Editorial – Budget 2012-13 – Surplus on the backs of the poor
The Sydney Daily Telegraph fed its working class readers just the sort of message the government wanted to convey: “Treasurer slips out of the red, but finds $5 billion for battlers.” But a more accurate portrayal of the budget was the “Budget leaves baked beans for Struggle Street”, from John Falzon, chief executive of the St Vincent de Paul Society National Council. The budget is long on deception and short on working class values and social justice. more ...
Budget 2012-13 – Headline-grabbing payments is not spreading the boom
Welfare group Anglicare recently reported that 15 percent of Australian families are so poor that they struggle to pay for their most basic needs. Demand for charity food parcels is through the roof. The Gillard government is spinning its latest social security measures as major relief for battlers and their families. “We wanted to make sure the benefits of the boom were spread around the country,” Families and Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin said about a raft of changes to social security contained in the federal budget. But while the Opposition is squawking about cash handout “bribes” and “class warfare”, the reality is that many Australians will continue their slide into poverty as a result of the measures. more ...
May Day 2012
Check out photos and round up of May Day events around Australia. more ...
Public health group slams Newcastle coal loader proposal
A group of public health professionals have prepared a critical report on proposed construction of the Port Waratah Coal Services Terminal 4 (T4) loader dock in Newcastle, which would handle more than one third of Newcastle’s coal exports. more ...
Rights dragged from the grasp of the ruling class
Comrades and friends, I am a member of the SA May Day Collective, the Communist Party of Australia and the International Network in Solidarity with Colombia’s Political Prisoners. It was in these latter capacities that I was invited to attend two events this year – the first was an international forum on the situation of Colombia’s estimated 9,500 political prisoners. more ...
Generics under threat – Can India still supply cheap medicines for the world?
For millions of poor and sick people around the world, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has been something of a life-saver, thanks to its capacity to produce cheap generic versions of expensive patented drugs. However, some recent developments are threatening to undermine India’s role as the pharmacy of the developing world. Martin Khor explains. more ...
Memories of Reedy River and the Bush Music Club
In 1947 my father took me, a child of 12, to see my first play at the New Theatre – then at 167 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. This was a small amateur group performing plays on a repertory basis since 1932, covering a wide range of plays from Shaw to Shakespeare, Cliff Odets to Arthur Miller, topical political revues, parodied versions of Gilbert and Sullivan, plays with a political or social theme or “message”, plays with a working class bias, plays dealing with racism, social justice and peace in the world. They encouraged and supported Australian playwrights. more ...
Culture & Life – Remembering Domitila: Making Bolivian history
A tribute to Domitila Barrios de Chungara, the long-time Bolivian social activist, feminist and mine union leader whose 1978 hunger strike is credited with bringing down a dictatorship and changing the course of Bolivian history. more ...
Pete's Corner
Over 9 years worth of sharp humour from The Guardian's very own cartoonist Pete Andrew can be accessed from the main menu – or just click here.
Greeting from Liliany Obando to Australian trade union movement
Liliany Obando, political prisoner from Colombia recently released on bail, thanking the Australian trade union movement and the CFMEU WA in particular for their solidarity during her long imprisonement.
