Australia and South Pacific
Australia: Governments, unions responsible for spate of deaths in Queensland mining industry
By Robert Campion, 12 December 2019
The dangerous conditions are a result of the gutting of safety measures and the wholesale destruction of full-time employment throughout the sector.
Australia: Workers stop work in response to hazardous air conditions
By James Cogan, 11 December 2019
Air quality in Sydney yesterday registered over 11 times the official “hazardous level” due to smoke blowing in from bushfires in surrounding areas.
Growing poverty and inequality in New Zealand
By Tom Peters, 11 December 2019
Despite the Labour Party’s promises, poverty, housing unaffordability and food insecurity have increased significantly in the past two years.
Australian doctor condemns Britain’s denial of adequate medical care to Julian Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 10 December 2019
Dr Chesterfield-Evans said that prior to the Assange case, he had “never seen governments completely wipe their hands of an individual, lock people up and refuse to give them medical treatment.”
Worker killed in horrendous incident on Sydney construction site
By Terry Cook, 10 December 2019
The latest tragic death brings the number of fatalities in the sector for 2019 to 22.
Australian economy remains in slump as trade tensions mount
By Mike Head, 10 December 2019
Corporate profits and share prices have soared in 2019, but at the expense of falling real wages and rising unemployment.
Appreciative audience at Australian launch of Why Are They Back?
By our reporter, 10 December 2019
The Sydney event probed the political climate behind the re-emergence of fascism and militarism in Germany and internationally.
Hundreds of journalists around the world sign open letter demanding freedom for Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 9 December 2019
The signatories declare: “As journalists and journalists’ organizations that believe in human rights, freedom of information and of the public’s right to know, we demand the immediate release of Julian Assange.”
Australian PM defends secret “national security” trials
By Mike Head, 9 December 2019
Morrison’s statement is further evidence of the creation of a police-state framework, overturning the fundamental democratic principle of public jury trials.
Youth demonstrating in Australia speak out against climate change and war
By our reporters, 9 December 2019
Students attended climate change protests in major cities in solidarity with rallies organised globally on November 29.
Following police shooting in Yuendumu
Australian governments reject calls for removal of armed police from Aboriginal settlements
By Richard Phillips, 7 December 2019
With about 30 percent of its population being indigenous, the Northern Territory is Australia’s most heavily-policed state or territory.
Australian cities bathed in smoke from hundreds of bushfires
By Martin Scott, 7 December 2019
Fires in four states have destroyed homes and caused hazardous air pollution.
WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson speaks at Melbourne forum in defence of Assange
By Eric Ludlow, 7 December 2019
In an indication of growing support for Assange, the forum was attended by over 100 people and addressed by two prominent lawyers and an academic.
Papua New Guinea: Voting under way in Bougainville independence referendum
By John Braddock, 6 December 2019
It is widely expected that most of 206,000 registered voters will cast ballots for independence, but the result remains subject to ratification by the PNG parliament.
Meeting of Australian teachers passes resolutions in defence of Julian Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 6 December 2019
The teachers have taken an important stand which points the way forward for other educators, and for all sections of the working class, in the fight for democratic rights and against the persecution of Assange.
Australian media’s “Chinese spy defection” story unravels
By Oscar Grenfell, 5 December 2019
The collapse of Wang Liqiang’s story, and the revelation that he is most likely “the spy who wasn’t,” is an object lesson in the fraudulent character of the entire anti-China campaign.
Australian teenagers call for support for Julian Assange
By Mike Head, 5 December 2019
“The only way to help Assange is a mass of people having his back and supporting him so that they have to release him because the people are against it.”
Assange is facing a “new form of forced rendition”
WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson addresses the Australian press club
By Oscar Grenfell, 4 December 2019
Hrafnsson said Assange’s “rendition” was not taking place “with a sack over the head and an orange jumpsuit, but with the enabling of the UK legal system and with the apparent support of the Australian government.”
Australian government launches “foreign interference” taskforce
By Mike Head, 4 December 2019
The announcement was clearly made to meet demands in the ruling circles for prosecutions under the draconian “foreign interference” laws pushed through parliament last year.
Australian coronial inquiry clears prison officers in death of young Aboriginal man
By Robert Campion, 4 December 2019
References to the need for “greater training” are aimed at covering up the systemic character of state violence against working class, poor and indigenous people thrown into the prison system.
Australia: Vote ‘no’ to the NSWTF salaries agreement! Form rank-and-file committees to defend public education
By the Committee For Public Education, 4 December 2019
The NSW Teachers Federation is seeking to split and isolate teachers as they meet at hundreds of different venues across the state to hear details of the latest award.
Samoa: Death toll mounts in devastating measles epidemic
By Tom Peters, 3 December 2019
The entirely preventable outbreak, which has killed 55 people, is an indictment of the governments of Samoa and also New Zealand, where the outbreak originated.
Australian bank chief resigns over money laundering charges
By Mike Head, 30 November 2019
This latest scandal does not directly involve cheating customers, but centres on allegations of evading official transaction-tracking measures.
Groundswell of support for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 30 November 2019
The surge of support for Assange is a welcome blow to the conspiracy of silence surrounding his persecution, enforced by governments, establishment parties and the corporate media around the world.
Indian auto parts workers demand union rights; Bangladesh cargo workers on indefinite strike; French Polynesia hotel workers expand walkout
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
30 November 2019
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
Australian Labor Party shuts down parliamentary discussion on Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 29 November 2019
It is a glaring exposure of the thoroughly rotten character of the Labor Party that, on the issue of Assange, it is well to the right of Joyce, a conservative nationalist and populist.
Australia: Queensland parliament forum reflects growing support for Assange
By Mike Head, 29 November 2019
While largely focussed on lobbying parliamentarians, the meeting gave expression to the deep-felt concern of working class and professional people over the persecution of the WikiLeaks founder.
Australian PM rejects Pamela Anderson’s appeal that his government defend Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 27 November 2019
The refusal of the Coalition and Labor to uphold Assange’s rights as an Australian citizen is inextricably tied to their support for the US alliance and their own turn to police state measures.
A secret trial in Canberra points to extent of Australia’s police-state powers
By Mike Head, 27 November 2019
All details of the man’s prosecution and imprisonment, even the very existence of the case, have been suppressed by undisclosed gag orders.
Christoph Vandreier and David North to speak at Sydney Gleebooks launch of Why Are They Back?
27 November 2019
Vandreier’s and North’s discussion will focus on the historical lessons that must be learned in order to build a mass working class movement capable of preventing the disaster of Nazism from taking place on an even greater scale today.
Resolution: Stop the US extradition of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange! Free Assange and Manning!
26 November 2019
The following resolution was unanimously adopted by a meeting called by the Socialist Equality Party in Sydney last November 24. Similar resolutions were passed at events in Brisbane, Alice Springs and Wellington, New Zealand.
Australian media and intelligence agencies reveal “Chinese spy” defection
By Oscar Grenfell, 26 November 2019
Despite the implausible character of many of the defector’s claims, they have been presented uncritically by media outlets seeking to bolster the escalating and protracted campaign against supposed “Chinese interference.”
Meetings in Australia and New Zealand pass resolutions demanding freedom of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning
By our reporter, 26 November 2019
The meetings on the weekend took place just days after Swedish prosecutors had abandoned—for the third time—their “preliminary investigation” into the false allegations that Assange had committed sexual assault.
Attendees at meetings in Australia and NZ support campaign for release of Assange and Manning
By our reporters, 26 November 2019
“What’s happening to Julian Assange affects us all. He has told the truth and he has exposed the war criminals and that’s why the US wants him.”
Australian Labor Party leader steps up pitch to big business
By Mike Head, 25 November 2019
Albanese lauded the Labor governments of the 1980s and 1990s for their pro-market restructuring, and committed Labor to implementing the next wave of such “reform.”
“We are all Julian Assange”
Interviews with Alice Springs workers and youth about public meeting to defend Assange and Manning
By our reporters, 23 November 2019
Popular support in Alice Springs for imprisoned journalist Julian Assange is matched by a deep distrust of government authorities and the major parliamentary parties.
Rising seas threaten US Pacific nuclear dump
By John Braddock, 23 November 2019
A concrete dome, a relic of the US nuclear testing program, is breaking up and beginning to spill deadly nuclear waste into the Pacific Ocean.
Sydney Morning Herald columnist defends Swedish frame-up of Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 22 November 2019
Miller’s article had the character of a rearguard action, aimed at defending the discredited lies and slanders that have been used to justify the persecution of Julian Assange.
Australian bushfire crisis spreads as PM denies climate change link
By Mike Head, 22 November 2019
Apocalyptic scenes of raging walls of flames, orange skies and acrid smoke hazes in major cities have fuelled a political crisis.
Former Australian spy chief steps up anti-China campaign
By Nick Beams, 22 November 2019
After stoking paranoia over an purported Chinese “threat,” Lewis called on members of the Chinese community to be recruited to assist the security agencies in the same way people in Islamic communities had been enlisted to inform on alleged “terrorist” risks.
Conference at European Parliament defends Julian Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 21 November 2019
Speakers warned that the persecution of Assange was creating a precedent for the suppression of press freedom and for the application of repressive US laws all over the world.
Australian Strategic Forum tries to downplay danger of US-China conflict
By James Cogan, 21 November 2019
Warnings that US-China tensions could lead to war were largely dismissed by the majority of the forum speakers.
Australian Labor Party leader dodges state party conference
By Mike Head, 20 November 2019
The fact that Albanese felt he could not appear spoke volumes about the political crisis gripping the party.
Australian establishment up-in-arms after Beijing bans visit by two MPs
By James Cogan, 19 November 2019
The hypocrisy of the latest anti-China outburst is underscored by the Australian government refusal to allow Chelsea Manning, the American whistleblower and defender of democratic rights, to travel to the country.
Trial begins over 2015 anti-government protest on Nauru
By John Braddock, 19 November 2019
The trial of fifteen activists and former politicians involved in an anti-government protest has been condemned as a sham.
New Zealand police introduce new armed units
By Tom Peters, 16 November 2019
The Labour Party-led government is exploiting the Christchurch terrorist attack to further arm the police and increase their anti-democratic powers.
Indian Honda contract workers still on strike; West Bengal teachers demand pay rise; maintenance workers take industrial action at Australian paper mill
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
16 November 2019
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
Australia: Bushfires continue to ravage New South Wales and Queensland
By Martin Scott, 14 November 2019
Four people are dead and more than 300 homes have been lost in catastrophic fires.
New Zealand cabinet minister echoes fascist gunman’s manifesto
By John Braddock, 14 November 2019
The NZ First MP’s calculated rant, with its fixation on “birth rates” and scare-mongering over “legions” of immigrants, mirror the Christchurch terrorist’s fascist screed.
Australian aged care report: “A shocking tale of neglect”
By Cheryl Crisp, 13 November 2019
The inquiry’s “urgent” recommendations do nothing to address the underlying reasons for these appalling conditions.
Australian workers and youth speak-out in support of Julian Assange
By our reporters, 13 November 2019
“Governments are trying to hide the truth and lie to the people. That’s why they are unfairly persecuting Assange and confining him to prison.”
Australian Labor Party review covers up causes of federal election debacle
By Oscar Grenfell, 11 November 2019
The real reason for Labor’s defeat is that it is incapable of making a credible appeal to workers and young people, after decades of having imposed the dictates of big business.
Measles epidemic spreads from New Zealand to Pacific Islands
By John Braddock, 9 November 2019
Scientists had been warning of the danger of an outbreak, but requests for a campaign to plug immunisation gaps were ignored.
Australia: All Sydney bus services to be privatised within two years
By Martin Scott, 9 November 2019
Thousands of drivers and other workers face an uncertain future as the state government continues the sell-off of public transport.
Honda motorcycle and Kerala state transport workers strike in India; Pakistan health workers oppose privatisation
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
9 November 2019
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
Australia: Woolworths admits to massively underpaying staff
By Terry Cook, 8 November 2019
In one of the most glaring examples of the widespread practice of wage theft, Australia’s largest supermarket chain has admitted to underpaying thousands of staff by $300 million over the past decade.
New Zealand Labour-led government extends draconian anti-terror laws
By John Braddock, 7 November 2019
The new legislation, which proposes new control orders for people trying to return home after allegedly supporting extremist groups overseas, vastly expands existing anti-terror laws.
Australia: Mobilise students, staff and academics against the closure of Macquarie University’s human sciences faculty
By the Committee for Public Education, 7 November 2019
The National Tertiary Education Union’s major concern is not the job cuts themselves, but that they were left out of the “consultation process” required to implement them.
Australia: One third of Mascot Tower owners face bankruptcy over $20 million repair bill
By John Wilson, 7 November 2019
Australian state and local governments, along with the construction industry, are seeking to shirk all responsibility for a plethora of problems in apartments built over the past 25 years.
Australian Greens member demands party leader defend Julian Assange
7 November 2019
“Assange is being held as a political prisoner. That is undeniable now, and still no action from the Greens... Ultimately, you have abandoned Assange.”
Geoffrey Rush defamation victory contested in Sydney’s Federal Court
By Linda Tenenbaum, 7 November 2019
The appeal by Murdoch-owned Nationwide News against last year’s Federal Court judgement in favour of Oscar-winning Australian actor, Geoffrey Rush, was heard early this week.
Former Australian PM asked to register under “foreign agent” laws
By Mike Head, 6 November 2019
The initial targeting of alt-right elements sets a precedent for the use of the laws against their intended victims—left-wing and oppositional groups.
Australia: Bullied teachers reveal union complicity in victimisations—Part 2
By Sue Phillips and Erika Zimmer, 5 November 2019
The WSWS and Committee for Public Education discuss the crisis in Australia’s public schools, with the founders of Bullied Teachers Support Network.
Bipartisan drive to outlaw protest in Australia
By Mike Head, 5 November 2019
Prime Minister Morrison adopted the fascistic language of US President Donald Trump, accusing climate change demonstrators of “economic sabotage.”
Julian Assange calls for workers to organise in his defence
By Oscar Grenfell, 5 November 2019
Assange’s appeal for workers to form “blocs” in their workplaces is an important call for the mobilisation of the working class to fight for his freedom.
Australia: Official unemployment figures downplay growing jobs crisis
By Terry Cook, 2 November 2019
The mass destruction of full-time jobs and a rapid growth in casualisation across every sector has been overseen by Liberal and Labor governments alike.
New Zealand: Anti-China propagandist Anne-Marie Brady speaks at Victoria University of Wellington
By Tom Peters, 2 November 2019
Brady is demanding a full-scale witch hunt against Chinese “interference” in order to align New Zealand even more closely with US war preparations.
Australia: Further cuts to jobs and working conditions loom in NSW power industry
By Patrick Davies, 1 November 2019
The energy minister issued a “pause directive” to the state-owned corporation in an attempt to quell opposition to the job cuts and to enlist the unions in imposing cost cutting.
Australian Labor Party leader puts big business “first and foremost”
By Mike Head, 1 November 2019
Albanese vowed to ensure that businesses “thrive and flourish,” including by restructuring the industrial relations system to enhance the “gig economy.”
Australian police violently attack climate change protestors
By our reporters, 31 October 2019
The incident marks a further escalation of state repression in Australia against protest and dissent.
Video: 70 years after the Chinese Revolution—How the struggle for socialism was betrayed
31 October 2019
The following lecture was delivered by Peter Symonds at eight campuses in Australia and at meeting in Wellington, New Zealand.
Australian and New Zealand students speak after lecture on 70th anniversary of Chinese Revolution
By our reporters, 31 October 2019
“The real root ideas of socialism were not implemented in China from the bottom-up. I learnt that Trotskyism is internationalism, but Mao did not agree with that perspective.”
Australian state Labor government spearheads anti-protest laws
By Mike Head, 30 October 2019
Queensland’s government has defied popular opposition to rush through legislation that goes far beyond suppressing environmental demonstrations.
Australian parliamentarians form cross-party group in defence of Julian Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 30 October 2019
The establishment of the group is in response to a growing groundswell of demands for the Australian government to stop Assange’s extradition to the US.
Workers and students from Chile speak out at protest in Sydney, Australia
By our reporters, 29 October 2019
Reflecting the sentiments of many, Carlos, a musician, said the “battle between the rich and poor has always been a huge feature of Chilean struggle.”
Public meetings in Australia and New Zealand
Meeting defending Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning in Melbourne this Sunday
28 October 2019
The aim of the meetings is to prepare for the political action that must be organised in Australia and internationally in opposition to the legal travesty against Assange that is underway in the British courts.
More evidence of cover-up of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan
By Mike Head, 26 October 2019
The damning disclosures underscore why the government is intensifying its efforts to suppress media freedom.
400,000 bank workers strike across India
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
26 October 2019
While almost half a million Indian bank employees walked off the job, tens of thousands of teachers and healthcare workers across the sub-continent have engaged in strikes and protests.
Major write down of Australian growth forecast as global contradictions intensify
By Nick Beams, 23 October 2019
In just 12 months, the International Monetary Fund has cut its Australian growth prediction for 2019 from 2.8 percent to 1.7 percent.
Inquiry whitewashes Kiribati government over ferry disaster
By John Braddock, 21 October 2019
The report identifies no criminal culpability in Kiribati's worst ever disaster, which led to 95 deaths and makes no criticism of the government or its agencies.
Australia: Inspections reveal dangerous conditions on NSW construction sites
By Terry Cook, 21 October 2019
The NSW government's promises are aimed at placating public outrage over conditions in the construction sector, the third most dangerous by workplace fatalities.
Growing calls for Australian government to defend Julian Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 19 October 2019
The fear in Australian ruling circles is that if Assange is extradited to the US, the latent support for him will coalesce into a political movement against the official set-up.
Tens of thousands of Indian transport and aircraft manufacturing workers strike
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
19 October 2019
Some 49,000 transport workers in the state of Telangana walked-out in defiance of government threats to their jobs, while more than 20,000 employees of a state-owned defence company took strike action.
UN official’s briefing on torture of Assange boycotted by US media
By Oscar Grenfell, 18 October 2019
The media silence is a continuation of its complicity in what UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer has described as the “public mobbing” of Assange.
Australia: “Four Corners” program promotes anti-China witch-hunt
By Oscar Grenfell, 17 October 2019
The program underscores the role of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a mouthpiece for the political establishment and the intelligence agencies.
Government has no solution to Australia’s water crisis
By Martin Scott, 16 October 2019
Hundreds of thousands in the state of New South Wales face running out of water before the end of next year
Australian governments trial police-state measures against climate protesters
By Oscar Grenfell, 15 October 2019
The authorities are using the demonstrations as a test case for future repression of the emerging social and political struggles of the working class.
Six months since the brutal arrest of WikiLeaks’ publisher Julian Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 12 October 2019
While Assange is subjected to what amounts to torture in a British prison, the war criminals he has done so much to expose walk free.
Official cover-up continues of Australian paramedic’s suicide
By Cheryl Crisp, 12 October 2019
Undisclosed disciplinary action against senior managers over the death of Tony Jenkins is at odds with a NSW Ambulance report that identified systemic deficiencies.
Australian government ministers call for protesters to be cut off welfare
By Mike Head, 11 October 2019
While the remarks referred to “Extinction Rebellion” demonstrators who temporarily blocked some traffic in major cities, they have a wider anti-democratic logic.
Australian cyber conference “disinvites” US whistleblower and Assange supporter
By Oscar Grenfell, 10 October 2019
The cancellation of talks by NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake and Melbourne academic Suelette Dreyfus was a political decision, most likely involving government agencies.
Thousands of Assam tea workers strike over bonus payments; 17,000 non-academic university workers remain on strike in Sri Lanka
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
5 October 2019
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
Australia: Another “super union” merger—a bigger industrial policeman
By Terry Cook, 4 October 2019
Claims that the merger of United Voice and the National Union of Workers will serve the interests of workers are belied by the betrayals and sell-outs of both organisations.
Australian central bank cuts interest rates to record low
By Mike Head, 3 October 2019
The speed and scale of the rate cuts point to alarm within the financial elite about the turmoil gripping the world capitalist economy and deepening slump in Australia.
Australia: Melbourne tram drivers take further strike action
By Patrick O’Connor, 3 October 2019
The tram drivers have twice overwhelmingly voted down company offers for a regressive new enterprise agreement.
New Zealand: Unexplained death at university hall of residence
By John Braddock, 3 October 2019
While stresses on students are escalating, privately-run residential halls maintain profits by cost-cutting and slashing pastoral care.
Crisis of unmet need in New Zealand’s health system
By Harry Hall, 2 October 2019
Thousands of people are being denied surgery and treatment for cancer, endometriosis, mental health and other conditions, due to chronic understaffing and under-resourcing.
New industrial “integrity” laws seek to head off working class eruption in Australia
By Terry Cook, 1 October 2019
The Morrison government’s legislation is a pre-emptive move by the corporate establishment which is nervous about rising strike action by workers internationally despite the efforts of the unions to hold them back.
170,000 join climate change protests in New Zealand
By Tom Peters, 28 September 2019
School students were joined by tens of thousands of workers and university students to demand action to prevent catastrophic climate change.
Solomon Islands and Kiribati cut ties with Taiwan, shift to China
By John Braddock, 28 September 2019
The diplomatic shifts underscore the deepening geo-strategic confrontation in the Pacific amid the intensifying US-led trade war.
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