Donald Trump has emboldened the far right everywhere, raining down attacks on immigrants, trans people and climate policies. He has moved rapidly to purge opponents and impose his control on government agencies.
Vice-President JD Vance used a speech in Germany just weeks before an election there to unload on European leaders over immigration, demanding they end the policy of freezing far right parties out of government. He then met with Alice Weidel, the leader of Germany’s fascist-dominated AfD.
Peter Dutton is trying to imitate Trump in the hope of winning the upcoming federal election.
His scapegoating of migrants for the housing crisis is spreading racism. He wants to mimic Elon Musk’s mass sacking of public sector workers—threatening 36,000 job cuts without saying where the axe would fall.
But Anthony Albanese is also paving the way for Dutton—refusing to stand against his outbursts and acting on some of Dutton’s demands himself.
Labor has announced a ban on overseas investors buying up existing houses, an idea Dutton floated last year. It wants to deport refugees released from detention under the NZYQ court case to Nauru.
When the Queensland Liberal National Party banned new prescriptions of puberty blockers and hormone treatments for trans children, Albanese refused to defend trans rights.
Queensland’s move was straight out of the Trump playbook. But all Labor did was announce a national review of treatment guidelines.
Labor is paying the price for enabling Dutton. YouGov modelling projects the Coalition to win 73 seats to Labor’s 66.
US imperialism
Trump is already making the world a more dangerous place. His horror plan for ethnic cleansing in Gaza has been embraced by Israeli leaders.
Albanese refused to condemn it, instead reiterating tired platitudes about the failed two state solution.
Trump’s plan may stall—but it has sent a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US backs resuming the war.
Trump has also begun talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine. The US and Russia are calling the shots about any settlement—showing that this is a proxy war between the major powers.
Trump is not motivated by any hope for peace but by his desire to focus US power on confronting China instead.
His Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told European leaders they will have to provide the “overwhelming” share of aid for Ukraine and meet the costs of securing Europe themselves.
The Trump administration’s focus on China should ring alarm bells here. Any war on China would carry unthinkable consequences.
Instead Albanese is doing all he can to encourage Trump, talking up the expansion of US bases here and his commitment to arming Australia to the teeth.
Albanese sent Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles to Washington to hand-deliver $800 million to expand US shipyards building nuclear submarines. Albanese has committed $4.7 billion to this.
In return Trump called Albanese a “very fine man” following their first phone call since his inauguration.
Albanese hopes appeasing Trump will get Australian companies an exemption from newly announced tariffs on aluminium and steel imports.
As he refuses to stand up to Trump’s agenda, we will need more protests and campaigning to stop Trump’s ideas gaining ground here. More Greens and independents in parliament after the election won’t stop the drift to the right or deliver the alternative we need.
Trump’s return makes Australia’s military alliance with the US more dangerous than ever. Albanese should cancel the $368 billion nuclear subs deal now.
The US bases here have to go—including the use of the Pine Gap spy base to feed military intelligence to Israel.
Trump’s plan for Gaza signals that the genocide is far from over. Even if the war doesn’t resume, Israel and the US have no intention of allowing rebuilding to make Gaza liveable.
We have to keep up the demands for Albanese to sanction Israel and end the export of parts for Israel’s F-35 fighter jets.
Albanese has also failed to act on housing and the cost of living—supporting business and the rich instead of working class people. We need a much more serious union fightback for pay.
Construction workers are still fighting to win back control of their union, the CFMEU, after Albanese backed the bosses and imposed administration. Workers in Brisbane took strike action on 19 February to oppose the Queensland LNP government’s attack on conditions through tearing up the Best Practice Industry Conditions.
Everyone should throw their support behind workers fighting for a pay rise to cope with the cost of living. Nurses and rail workers in Sydney are both fighting the NSW Labor government for rises—they should step up strike action.
Fighting back the right and building an alternative to Labor’s failures means building more resistance from below—and fighting for a socialist future.
