaign by his ousted predecessor, Tony Abbott, to demonise Muslims and call for ground troops to be deployed to Syria and Iraq.
As court bans racist rally, Australian media promotes far-right
By Richard Phillips, 12 December 2015
The media has provided blanket coverage of plans for an anti-Islamic rally in Cronulla, where racist mobs attacked Middle Eastern youth in 2005.
Indonesian government discusses offering Australia an island to detain refugees
By Max Newman, 11 December 2015
As a result of Australia’s “turn back” policy, more than 13,000 asylum seekers are now living in some of Indonesia’s most impoverished provinces.
Australia: Productivity Commission proposes further major cutbacks to pensions
By Richard Phillips, 11 December 2015
The report targets the family home, which for more than a century has been exempt from inclusion in the pension assets test.
Scores of Australian workers killed in workplace incidents
By Terry Cook, 9 December 2015
Workers continue to die or be severely injured in work-related accidents that are entirely preventable.
An interview with Ted Dawe, author of Into the River
By Tom Peters, 9 December 2015
Dawe’s novel has been attacked in the media and by fundamentalist Christians because of its realistic depiction of New Zealand society, from the point of view of a working-class Maori teenager.
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