Stop the refugee bashing, no offshore processing
The Gillard-appointed expert panel on asylum seekers panel is set to bring down its report. The Labor Cabinet will consider the report on Monday August 13. Sydney Morning Herald...
Sri Lanka’s repression brings boats of Tamil refugees to Australia
More than three years since the Sri Lankan government declared “victory” in the 33 year-long civil war against the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), there has been a spike in the...
Newman’s slash and burn justified with lies about debt
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has launched an avalanche of cuts and an ideological offensive aimed at moulding the state of Queensland in the neo-liberal image.The breadth of the cuts...
Fightback against Newman’s cuts begins in Queensland
Campbell Newman's sacking spree has coincided with enterprise bargaining periods for key groups of public sector workers—state school teachers, ambulance workers, firefighters and core agency public servants.As if mass...
Militancy wins: Toll workers show how to fight
Workers' employed by Toll at the Coles warehouse in Somerton, Melbourne have shown that militancy wins. After a two-week strike, the workers, covered by the National Union of Workers...
Funding proper disability care the challenge for Labor
Plans for a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are a centrepiece of the Gillard government’s efforts to re-badge Labor as committed to public services. The aims of the scheme...
Summer of discontent: crisis and resistance in Spain
Spanish people have risen up in a new surge of resistance to the government’s relentless austerity reforms.On 19 July, 800,000 marched in Madrid alone, along with hundreds of thousands...
Interview: How Quebec’s students fought back against fees
Quebec's student strike against tuition fees began in March this year. It has faced down state repression to mobilise thousands across Quebec and inspire students in Canada and around...
Syria’s armed revolt is product of popular uprising
The Assad regime is using tanks, jet fighters and helicopter gunships to re-establish control in Damascus and Aleppo. Though severely out gunned, the opposition continues to hang on.This violence...
Open letter to the left – welcome 457 visa workers
Dear Comrades,Over recent weeks there have been a number of union rallies, particularly in Western Australia, around slogans such as, “Local workers first” or “Aussie jobs first”.The unions’ “Local...
Fightback in the workplace is the way to save jobs
“The very week when workers are being given their marching orders out of a job at Kurri Kurri and Tullamarine, 1700 Chinese workers are given the go-ahead to march...
The facts: understanding 457s and temporary work visas
What is a 457 visa?A 457 visa is a temporary visa allowing someone to work in Australia for four years.It is designed to allow employers to deal with skill...
Immigration is not to blame for cuts to jobs and wages
The suggestion that bringing 457 visa workers from overseas is coming at the expense of “local jobs” reinforces the myth that immigration causes unemployment and drives down wages.In...
Racism, White Australia and the union movement
Jasmine Ali examines how racism has affected the history of the union movement in Australia, as well as the history of anti-racism within the movementThe furore over overseas workers...
Sign-on statement: welcome 457 visa holders into the unions
Gina Rinehart's Enterprise Migration Agreement (EMA) for her Roy Hill project has sparked debate over the issue of "Aussie jobs" and 457 visas. This statement of union activists, anti-racists...
Malcolm Fraser’s refugee policy: no model for today
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser’s policy of processing the wave of Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s has drawn much praise recently, but it is nothing to aspire to, explains...
London 2012: sore losers, nationalism and fat profits
The Olympics are surrounded in high ideals—but London has exposed the competitive nationalism and profit agenda behind it, writes Amy ThomasThe Olympic Games have been associated with some of...
Requiem for a dream: Labor’s self-destruction
Labor’s attacks on The Greens shows they can’t comprehend their own crisis or take the fight up to Abbott, argues Paddy GibsonThe orchestrated attack on The Greens by the...
Telling the story of socialist refugees who resisted Hitler
All That I Am
By Anna Funder
Penguin, $29.95All That I Am is a dizzying (and compulsory) read for the left-wing activist. Anna Funder’s novel reaches past the common myths about...
Things they say
I am looking at everything. You have to do the hard things and you have to do them up front. And there’ll be a hell of a lot more.Campbell Newman...
