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Clinton Fernandes, professor of international and political studies at the University of New South Wales, writes that “national security” encompasses the protection of the commercial interests of the few large private concerns that dominate Australia’s economy.

The Queensland Coordinator General has recommended Pembroke Resources' new Olive Downs coal project be allowed to leave three un-rehabilitated pit voids on the Isaac River flood plain after the mine closes.

Fremantle City Councillor and Socialist Alliance candidate for the seat of Fremantle, Sam Wainwright, addresses the reasons for Labor's loss of the 2019 federal election. Was Labor too ambitious? Was the electorate to blame? What about Clive Palmer's scare campaign? It follows on from Wainwright's recent Socialist Alliance Our Common Cause column Labor was not radical enough.

Our good Earth is red and black and brown

And fresh grass will always be green

White chalk washes off in the rain

And the sun shines down on us all

While there is air for us to breathe

I sing back to life an indivisible soul

And find in our good Earth’s fertile ground

The seed of our common goal

Walking together in dark times

To the brink of an unknowable fate

Sharing our path, our purpose, our pain

On the edge of madness still lies the dawn

For the grass will forever be green

This election win for the Establishment is the expected result that comes from “manufacturing consent” through the use of propaganda in some covert media campaigns.

We must take control back over our narrative or forever be silenced. We must not allow ourselves to be directed by corporate media monopolies. Because their fundamental nature is to be self-serving, which is completely at odds with democracy.

In this month’s round up of new books, Climate and Capitalism editor Ian Angus looks at books providing two views of food and farming; the origin of climate science denial; the high cost of living well; and a socialist who mostly disagrees with ecosocialism.

More than 60 scientists and experts have signed an open letter to the next Parliament of Australia, calling for the government to make urgent action on climate change a top priority for the 46th Parliament of Australia.

A WaterNSW submission to the ongoing Independent Expert Panel into Mining in Sydney’s Catchment has highlighted the destructive impact coal mining is having on the Sydney Water Catchment Area.

It called for curbs on two big coal mines in Sydney's catchment, saying millions of litres of water are being lost daily and environmental impacts are likely breaching approval conditions.

Italian dock workers halted the loading of a deadly cargo of weapons bound for Saudi Arabia in Genoa on March 20 as they demanded Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini “open the ports to people and close them to arms”.

A nationwide education strike on May 15 became the platform for the biggest anti-government protests since President Jair Bolsonaro took power.

They say class politics is dead in egalitarian Australia — but what about election 2019?

If one billionaire can literally buy seats in Queensland and another guy can use his media empire to tear the opposition to shreds, class politics is well and truly alive in this country.

Barely had we digested the news of the unexpected Coalition victory when the corporate media commentators and a number of senior party leaders were blaming Labor’s election loss for it being too left-wing — “too ambitious”, “a large target” and “bit off more than it could chew”.