Workers stand up to bipartisan Border Force disgrace
On a cold July Saturday morning, almost 300 medical professionals (doctors, nurses, social workers, physiotherapists) gathered on the steps of Sydney’s Town Hall to demonstrate their defiance of the Border Force Act.
Q&A debate: The real scandal is Abbott’s citizenship laws
Tony Abbott has dragged out his unhinged attack on the ABC’s Q&A. He is aiming to bolster the case for the government’s attack on citizenship rights and push Islamophobia—and it all comes with the added benefit of maligning a traditional enemy, the ABC.
The real Zaky Mallah
Mallah is a victim of a society that encourages Islamophobia and the isolation of young Muslims.
Abbott’s cuts threaten Aboriginal medical service and community control
The Aboriginal Medical Service Western Sydney is fighting closure due to government funding cuts.
Industrial action winning gains in public service
Industrial action in the federal public service has already forced concessions, as endless negotiations, which have rolled on in slow motion, continue.
Oppose corporate agenda of China FTA, not Chinese workers
In June, the Australian government finalised a Free Trade Agreement with China (ChAFTA), a move hailed as a breakthrough by Liberal politicians and business organisations like the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Union support grows for Aboriginal housing on The Block
For fourteen months, the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy (RATE) has held up a commercial development on The Block, an historic patch of Aboriginal land in the heart of Sydney. As the possibility of eviction and development looms, activists are working on winning critical union support.
Pension changes force workers to pay for retirement
The Abbott government has been pushing for cuts to the pension since its horror budget last year. The changes to the pension that passed parliament recently—sadly, with the support of The Greens—are a step in this direction.
No end to profiteering and rorts at the top end of town
The Coalition wants us to believe workers and the poor have it easy—and that the funds for their coveted budget surplus should be taken from our pockets. But a look at the facts demonstrates that it’s the big end of town that’s doing the leaning.
Greek workers say “oxi” to austerity
The full scale of the EU’s ruthless contempt for ordinary people has been revealed in the new austerity deal imposed on Greece.
Alternative to austerity requires challenging capitalism
Scrapping austerity in Greece would mean withdrawing from the EU. This would allow Greece to default and cancel its €340 billion debts.
Class divide on show in austerity referendum
The Greek referendum revealed the stark class divide in Greece and a deepening radicalisation of the population.
Failure of reformism led to Greek tragedy
Prime minister Alexis Tsipras, of radical left party Syriza, asked the vultures to compromise. When they said no, he had no Plan B but surrender.
European Union imposes neo-liberalism and austerity by design
Many left-leaning people accept the notion that the EU is a progressive force. But the EU is a project that has always been a profoundly capitalist one.
Shorten and the AWU: The best friends Abbott and the bosses ever had
Shorten and the AWU’s model of unionism short-changed workers through doing favours for the bosses writes Mark Gillespie
Marxism, Islam and religion
Islamophobes treat religion as a uniquely backward set of ideas, but religion can also be a reaction to oppression and a way of fighting back, writes Erima Dall
Boundless Plains—but not for sharing
Ian Rintoul looks at Across the Seas, a new book on the history of Australia’s response to asylum seekers and finds a disturbing continuity with the racism of today
