En Passant

Scrap the $50 billion on submarines and the $24 billion on the F-35 joint strike fighter planes. Spend the $74 billion on public health, education and supporting and rehabilitating veterans.

Here is a Prime Minister who has lied to one of his own about a $20 bn Government submarine contract to help keep himself in power. That no doubt is what good government is all about.

If he lies to his own party backbenchers, imagine what he does to us?

Me? Instead of wasting $20 bn on submarines, I’d use the money to fix public hospitals, public schools and the health system. Throw in the $24 bn on fighter jets and we could end homelessness too, improve public transport and move towards 24 hour child care facilities. With that sort of money we could easily make higher education free as well. We could even begin addressing a very real threat, climate change. I guess however good government is about priorities.

I have a few suggestions for defence force personnel. Form a union. Go on strike for real pay increases. Join the rest of us in the fight against the one percent and their politicians.     This isn’t going to happen. For a start the Australian forces are professionals who have chosen to join Defence, […]

Funding the defence killing machine; attacking workers and the poor – these are Labor’s real values; these are Labor’s priorities.

The Broderick Report is an attempt to beautify the soul of ugliness. Women in the Defence Forces strengthen Australian capitalism internationally and onshore. They reinforce the very system that condemns women to second class citizenry and postpone the days of real equality. More gender equality in the capitalist defence forces? No thanks.

If we want to end the racism and sexism that pervade society, not just the variety that is amplified in the rarefied unnatural atmosphere of the defence forces, we are going to have to have a revolution to turn society on its head and establish democracy and freedom. Revolution is not going to happen overnight. We need to build a party of the working class to challenge the dictatorship of the ruling class and its killing machine. Let’s get cracking. Join Socialist Alternative today to fight the bosses and their armies with ideas and strikes.

Make the rich, not us, pay for the cost of the floods.

Rudd Labor has found extra billions for defence but won’t increase the dole from a pathetic $226 a week.  This is deliberate – Labor’s priorities are imperialism and profits, not people.  And not increasing the dole puts downward pressure on wages.

The White Paper on defence is a blueprint for an expansionist, militaristic Australian foreign policy, to cement Australia as a regional superpower.

A group of armed thugs has been terrorising large areas of the country. They have even killed kids. The people are fighting back against this alien and foreign force – a force contrary to the region’s free spirit and humanity. Bring our soldiers home from Afghanistan, Mr Rudd, and put on trial any Australians who may have been […]