Australia and South Pacific
No to war and social inequality! For world socialism!
Statement of the Socialist Equality Group on the New Zealand election
19 September 2017
Both major parties, Labour and National, support deeper austerity, attacks on immigrants and democratic rights, and preparations for war.
Australia launches three-month naval tour, directed against China
By Mike Head, 18 September 2017
The mission is unmistakably designed to reinforce the aggressive anti-Chinese drive by Washington.
Australia: New “learning precinct” ties public schools to business
By David Cohen, 18 September 2017
The project has little to do with the quality of education; its priority is the Victorian state government’s relationship with the financial and corporate elites.
Water contamination widespread across regional Australia
By John Harris, 16 September 2017
In the past five years, more than 100,000 people have been issued with boil-water alerts.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
16 September 2017
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
Anti-Chinese witch-hunt against New Zealand MP
By Tom Peters, 15 September 2017
Claims that National Party MP Jian Yang is an “agent” for the Chinese government are aimed at aligning the political establishment more closely with US war preparations.
Australia: Socialist Alternative supports nationalist witch-hunt over dual citizenship
By Oscar Grenfell, 15 September 2017
The pseudo-left organisation welcomed the anti-democratic campaign targeting parliamentarians accused of holding an “allegiance to a foreign power.”
Australian television program highlights flammable cladding crisis
By Paul Bartizan, 14 September 2017
Australian authorities have known of the dangers of the widely-used aluminium composite panel cladding for more than a decade.
Western Australian budget slashes thousands of public sector jobs
By Oscar Grenfell, 13 September 2017
Labor’s budget exposes the fraud of its posturing as an opponent of social inequality and as a party of “working people.”
More Australian troops to be sent to the Philippines
By Mike Head, 12 September 2017
Australia’s involvement in the bogus “war against terrorism” in the Philippines is part of its commitment to Washington’s aggressive military build-up and actions in Asia.
Australia: Turnbull government expands “cashless welfare card”
By Richard Phillips, 12 September 2017
The punitive social welfare system is part of an escalating bi-partisan assault on the most vulnerable sections of society.
Australian High Court sanctions deportations of Sri Lankan refugees
By Mike Head, 11 September 2017
The ruling is an indictment of the last Greens-backed Australian Labor government.
Australian High Court permits bogus postal vote on marriage equality
By Mike Head, 8 September 2017
The judges averted an immediate political crisis and gave the go-ahead for an unprecedented plebiscite on an elementary legal and democratic right.
Australian state government and health union shut down pathology strike
By Jason Quill and Oscar Grenfell, 7 September 2017
The Health Services Union welcomed the Victorian Labor government’s application for the federal Fair Work Commission to ban the stoppage.
Australian parliament overshadowed by Korean war crisis and disqualification of MPs
By Mike Head, 6 September 2017
The parliamentary proceedings pointed to the close connection between the danger of war and the reactionary drive to ensure the undivided loyalty of all members of parliament.
The dual citizenship furore in the Australian parliament: What is at stake for the working class?
By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 6 September 2017
The citizenship crisis is an attempt to suppress anti-war sentiment and class tensions by promoting nationalism and patriotism.
Australian governments knew about the dangers of airforce fire-fighting foam for decades
By Patrick Davies, 6 September 2017
The chemicals which are used in fire-fighting foam have been found at dangerous levels in water supplies near Royal Australian Air Force bases.
Australia: Socialist Alternative conference seeks new political trap for rising discontent
By Oscar Grenfell, 5 September 2017
The pseudo-left outfit signaled it will deepen its collaboration with Labor and the trade unions amid a crisis of the entire political establishment.
Australia: National Tertiary Education Union attempts to suppress struggle against job cuts at Western Sydney University
By our correspondent, 4 September 2017
The jobs of around 150 professional staff will be destroyed and all security employees retrenched, while other devastating cuts are being prepared.
Australian government urges universities to tear up staff conditions
By Mike Head, 1 September 2017
The tertiary education trade unions will use this week’s Fair Work Commission ruling to intensify their work to stifle all resistance by increasingly discontented university workers.
Australian reports show declining incomes and soaring debt
By Eric Ludlow and Oscar Grenfell, 31 August 2017
The ongoing property boom is forcing young people to live at home with their parents for longer, while creating a debt crisis for millions of working people.
Australian government offers to send troops to the Philippines
By Mike Head, 30 August 2017
Confronting a deepening political crisis at home, Malcolm Turnbull is seeking to don the mantle of a wartime prime minister.
Australian property bubble fuelling mortgage stress
By Oscar Grenfell, 30 August 2017
The divergence between soaring property prices and stagnating wages, along with a massive increase in debt, has sparked fears of a housing market crash.
Turnbull government defends reported killing of Australian children in Syria
By Mike Head, 25 August 2017
If proven, it would be the first known case of the government facilitating the targeted assassination of Australian citizens since the “war on terrorism” was launched.
Australian history curator Laila Ellmoos discusses 1917: The Great Strike with the WSWS
By Richard Phillips and Cheryl Crisp, 25 August 2017
“It was a complex strike, but the volume and power of these numbers was extraordinary.”
Pine Gap base automatically involves Australia in US wars
By Mike Head, 24 August 2017
Secret documents show the facility’s role has increasingly shifted from spying to providing “real-time” data for military operations.
Australian High Court sanctions illegal detention of refugees in Papua New Guinea
By Max Newman and Mike Head, 24 August 2017
The judges rejected a challenge to incarceration on Manus Island despite the PNG Supreme Court last year ruling it was an unconstitutional deprivation of liberty.
1917: The Great Strike—an engrossing exhibition about mass walkouts in wartime Australia
By Elle Chapman and Richard Phillips, 24 August 2017
The exhibition is a useful antidote to the government’s glorification of Australian involvement in World War I and shows that the home-front was dominated by intense class battles.
Australia’s 1967 referendum, fifty years on
By Richard Phillips, 23 August 2017
In 1967 millions of Australians voted to change the constitution, in the hope that it would bring an end to the nearly two centuries of brutal oppression of the country’s Aboriginal population.
Papua New Guinea government deploys troops to quell opposition
By Oscar Grenfell, 22 August 2017
The government is expanding the military and police presence in the Highlands region to crackdown on opposition to an election that was dominated by accusations of fraud.
Young doctor suicides point to deteriorating conditions in Australia’s health system
By Ed Ballesteros, 22 August 2017
The ostensible concern of governments for the well-being of health professionals is belied by funding cuts that have stretched public hospitals to breaking point.
Australia’s refugee detention regime claims its fifth victim on Manus Island
By Max Newman, 19 August 2017
Hamid Shamshiripour’s story is one of immense psychological suffering, as well as abuse at the hands of guards, overseen by the Australian government.
Right-wing Australian senator stages anti-Muslim “stunt” in federal parliament
By Oscar Grenfell, 19 August 2017
Labor and Liberal-National MPs, who incessantly promote xenophobic nationalism, feigned moral outrage over Pauline Hanson entering parliament wearing a burka.
Another Australian cabinet minister faces disqualification
By Mike Head, 18 August 2017
A furore over dual citizenship of members of parliament is now throwing into doubt the survival of the Liberal-National Coalition government.
Australia: New laws force an end to Sydney tent city protest
By Virginia Browne and Richard Phillips, 17 August 2017
Police have been given specific powers to arrest homeless people in Sydney, Australia’s largest and least affordable city.
Australian Greens leaders air recriminations on TV
By Oscar Grenfell, 17 August 2017
The “Four Corners” episode indicates that the conflicts within the Greens, driven by the party’s declining support, may be heading toward a split.
New Zealand government would “consider” joining US war against North Korea
By Tom Peters, 15 August 2017
For the government and opposition parties alike, the threat of war has been the great unmentionable in their campaigns for the September 23 election.
Australian deputy prime minister facing disqualification as dual citizen
By Mike Head, 15 August 2017
The loss of the deputy prime minister’s vote would leave the Liberal-National government without a majority in the House of Representatives.
Australia: Life expectancy gap between rich and poor almost 20 years
By John Mackay, 14 August 2017
The staggering differences in health quality and life expectancy are a direct effect of widening social inequality.
Opioid-related deaths soaring in Australia
By Margaret Rees, 11 August 2017
New research points to a rapidly growing number of fatalities, far outstripping heroin overdose deaths.
Australian government orders sham postal “survey” on same-sex marriage
By Mike Head, 11 August 2017
A fraud on every level, the non-binding postal vote has nothing to do with the long-overdue recognition of the basic legal and democratic rights of all couples.
An anti-democratic witch-hunt in Australia over dual citizenship
By Mike Head, 10 August 2017
Question marks are being placed over the basic democratic rights of millions of people who were born overseas or had a parent born overseas.
New Zealand: Inland Revenue Department to axe nearly 2,000 jobs
By Tom Peters, 10 August 2017
The IRD plans to slash jobs and wages as part of a restructure that is supported by the Public Service Association trade union.
Australian government threatens police violence to remove Manus Island refugees
By Max Newman, 9 August 2017
Asylum seekers detained in Papua New Guinea are being physically forced to move to an insecure temporary transit centre.
Australian unions, pseudo-left sign up to Labor’s re-election campaign
By Oscar Grenfell, 5 August 2017
Underlying the unions campaign is fear in ruling circles that widespread disaffection over social inequality threatens the stability of the parliamentary set-up.
Contradictions mount in latest Australian terrorism scare
By Mike Head, 3 August 2017
The release of one of the detained men without charge raises further questions about lurid claims of a supposed “aeroplane plot.”
Papua New Guinea prime minister re-installed
By John Braddock, 3 August 2017
O’Neill has been returned to office with a reduced majority following an election marked by widespread fraud and attacks on democratic rights.
Government, media stoke fear following latest terrorist allegations in Australia
By Mike Head, 1 August 2017
If the men being held for interrogation are ultimately charged with conspiracy or other terrorist-related offences, it will be virtually impossible for them to receive a fair trial.
“You have to be rich to have a voice”
SEP meeting attendees speak on the Grenfell Tower tragedy
By our reporters, 1 August 2017
Workers and young people spoke out about the parallels between the fire in London and unsafe building practices in Australia.
Australia: Official figures continue to cloak jobs crisis
By Terry Cook, 1 August 2017
The official employment report for June shows there is little to celebrate for the tens of thousands of people engaged in a daily search for work.
Meetings in Australia and New Zealand discuss international significance of Grenfell Tower disaster
By our reporters, 1 August 2017
Speakers outlined the parallels between the fire in London, and the gutting of building safety regulations in Australia by successive Labor and Liberal-National governments.
Terrorist plot allegedly prevented in Australia
By James Cogan, 31 July 2017
It is necessary for people to keep a grip on their critical faculties and their adherence to the fundamental democratic principle: innocent until proven guilty.
Australian government implements far-reaching restructure of intelligence agencies
By Mike Head, 31 July 2017
The state apparatus is being prepared to repress political disaffection over deepening social inequality, austerity and the drive to war.
Australian police kill mentally-ill man at Sydney’s main train station
By Oscar Grenfell, 29 July 2017
Police shot a suicidal individual four times in the head and chest, even though he was holding only a pair of scissors.
Murdoch media widens citizenship witch-hunt in Australian parliament
By Mike Head, 28 July 2017
The “MP fiasco” is intensifying the political instability produced by the growing collapse of popular support for the major parties.
Conflicts in Australian Greens driven by decline in support
By Oscar Grenfell, 28 July 2017
The integration of the Greens into the official political establishment is dispelling illusions that the party is any alternative to Labor and the Liberal-Nationals.
Australian inquiry into dangerous building products: An exercise in political damage control
By Richard Phillips, 27 July 2017
Safety and building engineers condemn deregulation, privatisation of building inspection and government cost-cutting.
Bipartisan push in Australia for four-year parliaments
By Mike Head, 27 July 2017
This is a bid to shore up the political establishment and strengthen its capacity to impose deeply unpopular policies.
The Australian Education Union’s 2017 campaign of misinformation and censorship
By Susan Allan and Linda Tenenbaum, 26 July 2017
Union officials concealed that the EBA contains the adoption of measures proposed in the “Bracks Review,” which escalate the pro-market agenda now underpinning public education.
Hundreds of thousands of Australian dwellings unoccupied as housing crisis deepens
By Oscar Grenfell, 24 July 2017
The 2016 census found that just 31 percent of the population owned a home outright, a 10 percent decline over the past 25 years.
Australia: Anger grows over fire at Melbourne recycling plant
By Will Morrrow, 22 July 2017
Firefighting services have been called to the plant nine times in the last five years—four times this year, three times in 2015 and once in both 2012 and 2013.
Disqualification threats hang over Australian MPs
By Mike Head, 22 July 2017
A witch hunt has been launched to identify every member of parliament who was born overseas or might have dual citizenship.
Australian governments continue to cover-up unsafe buildings
By Richard Phillips, 20 July 2017
Five weeks after the Grenfell Tower fire, only a handful of flammable-clad buildings have been identified and nothing has been done to prevent a potential disaster.
Australian government to establish a “security” super-ministry
By Mike Head, 20 July 2017
Prime Minister Turnbull’s announcement represents another major step toward creating a police-state apparatus.
Australian government seeks new military call-out powers
By Mike Head, 19 July 2017
The changes will mean that heavily-armed troops can be mobilised to suppress social and political unrest.
Two Greens senators in Australia resign over dual citizenship
By Oscar Grenfell, 19 July 2017
The sudden departure of the two deputy leaders of the Greens underscores the deepening crisis of the party and the entire parliamentary set-up.
Deepening political crisis around Papua New Guinea elections
By John Braddock, 18 July 2017
The electoral watchdog’s resignation is further evidence that Prime Minister O’Neill’s government is trying to cling to power through fraud.
Local residents speak out over toxic recycling plant
By our reporters, 17 July 2017
Coolaroo and Dallas residents in Melbourne’s northern suburbs spoke to World Socialist Web Site reporters, denouncing government and environmental protection authorities over their response to the SKM Recycling plant fire last Thursday.
Australian government shuts off power to refugees imprisoned on Manus Island
By Max Newman, 17 July 2017
Parts of the camp have been demolished and the Internet facility was taken away, leaving mobile phones as the only connection for detainees to the outside world.
Australia: Hundreds evacuated after toxic blaze at Melbourne recycling plant
By Will Marshall, 17 July 2017
The SKM fire is a product of the systematic gutting of environmental health and safety regulations, as well as town planning and construction guidelines.
Australian unions isolate miners facing attacks on pay and conditions
By Terry Cook, 15 July 2017
The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union has restricted the Glencore workers to token stoppages.
Australian cricket pay dispute escalates
By Oscar Grenfell, 15 July 2017
Cricketing administrators are seeking to boost their control over billions of dollars of broadcasting and online streaming revenue.
Australian prime minister’s London speech highlights political turmoil
By Mike Head, 14 July 2017
Malcolm Turnbull’s July 10 address was an obvious bid to rebuke his predecessor Tony Abbott, underscoring the rifts tearing apart the Liberal Party.
Leaked reports expose Australian war crimes in Afghanistan
By Mike Head, 13 July 2017
The atrocities, only partly revealed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, underscore the inherently criminal character of the US-led Afghanistan war.
Australian building experts discuss the Grenfell Tower fire
By our reporters, 12 July 2017
“Fire safety is more important than the façade of a building,” building inspector says.
Australia: Unanswered questions over police killing of Melbourne teenager
By Will Morrow, 12 July 2017
Australia’s intelligence agency ASIO appears to have been in communication with Numan Haider before police shot him.
Australian government summarily deports more Sri Lankan refugees
By Max Newman, 11 July 2017
Six asylum seekers were captured by the Australian Navy and forcibly deported to face possible torture and imprisonment.
More Australian workers killed in preventable workplace incidents
By Terry Cook, 11 July 2017
The number of industry-related fatalities this year is on track to match or exceed the grim toll in 2016 when 178 workers were killed.
Australia: Lacrosse apartment residents speak out over Grenfell Tower disaster
By Paul Bartizan, 10 July 2017
Almost three years after Melbourne’s Lacrosse apartment block caught fire, the building’s flammable cladding remains in place.
High Court challenge imperils Australian government
By Mike Head, 10 July 2017
A disqualification of Assistant Health Minister David Gillespie, a National Party MP, could reduce the government to minority status.
“Chaos” surrounds Papua New Guinea election outcome
By John Braddock, 10 July 2017
The turmoil is an expression of the explosive social tensions produced by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s government during the past two years.
Rifts widen in the Australian Greens
By James Cogan, 8 July 2017
Underlying the divisions is the fact that the Greens have evolved over the past two decades into the party of “green” business.
Australian Labor and union leaders seek to head off workers’ discontent
By Mike Head, 7 July 2017
Speeches at last week’s ACTU 90th anniversary dinner signal desperate efforts to promote the return of another pro-business Labor government.
Australian government lines up behind US threats to North Korea and China
By Mike Head, 6 July 2017
Canberra’s statement closely echoed Washington’s assertions that North Korea now constitutes a threat to the entire world.
Studies reveal stark health divide in Australia
By John Mackay, 6 July 2017
People in working class areas die younger and have almost double the rates of poor health compared to residents of wealthier suburbs.
Public meetings in Australia and New Zealand
The Grenfell Tower disaster: A crime against the working class
5 July 2017
Homes, schools, hospitals and other public buildings must be made safe. The criminals in high places must be brought to justice.
US Studies Centre touts significance of US-Australian investment ties
By Oscar Grenfell, 4 July 2017
The Sydney University think-tank launched a new project amid intense pressure by Washington on Canberra not to turn away from the US alliance.
Australian workers and youth speak out on Grenfell Tower tragedy
By our reporters, 3 July 2017
Those who spoke to the WSWS drew parallels between the London fire and the undermining of building regulations in Australia.
Infighting re-erupts in Australian government
By Mike Head, 30 June 2017
The factional warfare is a symptom of a deeper political crisis, which has seen governments, both Liberal-National and Labor, fall in rapid succession since 2007.
Factional conflict wracks Australian Greens
By James Cogan, 29 June 2017
While the majority faction seeks to demonstrate its parliamentary “relevance,” another faction fears that the entire political establishment—including the Greens—could be by-passed by an eruption of popular discontent.
Australian state government and unions collaborate in teacher’s dismissal under “TIP”
By Erika Zimmer and Linda Tenenbaum, 29 June 2017
The New South Wales Teachers Federation and the state government are using the Teacher Improvement Program (TIP) procedure to victimise highly-experienced teachers and replace them with lower-paid younger teachers on short-term contracts.
Major crisis in Australian public school infrastructure
By Karen Holland, 28 June 2017
The Grattan Institute projects that 400 to 750 new public schools will need to be built over the next decade, to cater for approximately 650,000 additional students.
Australian university staff face cuts to pay, jobs and basic rights
By Mike Head, 28 June 2017
Government funding cuts are accelerating the pro-business restructuring of higher education that began three decades ago.
Flammable cladding rife in Australian construction industry
By Paul Bartizan and Richard Phillips, 27 June 2017
The dangers of aluminium composite panels were known to building authorities and relevant government ministers long before the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Australian construction union’s bogus campaign against industrial laws
By Oscar Grenfell, 27 June 2017
The CFMEU’s chief aim is to maintain its own privileged seat at the negotiating table and divert mounting anger among construction workers into electoral support for the Labor Party.
Ex-CIA chief calls for “firm” Australian action against China
By Mike Head, 26 June 2017
David Petraeus’ appearance at the Liberal Party dinner was the latest intervention into Australian politics by visiting senior figures within the US military-intelligence complex.
Australian government’s $70 million court settlement covers up crimes against refugees
By Max Newman, 26 June 2017
A lawsuit by Manus Island detainees was halted to prevent a detailed exposure of the abuses inflicted by successive governments.
Australian parliament’s late-night “Gonski” sitting highlights political instability
By Mike Head, 23 June 2017
After weeks of backroom deal-making, the Senate finally rubberstamped the regressive school-funding bill.
Social crisis looms over Papua New Guinea election
By John Braddock, 23 June 2017
The poll takes place amid widespread hostility to the political establishment.
Australian intelligence agency demands sweeping powers to suppress Chinese “interference”
By James Cogan, 22 June 2017
ASIO asserts that political opposition to Australian and US policy toward China could be the result of “foreign influence.”
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