Anthony Albanese’s visit to Donald Trump in Washington brought together two war criminals who have backed Israel’s genocide to the hilt and now want to plan for war against China.
Trump praised Albanese as a “great Prime Minister” who was doing a “fantastic job”. Albanese sat grinning through Trump’s rambling, self-congratulatory bluster, responding that his Gaza ceasefire plan was an “extraordinary achievement” and inviting Trump to visit Australia in 2028.
The mainstream media tried to sell it as some sort of success. But Albanese’s aim was to lock in US military muscle behind Australian imperialism in the south Pacific. He has shored up the AUKUS nuclear submarines deal, for now, wasting hundreds of billions on dollars.
The rare earth minerals deal signed is another attempt to counter China, spending $1.5 billion of government money to offer the US alternative supplies needed for its warplanes, navy and technology industries.
Albanese is determined to back US imperialism in order to secure the interests of Australia’s rulers. He is boosting military spending to buy missiles, warships and drones in addition to the nuclear subs, and expanding the US military presence across Australia. This is all money that could be spent on health, education or the NDIS.
The US navy is set to get greater access to the HMAS Stirling naval base in Perth. US Navy Secretary John Phelan said during the White House meeting this was “very important to our ability to project power in the Indo-Pacific”. Up to 1000 US troops will be based there from 2027.
Albanese’s support for the US alliance also explains his backing of Israel. Despite his symbolic recognition of a separate Palestinian state, he has continued to allow the export of weapons parts. Declassified Australia has exposed 68 separate shipments of parts for the F-35 fighter jets sent directly from Australia to Israel since October 2023.
And Albanese is still handing multi-million dollar contracts to Israeli weapons firms, with another $19.8 million deal with Elbit Systems signed in September.
At home the Labor government continues to deliver for business and the rich. Its environmental protection laws are a farce, with Labor hoping to work with the Liberals to pass the laws, offering more concessions to mining companies and big business.
Albanese also backed down on superannuation tax changes, dumping a plan to tax gains on assets like investment properties before they’re sold, and delaying the start date by a year. Although the tax rate on superannuation balances worth over $3 million will increase, it will now raise only 60 per cent of what was originally planned.
And in response to the large racist anti-immigration protests from March for Australia, the government has continually stressed that it is already cutting immigration, helping to legitimise the racist scapegoating of migrants for the housing crisis.
Keep fighting genocide
The last two years have exposed to millions of people the horror Israel is prepared to unleash against the Palestinians. Wider numbers of people now stand with the Palestinians than ever.
Albanese backs Trump’s ceasefire plan because he is right behind the aim of disarming and eradicating Hamas—what Israel wanted from the war all along. But Palestinians have a right to resist.
There is no peace in Gaza, with Israel continually violating the deal to murder Palestinians and still refusing to let food in to end the starvation. Most of Gaza remains under military occupation, and Israel’s apartheid system across all of Palestine is becoming more brutal.
Hundreds of thousands have marched for Gaza across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but this has not been enough to shift Albanese.
The mass strikes in Italy and Greece show the kind of action that is needed. Workers’ strike action has the power to cost Australian capitalism millions of dollars in lost profits.
Tens of thousands went on strike in Greece just after the ceasefire began, demanding an end to direct military support for Israel from the Greek military base in Crete.
A succession of strikes for Palestine in Italy reached a peak in October as major unions took action for the first time, following blockades at the ports to stop arms exports to Israel.
We need to encourage every move by unions here to step up action for Palestine—whether union days of protest or more serious contingents at rallies.
Israel could not continue its genocide without the weapons supplied by the West.
We need to keep organising here to end weapons exports and cut all the ties with Israel.
We also need to counter the racist rallies that are a threat to the Palestine movement, migrants and Indigenous people. There will be further anti-racist rallies when they march again on 30 November and on Invasion Day in January.
And we need to fight the capitalist system that is encouraging racism and the far right as it produces ever more horrifying imperialist barbarism.
