Alex Bainbridge

The Refugee Action Collective (RAC) got a good response from passers-by outside Peter Dutton's office at what they hoped would be the last rally for refugee rights on May 11.

Prominent Aboriginal elder Wayne Wharton is making a tilt for the senate in Queensland this election, campaigning on issues such as justice for Aboriginal people, justice reinvestment and an improved aged care system.

Wharton told Green Left Weekly: “The systems that we’ve had for the last 230 years is broken, they’re useless.”

These include the legal system which, he says, is based on a “feudal system of punishment” instead of rehabilitation, and the two-party system, in which the big parties have become dominated by “top-end-of-town corruption”.

This federal election is taking place at a time when the need for radical social and economic change is palpable: the escalating climate crisis and rampant and growing inequality are two major symptoms of the bankruptcy of capitalism.

Hundreds gathered outside Trevor Evans office in Brisbane as one of the dozens of climate actions called by school strikers to demand genuine climate action ahead of the election.

Sex workers in Queensland are campaigning to decriminalise sex work 30 years after this was recommended by the Fitzgerald Inquiry into state police corruption.

Greens candidate for the inner Brisbane federal seat of Griffith Max Chandler-Mather is running an ambitious and energetic campaign. It is also arguably one of the most left-wing Greens campaigns in the country.

A reportback session from a recent fact-finding mission to Venezuela, featuring Green Left Weekly journalist Federico Fuentes, was held on April 7.

Fuentes took part in the two-week tour to Venezuela organised by the Latin American Solidarity Network (LASNET) and the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (Melbourne) in early March. The purpose of the tour was to get a first-hand look at the real situation on the ground and help build solidarity with the Venezuelan people.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg only mentioned the word “climate” twice in his election budget speech, and almost as an afterthought.

Following  its successful state election campaign last year, Victorian Socialists is standing three candidates in the federal election: Sue Bolton in the seat of Wills, Kath Larkin in the seat of Cooper, and Jerome Small for the seat of Calwell. Green Left Weekly’s Alex Bainbridge spoke to Sue Bolton about the block the major parties pose to progressive politics and why it is important to support socialist candidates.

Hundreds of people turned out to the #ClimateElection kickstart event on March 25. This was the major event organisers encouraged participants in the March 15 School Strike to attend.

The most inspiring part was the announcement of the students' next big action on May 3.

The South Brisbane Greens held a forum on "Communal Luxury: how to create a future for all of us" on February 28.

Speakers included Greens' Griffith candidate Max Chandler-Mather, Natalie Osborne from Griffith University and Gabba ward Councillor Jonathan Sri.

Protests were held in various Australian cities on February 23 as part of a global day of action against US-led aggression towards the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.