Analysis

“I’m a huge supporter of the civil society and the internet is the Wild West at the moment”, federal communications minister Stephen Conroy told SBS’s Insight on March 31. Conroy and the Labor Party remain determined to fence the internet in, joining a short list of countries that attempt to censor it.
This article is based on a speech given by Jay Nathan, a young Tamil activist, at a rally protesting the Sri Lankan genocide against the people of Tamil Eelam, in Sydney on March 28.
The federal government is hoping those who receive their $900 “stimulus package” payment from April 6 spend and spend big.
In 2005, anti-dredging campaign group Blue Wedges joined Somali pirates, Peruvian raiders and Gulf terrorists on the US Office of Naval Intelligence’s international threat list as a credible threat to international shipping.
The Building Industry Group (BIG) unions have decided to up the ante on the campaign to abolish the undemocratic Australian Building Construction Commission (ABCC).

Labor governments at state and federal levels are persisting with two unpopular proposals for education in remote Aboriginal schools — the scrapping of bilingual education and the linking of welfare payments to school attendance — despite opposition from communities and educators.

Green Left Weekly’s Simon Butler spoke to Karen Cieri, one of the founders of Top End Transition group based in Darwin.
The federal government’s report on the future of the Australian Building Construction Commission (ABCC), released on April 3, was met with disappointment by unionists.
As the economic crisis continues to worsen, with capitalism unable to stop the spiral towards a global depression that will plunge millions into poverty, women will experience the negative consequences more rapidly and with more severity.
A number of Climate Action Groups (CAGs) in NSW held a series of actions at federal MP offices on March 27.
The struggle against the privatisation schemes of the NSW government is beginning to revive. On April 2, an angry demonstration of prison officers besieged parliament house, protesting against prison privatisation plans.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, in Washington last week to meet US President Barack Obama, made clear the ALP government’s support for the US’s wars overseas. The Australia-US war alliance is as strong as ever, he declared.