Australia and South Pacific
Australia: Victorian teachers denounce union-backed agreement
By our reporters, 13 April 2017
The AEU has sought to suppress discussion of its latest sell-out, while falsely claiming it is a “victory” for teachers.
Australian pseudo-left promotes fraudulent posturing of new union head
By Oscar Grenfell, 13 April 2017
The pseudo-left have hailed the attempts by new ACTU head Sally McManus to rebuild the influence of the unions, in order to head-off mounting discontent.
Australia’s role in US plans for war on North Korea
By James Cogan, 12 April 2017
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has publicly endorsed Washington’s bellicose rhetoric against the Pyongyang regime.
Australian PM accused of interfering in Papua New Guinea election
By John Braddock, 12 April 2017
Turnbull’s trip was undoubtedly motivated by concern over Australia’s commercial and strategic interests.
Australian government revokes Palestinian activist’s visa
By Oscar Grenfell, 11 April 2017
The anti-democratic move is part of a broader campaign to suppress opposition to the escalating US-led war in the Middle East.
Australian workers and youth speak out against US strike on Syria
By our reporters, 10 April 2017
The anti-war sentiments of ordinary people stand in sharp contrast to the militarist positions of Labor, the Liberal-Nationals and the corporate media.
Australian establishment backs US strike on Syria
By James Cogan, 10 April 2017
The line-up behind Washington by the government and opposition Labor Party has been replicated across the media.
Mounting concerns over Australian housing bubble
By Oscar Grenfell, 8 April 2017
Underlying the fears of a crash is the divergence between soaring house prices and stagnant or declining incomes.
Papua New Guinea government intensifies military operations at ExxonMobil plant
By John Braddock, 7 April 2017
The police and military operation against villagers living near the ExxonMobil plant is aimed at suppressing increasingly explosive social unrest.
Australian flood crisis continues as questions mount over government preparations
By Oscar Grenfell, 6 April 2017
Governments at all levels have resisted calls for the construction of levees around the most flood-prone cities, on the grounds that they are too expensive.
Australian teachers’ agreement: The reality behind union “victory” claims
By Susan Allan, 6 April 2017
On every key issue the teachers’ union and the Victorian Labor government have worked together to entrench and deepen the assault on the public education system.
Australia: Labor and unions facilitate Hazelwood power station closure
By Frank Gaglioti, 5 April 2017
The shutdown will exacerbate the social crisis in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, which has already been hit by decades of job cuts in the energy sector.
Australian opposition parties block extradition treaty with China
By James Cogan, 3 April 2017
With shameless cynicism, China is labelled both a totalitarian state and a threat to the US-dominated global rules-based order.
East coast of Australia hit by catastrophic floods
By Oscar Grenfell, 3 April 2017
At least five people have perished in the disaster, with fears that the death toll will rise over the coming days.
Thousands of Australian asylum seekers face deportation
By Max Newman, 31 March 2017
Refugees living in limbo inside Australia have been given less than 60 days to complete visa applications.
Australian workers and youth speak out against Maruti Suzuki frame-up
By our reporters, 31 March 2017
Many of those who spoke to SEP campaigners signed the petition demanding the release of the victimised Indian car workers.
Australian Education Union agrees to sell-out deal with Victorian state Labor government
By Susan Allan, 30 March 2017
Teacher union claims of a “great win for our members” are a fraud.
China makes overtures amid strategic uncertainty in Australia
By James Cogan, 29 March 2017
Behind the scenes, frank exchanges undoubtedly occurred on Canberra’s stance towards growing tensions between China, its largest trading partner, and the US, its strategic ally.
Widespread damage after Cyclone Debbie batters north-east Australia
By Oscar Grenfell, 29 March 2017
The impact of the category four cyclone appears to have been exacerbated by houses not equipped to cope with a storm of that magnitude.
Australian government withdraws “omnibus” bill but cuts childcare
By Mike Head, 28 March 2017
Last week’s childcare package manoeuvre represents an intensification of the crisis of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s government.
Australian private health insurance premiums soaring
By Michelle Stevens, 28 March 2017
Many working class people are now being forced to consider dropping their coverage, intensifying the healthcare crisis.
Australia: Worker killed at Sydney harbour building site
By Virginia Browne, 27 March 2017
Twenty-nine workers, including 7 in the construction industry were killed in industrial accidents during the period between January 1-March 1 this year.
Beryl Hood: 29 November 1938–21 March 2017
By Mike Head, 25 March 2017
A Trotskyist for four decades, Comrade Beryl was a fine and steadfast representative of the most advanced layers of the working class, attracted, above all, to internationalism.
ANZAC Heroes: Promoting war to children
By Sam Price and Tom Peters, 24 March 2017
A New Zealand government-funded children’s book glorifies Australian and New Zealand involvement in World War I and II.
Report documents extent of US-Australia economic ties
By Nick Beams, 23 March 2017
A recent paper argues that any shift by Australia away from its foreign policy alignment with the US could have potentially dire economic consequences.
New Australian union head feigns concern for workers’ rights
By Will Morrow, 22 March 2017
McManus’s elevation is part of the unions’ preparations to try and divert rising working-class anger behind the return of a Labor government in 2019.
Australia: Education Department head calls for police in schools amid anti-Muslim witch-hunt
By our reporters, 21 March 2017
The media and government authorities are continuing to use unsubstantiated allegations of “Islamic extremism” in schools to whip-up an atmosphere of right-wing hysteria.
Australia’s energy crisis exposes market failure
By Mike Head, 21 March 2017
The privatised electricity market—dominated by profiteering power generation, distribution and retailing companies—is creating an economic and social disaster.
Australian Labor’s “self-managing schools,” seven years on
By Erika Zimmer, 21 March 2017
The devolution agenda is deepening the education gap between advantaged and disadvantaged, working class students, paving the way for US-style for-profit “charter schools.”
Former Australian ambassador calls for foreign policy turn toward China
By James Cogan, 20 March 2017
FitzGerald’s proposals reveal the impotence of the Australian ruling elite in the face of the decline in America’s global dominance.
Australian Labor Party and unions assist closure of Hazelwood power plant
By Paul Bartizan and Oscar Grenfell, 20 March 2017
The state Labor government’s union-backed worker transfer scheme will not defend a single job.
Foreign minister warns US to guarantee Australian interests
By James Cogan, 17 March 2017
Washington now looms as the greatest risk to Australian trade interests and the so-called rules-based order.
Australian media directs anti-Muslim witch-hunt at primary school children
By Oscar Grenfell, 17 March 2017
The hysterical campaign, alleging that 10-year-olds are dangerous Islamic “radicals,” is based entirely on the dubious claims of an anonymous woman whose comments are shot through with racism.
Australian public hospitals relying on private patients
By Gary Alvernia, 16 March 2017
Funding cuts initiated by the last federal Labor government have forced hospitals to double the number of private patient services since 2008.
Australian government imposes phonics test on six-year-olds
By David Cohen, 15 March 2017
The new measures are aimed at extending the impact of the former Labor government’s NAPLAN testing regime and further undermining public education.
Australian media witch-hunts school principal removed for opposing anti-radicalisation program
By our reporters, 14 March 2017
There is growing opposition among teachers, students and parents to the anti-democratic dismissal of the school principal, and the police spying programs that he allegedly opposed.
Trump hails Australia’s draconian immigration regime
By Max Newman, 13 March 2017
The “Australian model” combines cruelty toward refugees, with a “points-based” program that discriminates in favour of employers and the wealthy.
Huge anti-government swing in Western Australian election
By Mike Head, 13 March 2017
The result indicates an intensification of the political volatility that has ousted one government after another around the country over the past decade.
Australian union’s bogus campaign against penalty rate cut
By our reporters, 11 March 2017
The construction unions held rallies as part of an effort to channel workers’ anger behind the election of another pro-business Labor government.
Australian school principal removed for allegedly resisting “anti-radicalisation” program
By Mike Head, 9 March 2017
Under the government plan, teachers are required to become informants on their students.
Australia: Young workers speak out against penalty rate cuts
By our reporters, 9 March 2017
Many young people are already deprived of weekend penalty wages, as a result of company-union wage-cutting deals.
Australian maritime union signs 13-year no-strike pledge with energy multinational
By Oscar Grenfell, 8 March 2017
The union has promised to suppress industrial action at the Ichthys pipeline project in northern Australia.
Australian pseudo-left forum promotes nationalism
By Will Morrow, 7 March 2017
Speakers from Socialist Alternative and Socialist Alliance shared the platform with two academics, both of whom are avowed nationalists.
Australia: Three homeless people killed in arson attack
By Chris Sadlier, 7 March 2017
The tragedy is the outcome of growing unemployment and poverty, lack of affordable housing and inadequate welfare and mental health care facilities.
Australian government beset by turmoil
By Mike Head, 6 March 2017
The future of the Turnbull government is being increasingly called into question, reflecting a protracted crisis of the political establishment.
Australian government flags “foreign policy reset” in response to Trump
By James Cogan, 4 March 2017
The Trump administration’s “America First” agenda has produced consternation within the political and strategic establishment.
Discontent and political volatility dominate Western Australian election
By Mike Head, 4 March 2017
Because of Labor’s pro-business record, the WA election has become a testing ground for Pauline Hanson’s anti-immigrant One Nation party.
Australian growth up but wages fall
By Nick Beams, 3 March 2017
Australia’s gross domestic product rose by 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter but there are doubts such growth can be sustained.
Australian unions and Labor Party launch bogus campaign over penalty rate cuts
By Oscar Grenfell, 2 March 2017
The Labor politicians and trade union bureaucrats are the ones most responsible for this historic cut in penalty rates.
Rifts tearing Australian government apart
By Mike Head, 1 March 2017
The political brawling points to the immense popular disaffection with both the main establishment parties, the ruling Liberal-National Coalition and Labor.
Australian union pushes through pay cut at paper mill
By Chris Sadlier, 28 February 2017
The CFMEU did everything it could to bully the workforce into accepting a 5 percent pay cut and the establishment of a two-tier wage system.
Australia: SEP meetings discuss Trump, war and the political tasks facing workers and youth
By our correspondents, 28 February 2017
The meetings attracted university students, workers, professionals and retirees seeking in-depth discussion about the Trump presidency and the dangerous shift in world politics.
SEP meeting attendees speak on Trump and the threat of war
By our reporters, 28 February 2017
Workers and young people who attended the meetings spoke about the dangers of a nuclear conflict, the developing political radicalization in the US and internationally, and the need for a socialist movement of the working class.
Netanyahu receives effusive official welcome in Australia
By Mike Head, 27 February 2017
The Australian government and financial elite feted Netanyahu, whose government is accelerating illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Australian youth pushed into unpaid “work experience”
By Robert Campion, 27 February 2017
Almost 60 percent of young people have been compelled to do unpaid labour, amid mounting unemployment and job insecurity.
Ongoing investment plunge in Australia
By Mike Head, 25 February 2017
The slump has serious implications for jobs, economic growth and the government’s large budget deficit.
Australian industrial tribunal slashes workers’ wages
By Oscar Grenfell, 24 February 2017
Low-paid workers face pay cuts of thousands of dollars a year following the Fair Work Commission’s ruling.
US officials accuse China of building missile bases in South China Sea
By Mike Head, 23 February 2017
Media reports have declared the latest claims to be “an early test of US President Donald Trump.”
Australian tabloid vilifies Muslim immigrants and welfare recipients
By Max Newman, 23 February 2017
Murdoch’s Daily Telegraph is witch-hunting Muslim immigrants, claiming that they are “piling on the dole queue.”
Australian governments’ decade-long cultural wrecking operation
By Richard Phillips and Linda Tenenbaum, 22 February 2017
Today, the ruling elites regard genuinely critical and creative voices with suspicion or outright hostility.
Australian state Labor government strengthens draconian anti-association laws
By Erin Cooke, 21 February 2017
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is revamping notorious laws that provide sweeping powers to the police and courts under the guise of combatting “bikie gangs.”
The election of Donald Trump, the danger of war and the political tasks facing young people
By International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia), 20 February 2017
As the Australian university year begins, students confront a drastically changed world, where an extreme right-wing administration has come into office in the United States.
Australian stripped of citizenship, setting dangerous precedent
By Mike Head, 18 February 2017
By targeting Khaled Sharrouf, the government is continuing a pattern of using individuals demonised by the media to set legal precedents that threaten basic democratic rights.
Australian housing among the world’s most unaffordable
By John Harris, 17 February 2017
Soaring housing prices are causing widespread financial stress and social hardship, especially for young people.
Australian government faces deep budget crisis
By Mike Head, 16 February 2017
Over the past decade, it has become increasingly difficult for any government to push through parliament the brutal measures demanded by the corporate elite.
Australian government in disarray over vote-swapping deal with One Nation
By Mike Head, 15 February 2017
The political crisis not only raises the prospect of a split in the federal government but points to the widespread popular disaffection wracking the entire parliamentary establishment.
Australian disability workers strike against privatisation
By our reporters, 15 February 2017
Union officials sought to divert the widespread anger into impotent appeals to the state Coalition government, while promoting the opposition Labor Party.
Australian government uses investment collapse to push Trump-style corporate tax cuts
By Mike Head, 14 February 2017
Under intense pressure from the financial markets, the Turnbull government is seeking to slash social spending to enable cuts to business taxes.
Australian Paper workers voting on union wage-cutting deal
By our reporters, 13 February 2017
The CFMEU is seeking to suppress opposition to the agreement, which cuts wages by 5 percent and creates a new tier of lower-paid workers.
Australian government reintroduces sweeping welfare cuts
By Mike Head, 11 February 2017
By resuscitating previously blocked budget cuts, Turnbull’s government is intensifying the assault on welfare entitlements.
Australia to bankroll 2018 APEC summit in Papua New Guinea
By John Braddock, 10 February 2017
Security and defence analysts claim that if the summit is jeopardised, China will take advantage at the expense of Canberra and Washington.
Australian government welfare staff may strike over pay dispute and “debt recovery”
By Oscar Grenfell, 10 February 2017
The public sector union is seeking to channel workers behind impotent appeals to the government.
Chinese foreign minister warns against war with the US
By Peter Symonds, 9 February 2017
Trump’s top adviser Steve Bannon declared last March there was “no doubt” that the US would go to war with China over the South China Sea in “five to ten years.”
Right-wing senator’s defection intensifies rifts in Australian government
By Mike Head, 9 February 2017
While Bernardi’s split is not, by itself, an immediate threat to the ruling Coalition’s one-seat majority in the lower house, it points to broader processes tearing apart the government.
Pro-Trump Australian senator splits from Coalition government
By James Cogan, 7 February 2017
In Bernardi’s resignation statement, he highlighted the deepening crisis of the two-party political establishment.
Australian protesters speak on war dangers and Trump immigration ban
By our reporters, 6 February 2017
Protesters were animated by opposition to the persecution of refugees, the eruption of militarism and war and the growth of far-right movements around the world.
Australian coalition government faces defections
By Mike Head, 6 February 2017
The ruling Liberal-National Coalition is riven with divisions on foreign and domestic policy that have only been intensified by the advent of the Trump administration.
Trump browbeats Australian “ally”
By Mike Head, 4 February 2017
Just two weeks in office, Trump’s aggressive “America First” economic nationalism and militarism are sending political shockwaves around the world.
Australian prime minister’s speech points to growing political crisis
By Mike Head, 4 February 2017
Donald Trump’s election as US president has sent shockwaves through the parliamentary elite and accelerated the global turn to trade war and war.
Trump dresses down Australian prime minister
By Mike Head, 3 February 2017
Trump’s bullying treatment of Turnbull has thrown the Australian government and the media into turmoil.
Australian Greens put forward nationalist trap for anti-Trump sentiment
By Oscar Grenfell, 3 February 2017
The Greens are cynically invoking Trump’s immigration ban to advocate a more “independent” foreign policy for the Australian ruling elite.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation seeks power in Australian states
By Mike Head, 2 February 2017
Hanson is cynically exploiting the widespread political disaffection with the establishment parties which are responsible for making deep inroads into the living standards of working people.
Recriminations in Australian Greens threaten split
By Oscar Grenfell, 1 February 2017
Sections of the Greens are calling for an anti-establishment posture, in order to prevent the party being bypassed by a developing movement of workers and young people.
Australian prime minister defends Trump’s anti-immigrant bans
By Mike Head, 31 January 2017
In the face of global outrage over Trump’s measures, Turnbull undertook to strengthen relations with the new US administration.
Australian state Labor government threatens violence against detained youth
By Eric Ludlow and Patrick Kelly, 31 January 2017
Adult prison guards will be deployed to two youth detention centres as part of a crackdown on alleged child rioters.
Australian college closure highlights sham practices in private education sector
By Robert Campion, 30 January 2017
Profit-making colleges with dubious records have received millions of dollars in public funding under a scheme introduced by the former Labor government.
Industrial court endorses sacking of Australian miners after union betrayal
By Oscar Grenfell, 27 January 2017
The ruling was one of a series of interventions by the Fair Work Commission into industrial disputes that underscore its role as an apparatus of the corporate elite.
Trump threats on South China Sea heighten risk of nuclear war
By Peter Symonds, 25 January 2017
The only means of barring China from access to its islets in the South China Sea is a naval and air blockade, an act of war.
Australian government defies public outcry on welfare debt assault
By Margaret Rees, 25 January 2017
Despite leaks of damning information by public sector workers, the Turnbull government is ratchetting up its attack on welfare recipients.
Australian state government’s “law and order” response to Melbourne car killings
By Patrick Kelly, 24 January 2017
While unable to connect the Bourke Street incident to the bogus “war on terror,” the Victorian Labor government has used it to prepare far more stringent bail laws.
Australia: Parmalat lockout in bid to slash conditions
By Will Morrow, 24 January 2017
The lockout of 65 Parmalat workers is part of a corporate onslaught on the wages and conditions of manufacturing workers nationally.
Anti-Trump demonstrations across Australia
By our reporters, 23 January 2017
While the organisers promoted Hillary Clinton and gender politics, many of the attendees voiced concerns about the rise of militarism, the erosion of democratic rights and the growth of the far-right.
Australian state premier’s sudden resignation highlights political instability
By Mike Head, 21 January 2017
While Mike Baird claimed to be resigning for family reasons, he sent a barbed political message to Prime Minister Turnbull.
Australian government reshuffled again under mounting corporate pressure
By Mike Head, 20 January 2017
Prime Minister Turnbull’s fourth cabinet reshuffle in 16 months underscores the Liberal-National government’s instability.
Carers cut off services under Australian disability scheme
By Max Newman, 20 January 2017
Carers of people with a disability are being denied support programs under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Australian report highlights collapse of union membership
By Oscar Grenfell, 19 January 2017
The Roy Morgan data shows that membership is lowest among young people and the most impoverished sections of the working class.
Australia: Melbourne homeless speak out against police harassment
By our reporters, 18 January 2017
Large contingents of police have used “move on” powers to shift groups of homeless people from busy areas of the city popular with tourists, including Flinders Street station.
Japan and Australia strengthen ties ahead of Trump’s inauguration
By Peter Symonds, 17 January 2017
In pursuing aggressive “America First” trade measures, Trump threatens the economic interests not only of China but also of close allies such as Australia and Japan.
Union seeks to impose wage cuts on Australian Paper workers
By Chris Sadlier, 17 January 2017
The union and management are invoking the threat of an imminent plant closure to bludgeon workers into accepting the deal.
Teenager killed on Australian building site
By Virginia Browne, 17 January 2017
The tragedy is one of a growing number of fatalities in the construction industry as builders, with union complicity, maximise profits by cutting basic health and safety.
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