Australia

NEWCASTLE — The NSW ALP and property developers are yet again pushing to cut the Newcastle train line, this time proposing rail services end at Wickham and be replaced by buses.

The threat of climate change means that for the first time humanity is faced with the very real possibility of extinction. The root cause of the ecological crisis is capitalism’s drive to maximise immediate profits above all else.

Local residents held a rally on May 23 to stop trucks entering the Tullamarine toxic dump site in Melbourne’s west. Two days later they picketed to again stop trucks from entering the landfill site.

In 2000, the small Pacific island nation Tuvalu made a formal request to Australia to accept its people if they were forced to evacuate because of global warming-induced sea level rises.

The Australian government and coal industry’s push for so-called “clean coal” technology is justified on the grounds that if we can keep burning and selling coal, but in a “sustainable” way, many Australian jobs will be saved. This is pure propaganda.

On May 17, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a new “solar flagships” initiative. The government will invest $1.4 billion in four solar electric generating systems, which will have a combined output of 1000 megawatts. Rudd claims it will be the world’s biggest solar energy project.

Scientific agreement on the need for drastic action to combat climate change has prompted the search for ways to ease humanity’s increasing burden on the planet, including consideration of population growth and consumption habits.

“This book is part of the red armband view of Australian history”, Marxist historian Humphrey McQueen told an audience at Brisbane’s Paddington Workers Club at the May 28 launch of his new book, Framework of Flesh: Builders’ Labourers Battle for Health and Safety.

As the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) appears less and less likely to get through the Senate , the Australian Greens say now it is time for real action on jobs creation and climate change.

About 350,000 Queensland workers plan to fight Labor Premier Anna Bligh’s plans for massive privatisations. Unions have warned of widespread industrial action, including strikes.

MELBOURNE— On May 29, union and community activists protested against Pacific Brands’ attempt to move machinery out of Australia. The protest was held at Swanston Dock. Pacific Brands, which makes government uniforms, said in February it would sack 1850 workers and move clothing production overseas.

In a time of climate crisis, logic dictates we should be cutting carbon pollution and ending our reliance on burning coal for energy. Yet the opposite is happening in Australia.