One of the infamous “double-speak” slogans of the nightmare totalitarian regime in George Orwell’s 1984 was “war is peace”. The Nobel jury appears to have based itself on this principle of inverting reality with its decision to grant this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama.
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In a sick mockery of the rising boatloads of refugees coming to Australia, the federal government will pay one of the world's biggest advertising agencies to spread fear and propaganda among Tamils escaping genocide in Sri Lanka.
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The Australian right has long staked a proprietary claim over the nation’s First World War experience, holding up the “diggers” as models of conservative virtue.
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In May, the New South Wales Labor government introduced a new law lowering the threshold for public intoxication before which a person could be “moved on” or potentially arrested by police. The threshold was changed from “seriously drunk” to “noticeably drunk”.
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Below is an open letter initiated by the Socialist Alliance to Australia's foreign affairs minister, Stephen Smith, calling on the Australian government to act for the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of President Manuel Zelaya — and to pressure the US government to finally cut all aid and ties with the dictatorship.
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Reading through the messages of support coming in for Green Left Weekly’s “Spring Offensive” fundraising appeal, I was reminded of the old saying: “You don't know what you have until you lose it.”
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The following Socialist Alliance statement was distributed at the “Switch off Hazelwood” power station protest in Victoria on September 12 and 13. * * *
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Sick of having your welfare entitlements compulsorily controlled by the Rudd government?
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As the Australian economy begins its “recovery”, economic and social indicators show the recession has disproportionately affected working people and the poor. The rich are just getting richer.
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With seven boatloads of asylum seekers intercepted in September, Australia’s Christmas Island detention centre is fast filling up. It now holds 677 detainees.
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Not in so many words, mind you — frankness has rarely been the strong suit of News Corporation journalists and editors. The editorial in question, published in Rupert Murdoch’s Australian on September 10, argued in support of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS): in other words, “clean coal”.
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Every three years the Australian Education Union (AEU), which covers teachers and other eduction workers in government schools, holds elections for all union representatives in the four sectors (early childhood, primary, secondary and TAFE). The elections include all senior officer positions and the AEU state branch council.