Analysis

What with the whole Rudd debacle, sparked by the whole Gillard debacle, Labor has been staggering from one crisis to the next. Time for some fresh and bold thinking!

Infectious Diseases Physician Trent Yarwood released the open letter below to Coalition immigration spokesperson Scott Morrison on February 28. * * * Dear Mr Morrison, I am writing to you regarding your press release dated February 27, 2012, entitled “Typhoid cases on latest boats highlight the risk of Labor’s border failures”.

The Socialist Alliance NSW released the statement below on February 29. * * * The Socialist Alliance NSW condemns the latest step in the attacks on NSW public sector workers and their unions, announced by Premier Barry O’Farrell on February 23. O’Farrell used question time to announce that he intends to introduce a bill to NSW parliament on March 6, which will increase penalties for industrial action in defiance of Industrial Relation Commission orders, or “wildcat strikes”.

Center for Constitutional Rights, Feb 28: Leaks published today from Stratfor, a private intelligence corporation, indicate the United States Department of Justice has issued a secret, sealed indictment against Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. In response, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement. * * *

WikiLeaks released the statement below on February 28. * * * Confidential emails obtained from the US private intelligence firm Stratfor show that the United States government has had a secret indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for more than 12 months. WikiLeaks publishes Global Intelligence Files, exposes Stratfor Assange slams wishtleblower crackdown hysteria

The Yes Men released the statement below on February 27.

The Stop the War Coalition Sydney released the statement below on February 26. * * * Stop the War Coalition opposes sanctions against Syria – steps towards a military intervention – by the United States, Israel, NATO or any other foreign power. We oppose the violence by the Syrian state and the armed mercenaries and agent provocateurs, which, in many cases, are being supported by foreign powers.

Len Cooper, the secretary of the Victorian Telecommunications Division of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union, wrote to Victorian unions last August inviting them to take part in a discussion “aimed at leading to the formation of a campaign on the right to strike”. The Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) endorsed the campaign as a sub-committee of the hall on February 10. It committed to back a motion on the right to strike at the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) national congress, which takes place in Sydney in May.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said marriage equality was "inevitable" when she met with three same-sex couples on February 21 during a dinner organised by GetUp! The admission came despite her own opposition to equal marriage.

Public housing in Victoria (and elsewhere around Australia) is in a state of crisis. For at least the last two decades, successive state governments have failed to meet the challenge of providing public housing to all who need it. Instead, they have relied on the free market to provide “affordable housing” as a means of avoiding their responsibilities. The result has been a disaster, with nearly 40,000 people on waiting lists.

“If changing the f****** leader would change f****** government policy to support the f****** 99% instead of the f****** 1% then we’d be f****** interested in this f****** soap opera!” This tongue-in-cheek Facebook status that I posted on February 21 ended up sparking a bit of political discussion. It expressed what a lot of ordinary people were thinking as round two of Kevin Rudd versus Julia Gillard came to a head.

On an oppressively hot Sunday afternoon on February 19, I visited the Villawood detention centre in Sydney’s west, a suburban prison for up to 400 refugees and asylum seekers. At the centre, in the same compound as the maximum-security “Blaxland centre” that holds male refugees, is the Sydney Immigration Residential Housing facility. Six children live with their refugee families in a small row of simple single-storey homes, replete with CCTV, ever-present guards and a spiked fence.