Alex Bainbridge

United Voice members working at the XXXX brewery stopped work for one hour supported by large numbers of unionists and community supporters on March 26. Their main demand is for job security in a context where labour hire workers are being brought into the brewery with 25% less pay than regular workers and concerns that the company is shifting production interstate.

More photos on the Green Left Facebook page.

In her March 21 address to the National Press Club in Canberra, ACTU secretary Sally McManus successfully skewered the Malcolm Turnbull government for their woeful disregard for workers' rights.

Australian merchant seafarers demand work not dole

"Australian merchant seafarers demand and expect to have the right to work in their own country" read a letter from the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) state secretary Bob Carnegie to the general manager of Rio Tinto.

"Australian merchant seafarers demand and expect to have the right to work in their own country" read a letter from the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) state secretary Bob Carnegie to the general manager of Rio Tinto.

New Greens MP Michael Berkman is looking forward to the opportunity to put Greens policies and values forward as the new member for Maiwar.

He told Green Left Weekly that it was a “hugely significant result” for the Greens to win their first seat in Queensland and a significant increase in their vote in other seats.

“One of the common myths about the Greens is that it is a wasted vote,” he said. And that is a myth he is keen to bust.

Hundreds of Coolangatta residents rallied alongside residents from up and down the Gold Coast and the Tweed on February 10.

Socialist Alliance’s Indigenous Rights spokesperson Sam Watson considers there has been “a definite strengthening and expansion of the Black political struggle”. Watson was referring to the record-breaking attendance of tens of thousands of people at Invasion Day rallies around the country on January 26.

“You can't really pinpoint this phenomenon geographically or by age or gender,” he said.

Australia’s 33 billionaires increased their wealth by more than $38 billion dollars last year — or more than $1 billion each. That is more than $3 million each a day!

At the other end of the spectrum, Credit Suisse data cited in the Sydney Morning Herald showed the wealth of the bottom half of Australians declined in the same period alongside stagnating wage growth.

Stop Adani Brisbane held a media conference and celebratory action outside the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Brisbane. The ICBC and the China Construction Bank have just publicly ruled out funding Adani.

The campaign continues to pressure the Turnbull government to rule out funding via a $1 billion NAIF loan and on other banks to similarly refuse funding for Adani.

When renowned ecosocialist Ian Angus came to Australia in 2011 he observed that for most people it is “easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism”. 

Unfortunately, imagining the end of the world is getting easier. There are almost daily reports of the accumulating effects of climate change, to choose just one source of potential apocalypse.

The Labor government and the Liberal National Party opposition both suffered swings against them in the November 25 Queensland election. Greens on the left and One Nation on the right both increased their vote, but it is not clear that either have won any seats. The final results will be unclear for days.

It is difficult to predict the result of the Queensland election on November 25.

Polls continue to indicate a close result between the major parties with a likelihood that preferences will determine the outcome in many seats. Most likely, whichever party forms government will need the support of independents or minor parties.