En Passant

Let’s prepare right now for the conflagration the Liberals want to unleash on us in the May Budget and the spot fires the government arsonists have already been starting. Be Abbott aware now.

A more humane and just society where all bushfire victims are treated fairly can be won, but that means joining with all those under attack from the Liberals. Most importantly it means workers taking action to defend their own interests against the attacks of the one percent and their Liberal government. We can beat them back with strikes.

In the reality of community that the bushfires have bought out in us lies our hope for the future; in the working class and its power to turn society on its head lies the reality of the realisation of a future with hope.

Driving back to Wollongong from Sydney today the sign said it all.  Fires around Burrill Lake meant the Princes Highway was closed near there.  ABC Illawarra radio has been interrupting the football with updates on the fire.  Some residents are reporting they can see flames nearby.  The advice was that if you could see flames […]

A volunteer firefighter is called out. She helps set up protection lines which save a workplace in her employer’s group. The employer refuses to pay her for her absence from work that day firefighting. A boss is a boss is a boss. Her union is fighting for her.

This is from a recent press release by the US Westboro Baptist Church thanking their god for the bush fires and praying for more deaths. GOD HATES AUSTRALIA. THANK GOD FOR KILLER FIRES & FLOODS, 100+DEAD; PRAY FOR MANY MORE; AS WE WARNED. They supposedly plan to demonstrate outside the mourning services today for those […]

What role did privatisation play in the Kinglake fire which killed over 100 people? It may have contributed. SP Ausnet has the contract to maintain the power lines in much of eastern Victoria. Some believe a broken power line sparked the Kinglake fire. They have launched a class action against SP Ausnet and the Victorian […]

Bring Australian troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq to help re-build the towns the fires have destroyed.

Dr Don Driscoll, from the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University, has an interesting letter in the Canberra Times criticising ‘the burn off will prevent extreme fires’ argument. He describes the ‘calls for more land clearing and fuel reduction burning’ as ‘reactionary’ and ‘muddleheaded’. Why?

Surprise, surprise. Some banks are evidently enforcing penalties on fire victims who miss mortgage repayments. They’ll say it is a case by case decision, but we all know what that means. ’You’re screwed, mate. Pay up now.’ These poor people may have lost their homes. Some are helping re-build their community or are in grief […]

I want to set up a donation centre for some kids and their families.  Attacked and killed by foreign forces, the misery their families and friends feel is beyond belief.  But unlike our heartfelt giving for fellow Australians, who among us is going to support our brothers and sisters in Palestine or Afghanistan by giving […]