Australia and South Pacific
SEP holds election meetings in Sydney and Melbourne
By our reporters, 7 June 2016
At both meetings, workers and young people discussed the socialist alternative to war, austerity and the assault on democratic rights.
What the Royal Commission into Australia’s trade unions revealed
Part Five: The TWU and MUA “training funds” and the CFMEU’s “drug and alcohol committee”
By Will Fulgenzi—SEP candidate for Wills, 7 June 2016
Millions of dollars flow into trade union coffers via arrangements between their various “funds,” “organisations” and “committees,” and the major employers.
Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore
Washington and Beijing draw battle lines over South China Sea
By James Cogan, 6 June 2016
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter threatened that China “could end up erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation.”
Australian economic growth data masks slump and inequality
By Mike Head, 6 June 2016
While output rose, disposable income has now fallen for two years, indicating declining living standards.
Australia: Melbourne homeless continue city protest
By our reporters, 6 June 2016
Homeless people are defying arrest threats, city council denunciations and a media slander campaign.
Australia’s Nick Xenophon: An “anti-politician” with a nationalist and militarist program
By Mike Head—SEP candidate for the Senate in Queensland, 4 June 2016
Xenophon’s party is trying to channel the immense social discontent being produced by massive job losses back into the dead-end of the parliamentary system.
School closed in remote Australian indigenous community
By John Davis, 4 June 2016
None of the underlying causes of the social and economic problems in Aurukun have been addressed in the corporate media.
What the Royal Commission into Australia’s trade unions revealed
Part Three: The trade unions as insurance brokers
By Will Fulgenzi—SEP candidate for Wills, 4 June 2016
Behind their backs, unions and employers funnel workers’ entitlements for illness, redundancy, injury and death into the unions’ own insurance companies.
What the Royal Commission into Australia’s trade unions revealed
Part Two: Companies pay union “membership fees”
By Will Fulgenzi—SEP candidate for Wills, 3 June 2016
In exchange for implementing their agenda, major employers pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to the unions.
What the Royal Commission into Australia’s trade unions revealed
Part One: Workers need new organisations of struggle!
By Will Fulgenzi—SEP candidate for Wills, 2 June 2016
While the Commission’s motivations are reactionary, its report demonstrates that the unions are nothing but labour management businesses whose role is to destroy workers’ conditions.
Sydney University’s US Studies Centre: A bastion of pro-war strategy and propaganda
By Oscar Grenfell—SEP candidate for Grayndler, 2 June 2016
The centre’s significance is underscored by the decision of Sydney University authorities to ban an anti-war meeting of the SEP on the Anzac Day weekend last year.
Union of Concerned Scientists warns of US-China nuclear war
By Peter Symonds, 1 June 2016
While graphically warning of the danger of nuclear conflict, the UCS has no proposal to prevent it—other than a vain hope in a diplomatic solution.
Australia: Jobs losses continue to mount amid collapsing wage levels
By Terry Cook, 1 June 2016
Australian Bureau of Statistics data exposes growing casualisation of the workforce and low wage levels.
Australia: “Q&A” segment reveals a yawning social divide
By Mike Head—Socialist Equality Party candidate for the Senate in Queensland, 1 June 2016
Questions put to the politicians gave a glimpse of the disconnect between ordinary working people and the political elite.
SEP candidate challenges Labor, Greens, pseudo-left on climate change, war
By our reporters, 1 June 2016
In addition to outlining the necessary socialist policies required to resolve the climate change crisis, Fulgenzi exposed the pro-war agenda of the Labor Party and the Greens.
Australia’s wealthy soar while millions face destitution
By Erin Cooke—SEP candidate for the Senate in Queensland, 31 May 2016
Such levels of inequality are a direct product of the irrationality of the entire capitalist system.
Banality and lies mark Australian election “debate”
By James Cogan—SEP candidate for the Senate in NSW, 30 May 2016
The leaders of the major capitalist parties were not asked to state their position on the rising tensions between the United States and China.
Terrorist arrests injected into Australian election
By Mike Head, 28 May 2016
Many questions are raised about the timing of each arrest, suggesting definite political calculations.
Australian dairy farmers protest over milk price cuts
By Margaret Rees, 28 May 2016
Socialist Equality Party Senate candidate for Victoria Chris Sinnema attended the protest, discussing the party’s socialist program with farmers and their families.
Australian media vendetta against worker who questioned tax breaks for wealthy
By Patrick Kelly, 28 May 2016
The savage media treatment of Duncan Storrar is a reflection of the ruling elite’s determination to prevent any challenge to the status quo.
University of Papua New Guinea closed down over student protests
By John Braddock, 27 May 2016
Police were called in to suppress month-long protests by students over Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s refusal to step down from office.
Why is there “no money” for basic social needs?
By Mike Head—SEP candidate for the Senate in Queensland, 27 May 2016
All around the world, governments are seeking to dismantle welfare entitlements, minimum wages, retirement pensions, and access to education and healthcare.
Public meetings on the Australian election
Support the SEP in 2016! No to war and budget cuts! For socialism and internationalism!
26 May 2016
The candidates will explain the socialist and internationalist program for which the SEP is fighting in opposition to Labor, the Liberals, the Greens and every other capitalist party.
Swedish court refuses to drop arrest warrant for Julian Assange
By Josh Varlin, 26 May 2016
The Stockholm Court rejected the conclusion of a United Nations working group that Assange has been arbitrarily detained in violation of international human rights conventions.
Australian election: Military spending is war preparation, not “industry policy”
By James Cogan—SEP candidate for the Senate in NSW, 26 May 2016
The greatest expenditure on hardware for the Australian military since World War II is being cynically portrayed as a public works program.
Australian Treasury issues a blunt demand for austerity offensive
By Mike Head, 25 May 2016
The warning points to the reality of economic slump that all the parties of the political establishment are trying to keep hidden from public view until after the election.
Australian government’s “internship” program: An attack on young people
By Oscar Grenfell—SEP candidate for Grayndler, 24 May 2016
Young people are a central target of the austerity agenda that will be deepened by whichever party forms government after the July 2 elections.
Support the Socialist Equality Party 2016 election campaign!
Vote against war and budget cuts! For internationalism and socialism!
By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 23 May 2016
The SEP’s campaign is directed to the ever growing number of workers and young people who want a genuine alternative.
The SEP candidates in the 2016 Australian election
By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 23 May 2016
The Socialist Equality Party is standing a Senate group in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, and candidates in the electorates of Grayndler and Blaxland in Sydney and Wills in Melbourne.
Australian Federal Police raid Labor Party frontbencher
By Nick Beams, 20 May 2016
Raids conducted by the police have been denounced as “extraordinary and unprecedented” in an election campaign.
Why the South China Sea tensions were removed from Australian Greens’ speech
By Oscar Grenfell, 20 May 2016
Richard Di Natale’s foreign policy speech was edited to remove anything that could have been interpreted as a challenge to the Australian ruling elite’s preparations for war against China.
Australia: Fairfax Media imposes forced redundancies
By Terry Cook, 19 May 2016
Amid threatened government legal action against its workers for striking, one of the country’s largest media corporations last week began sacking editorial staff across two states.
Australian Greens leader criticises the US alliance—without mentioning China
By Oscar Grenfell, 18 May 2016
While denouncing aspects of the US-Australia alliance, Di Natale stopped short of raising the preparations for war against China or the crisis in the South China Sea.
Australian rate cut warnings point to economic slump
By Mike Head, 17 May 2016
The predictions indicate a deflationary “vortex” of falling prices, business investment and living standards.
Singapore expands military training in Australia
By John Roberts, 16 May 2016
The intensified military cooperation between Singapore and Australia is another part of the escalating US “pivot” against China.
Young Australian girl forced to go to Supreme Court to seek abortion
By Mary Beadnell, 16 May 2016
A teenager’s plight shows that the right to abortion is still denied for many working-class girls and women in Australia’s public hospitals.
Submarine project no solution for South Australia’s employment crisis
By John Braddock, 14 May 2016
Claims that building submarines will rescue the economically depressed state are false and any new jobs will be tied to preparations for war.
Patrick Stevedores threatens to lock out Australian port workers
By Terry Cook, 13 May 2016
Amid the campaign for Australia’s July 2 federal election, the major waterfront company has declared it will lock out workers in four states if they take further industrial action.
Australian Greens offer to enter future coalition with Labor
By Oscar Grenfell, 12 May 2016
The Greens are presenting themselves to the corporate elite as a party of “parliamentary stability.”
Australian state government imposes draconian “public safety” laws
By Mike Head, 12 May 2016
The two latest bills allow police officers to issue sweeping “crime prevention” and “public safety” orders—including forms of house arrest for up to five years—without a charge, trial or conviction.
Australian “Anzac Day plot” boy entrapped by police
By Cheryl Crisp, 12 May 2016
According to new evidence, the alleged plot consisted of taped conversations between the 16-year-old and an undercover police agent.
War danger grows following new US provocation in South China Sea
By James Cogan, 11 May 2016
US imperialism continues to stoke up long-standing, competing claims over territory in the South China Sea to militarily encircle and destabilise the Chinese regime.
Australian Labor shadow treasurer foreshadows post-election spending cuts
By Nick Beams, 11 May 2016
Labor shadow treasurer Chris Bowen used his National Press Club address to attack the Turnbull government for having no plan to reduce the budget deficit.
Build the International Youth and Students for Social Equality!
For a socialist program against Labor, the Liberals and the Greens
By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia), 11 May 2016
The National Union of Students has called rallies to bolster the populist posturing of Labor and the Greens.
Murdoch tabloid appeals to voters to “save” Labor candidate in Australian elections
By Oscar Grenfell, 11 May 2016
The Daily Telegraph’s editorial expressed concerns within ruling circles that the elections are deepening the crisis of the two-party parliamentary set-up.
Thousands of jobs cut in Australia as slump deepens
By Terry Cook, 10 May 2016
Major companies continue to slash jobs, restructuring their operations to cut costs as the economic situation worsens.
Australian PM announces “double-dissolution” election for July 2
By James Cogan, 9 May 2016
Announcing the election, Prime Minister Turnbull spelled out his militarist, corporatist and anti-democratic agenda.
Trump’s rise causes disquiet in Australian ruling circles
By Mike Head, 9 May 2016
Alarm over the implications of a Trump presidency for the US alliance has been accompanied by anxiety over the popular discontent that Trump has exploited.
Committee minutes reveal anti-democratic discrimination against IYSSE at University of Melbourne
By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia), 9 May 2016
Given the constitutional issues and potential legal implications involved, it is noteworthy that the University of Melbourne Student Council, to whom the C&SC is accountable, has taken no action.
Australian government boasts of helping US kill its own citizens in Middle East
By Mike Head, 7 May 2016
Remarks by Prime Minister Turnbull amount to sanctioning extra-judicial killings as a matter of government policy.
Australia: Labor Party spells out election campaign of populism and lies
By James Cogan, 6 May 2016
Shorten’s budget reply highlighted Labor’s awareness of the deep hostility toward the entire political establishment.
Australian Workers Union to enforce cost-cutting at Arrium steel
By Terry Cook, 5 May 2016
The AWU is working hand-in-glove with major banks and the administrators to slash costs.
Two refugees set themselves alight in Australia’s Nauru detention centre
By Max Newman, 4 May 2016
The Australian government has labelled the protests as acts of “self-harm” to divert from any examination of why refugees have been driven to such desperate actions.
Australian government budget sets stage for volatile federal election
By James Cogan, 4 May 2016
The budget is predicated on cutbacks to working-class living standards in order to finance the ramping up of military spending and corporate tax cuts.
Australia: Pseudo-lefts promote the Greens’ posturing on refugees
By Patrick Kelly, 3 May 2016
Amid widespread public outrage, the rally organised in Melbourne on Saturday served as a thinly veiled election campaign event for the Greens.
Deflation spreads to Australia
By Mike Head, 3 May 2016
Last week’s cost-of-living statistics showed the emergence of deflation for the first time since the 2008–09 global financial crisis.
Australian government defies PNG refugee ruling
By Mike Head, 2 May 2016
The refugees remain incarcerated on Manus Island, despite Papua New Guinea’s highest court declaring their detention unconstitutional and ordering their immediate release.
Australia awards $50 billion submarine contract to France
By James Cogan, 28 April 2016
The contract also serves the US and Australian aim of drawing France more closely into the strategic planning for war with China.
Anzac Day celebrations in Australia aimed at suppressing anti-war sentiment
By Oscar Grenfell, 28 April 2016
This year’s Anzac events gave centre stage to military veterans from Australia’s more recent neo-colonial interventions in Vietnam, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sacked Australian reporter continues to challenge Anzac myths
By Richard Phillips, 28 April 2016
Former SBS sports journalist Scott McIntyre posted a series of tweets on Monday opposing the promotion of militarism and war.
PNG court declares Australian refugee detention camp illegal
By Mike Head, 28 April 2016
Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court ruling exposes the unlawful character of the Australian policy of incarcerating asylum seekers on remote islands.
Australia: Another dubious “Anzac Day terror plot”
By Mike Head, 27 April 2016
Unsubstantiated claims of ISIS-inspired plots are being utilised to justify attacks on democratic rights and drum up pro-war jingoism.
Successful IYSSE meetings in Australia and New Zealand against the drive to war
By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia), 27 April 2016
Students participated in lively discussions on the principles outlined in the ICFI’s historic statement, “Socialism and the Fight Against War.”
Increasing suicide rate in Australia highlights social crisis
By Mary Beadnell, 26 April 2016
Steep increases in the numbers of people taking their own lives point to deteriorating economic and social conditions.
Panama Papers implicate Pacific Island states
By John Braddock, 23 April 2016
Impoverished countries such as Samoa, Niue and Nauru have been transformed into lucrative tax havens for corporations and wealthy individuals.
Australian media demands austerity offensive via “double dissolution” election
By Mike Head, 21 April 2016
The corporate media’s concerns reflect the conundrum that has wracked governments over the past decade: how to impose deep cuts to living standards on a hostile electorate.
Australian government to call an extraordinary “double dissolution” election
By Mike Head, 19 April 2016
Amid a worsening economic situation, the government is under intense pressure from big business to break the parliamentary logjam and impose its austerity agenda.
Moody’s warns Australian government of credit downgrade
By Mike Head, 18 April 2016
The warning highlights the crisis of the Coalition government which is under mounting pressure to implement deeply unpopular austerity measures.
Australian prime minister skirts controversy in China
By James Cogan, 16 April 2016
Turnbull carefully avoided any contentious public remarks on the US-China confrontation in the South China Sea.
Police attack student protests in Sydney and Melbourne
By Oscar Grenfell, 16 April 2016
The violent actions of the police against a handful of student protesters are a warning of the preparations for a broader crackdown on any opposition to austerity cuts and war.
Australia’s prime minister to make state visit to China
By James Cogan, 13 April 2016
Despite the hype about exciting economic opportunities in China, Turnbull faces fraught issues on trade and Australia’s involvement in the US military buildup in Asia.
Australian Labor Party’s populist call for an inquiry into the banks
By Mike Head, 13 April 2016
Behind the populist façade, the Labor opposition is trying to convince the corporate elite that it would be better able to contain public discontent and shore up the financial industry.
Oppose the drive to war, austerity and the assault on democratic rights!
Build the International Youth and Students for Social Equality!
By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia), 13 April 2016
The National Union of Students has called rallies to promote the lie that the election of a Labor government will halt the assault on higher education.
Oppose the political ban on the IYSSE at University of Melbourne!
For democratic and political rights on campus!
By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia), 12 April 2016
The IYSSE calls on students, staff, academics and all workers and youth opposed to the assault on democratic rights to support our campaign against political censorship at the University of Melbourne.
Major Australian companies implicated in Panama Papers
By Mike Head, 11 April 2016
Australia’s corporate elite is heavily involved in using offshore shell companies to minimise taxes and avoid scrutiny of their business operations.
CSIS report argues for strong US-Japan-Australia alliance against China
By Peter Symonds, 9 April 2016
The Washington think tank’s proposed “federated defence” is nothing but a system of military alliances to prepare for war with China—akin to the alliances that preceded the previous two world wars.
Australia: Socialist Alternative conference endorses US-led Syrian war and Syriza’s betrayal in Greece
By Oscar Grenfell, 9 April 2016
Like their counterparts internationally, Socialist Alternative responded to the global financial crisis of 2008 by junking even nominal opposition to imperialist war.
Thousands of jobs threatened by Australian steel company collapse
By Mike Head, 8 April 2016
Steelworkers in Australia, like those around the world, are being made to pay for a colossal breakdown in the world capitalist economy.
Australian government uses “war on terror” to end airport strikes
By Terry Cook, 8 April 2016
The ban on strike action by Immigration and Border Protection employees has set a precedent that will be used against other sections of the working class.
New Zealand First proposes army training for unemployed youth
By Tom Peters, 8 April 2016
The trade union-funded Daily Blog enthusiastically endorsed the proposal, reflecting the support for militarism and nationalism by Labour and the union bureaucracy.
Concern over Australian banks’ stability if housing bubble bursts
By Nick Beams, 7 April 2016
The official position is that the Australian housing market is sound but it is becoming increasingly clear that this view is not shared internationally.
New Zealand university professor subjected to pro-Zionist witch-hunt
By John Braddock, 6 April 2016
Academic Scott Poynting has been forced to take “study leave,” pending retirement, for likening the Israeli persecution of Palestinians to the Nazi treatment of Jews.
Australian government crisis intensifies over austerity agenda
By Mike Head, 5 April 2016
Prime Minister Turnbull’s new slogan—“We must live within our means!”—signifies that working class people must be made to pay for the worsening economic situation.
Australia: State electricity workers vote for industrial action
By Terry Cook, 5 April 2016
Essential Energy wants to axe agreements covering hundreds of workers to begin sackings and further slash working conditions.
New Zealand voters reject flag change in referendum
By Matthew Carrington and Tom Peters, 4 April 2016
The government and opposition sought to use the flag issue to whip up nationalism and encourage unquestioning respect for the military.
Australian government in disarray over spending cuts
By Mike Head, 1 April 2016
In his latest twist, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is seeking to shift the blame for devastating and deeply unpopular cuts onto state and territory governments.
Australian prime minister lurches from one crisis to the next
By Peter Symonds, 31 March 2016
Just a week after his move to bring on an early “double dissolution” election, Malcolm Turnbull has announced a new tax plan that could sow the seeds for a fracturing of the Australian federation.
New layoffs in New Zealand meat processing
By John Braddock, 31 March 2016
A new round of restructuring within the New Zealand meat processing industry is underway.
Australian Labor leader makes a cynical populist pitch
By Peter Symonds, 30 March 2016
Opposition leader Bill Shorten is preparing for this year’s election with false promises on “jobs, education and health” to obscure Labor’s commitment to austerity.
Australia: Pacific Islanders suffer slave-like conditions in fruit industry
By Paul Bartizan, 30 March 2016
The super-exploitation of Pacific Islanders who have no democratic rights under the Seasonal Workers Program is to be extended throughout the agricultural industry.
Australia: Socialist Alternative hails downing of Russian jet in Syria
By Oscar Grenfell, 29 March 2016
The declaration that Turkey’s flagrant act of war was “a small victory for humanity” underscores the pseudo-lefts’ support for imperialist provocations, including those that threaten to trigger world war.
New Zealand Labour Party leader attacks Asian immigrants
By John Braddock, 28 March 2016
Opposition leader Andrew Little singled out Indian and Chinese chefs as scapegoats for rising unemployment and worsening living standards.
Large protests in East Timor over ongoing Australian oil theft
By Patrick Kelly, 26 March 2016
The demonstration was among the largest in East Timor since the former Portuguese colony and Indonesian territory received formal independence in 2002.
Corporate elites maintain pressure on Australian prime minister
By Nick Beams, 25 March 2016
The Australian economy’s “transition” from the China-induced mining boom has been described as an “internal devaluation,” involving major attacks on wages and social conditions.
Australia: Socialist Alternative and the US “pivot to Asia”
By Oscar Grenfell, 25 March 2016
Socialist Alternative’s response to the Defense White Paper is aimed at obscuring Australia’s central role in the US drive to war against China.
Australian PM treads a fine line on foreign policy
By Peter Symonds, 24 March 2016
With an early election looming, Turnbull used his Lowy Lecture to spin his vision of bright economic opportunities in Asia, while seeking to answer critics’ demands for a tougher stance against China.
Socialism and the Fight Against War
IYSSE meetings in Australia and New Zealand—Build an International Movement of the Working Class and Youth Against Imperialism!
24 March 2016
The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) is holding meetings in Australia and New Zealand to alert students, youth and workers to the threat of a Third World War.
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