Why the government won't solve the rural crisisThere are two rural crises in Australia. One is an economic and social crisis: the majority of people in rural and regional areas face decreasing living standards. The other is a
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When the Coalition government announced that it was introducing the "Timor tax" in November, Green Left Weekly warned that it could be used as a precedent for introducing other "special purpose" levies. It was quite likely, we argued,
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The death of reconciliation?It's a wonder that Prime Minister John Howard didn't choke on his insincerity on the night of the Coalition government's re-election in 1998 when he said, "I want to commit myself very genuinely to the
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To convince voters that harmful policies will be "good" for them in the long run, politicians need to create the impression that they are honest and trustworthy, and that they are concerned about people's suffering. Politicians do not
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Prime Minister John Howard arrived back from holidays in January, loudly proclaiming the generosity of his government's planned income tax cuts. However, the value of the income tax cuts has already evaporated for most people, as a
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The furore over the government's intention to impose the GST on tampons — which are presently sales-tax free — is symptomatic of the anger that is building against the GST as its impact and the complexities involved in
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'Liberal' Herald backs Labor's attacks on migrantsThe Sydney Morning Herald prides itself on being the capitalist media's "liberal" voice; in 1998 its editorials denounced the crude racism of One Nation and called on Australians to
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Anyone who voted for the Australian Labor Party or the Australian Democrats in last year's federal election must be feeling well and truly duped by now. Most ALP and Democrats voters believed, falsely, that these parties represented
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Corporate profits are booming at record levels. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures published on November 18, company profits before tax increased by 6.5% over the last three months (17.3% over the last 12 months) to
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"Pro-feminism's natural home lies elsewhere, not in the men's movement", responded men's movement participant John Mack to a 1998 article by Michael Flood which had identified pro-feminism as a section of the men's movement. Flood was
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Two federal Coalition government decisions this year indicate that the ground is being prepared for a major assault on women's rights. The first was the decision to provide $220,000 to the national office of the anti-abortion
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Most Labor Party voters at the last election hoped that the ALP would resist the Coalition agenda. Instead, the Labor "opposition" is preparing a deal with the government to pass its package of corporate tax cuts. The