I am disturbed to hear that the Albanese federal government continues to pretend it is doing something about creating affordable housing, while doing the opposite. If there is one thing confirming this, it is he shift to reviving the Shared Equity Scheme. This is where prospective homebuyers get to have a portion of their mortgage paid by the government, up to 40 percent, in exchange for ownership of a percentage of the property. Continue reading Labor’s response to the high cost of housing is a disappointment→
The following by Bevan Ramsden published as an editorial by the Independent and Peacefull Australia coalition is timely, given the escalation of Australia’s participation in war games, which are promoting the escalation of tensions with China. Unfortunately, the Albanese government has proved to be an especially willing pawn in Washington’s geopolitical ambitions to thwart China’s rise through gunboat diplomacy. Doing this is contributing to increasing the risk of a catastrophic war, and the only way to stop this is through a mass movement, such as the one that put an end to involvement in the Vietnam war in 1972.
Australia has been crying out for years for something to be done to put an end to blatant exploitation of workers by greedy employers. One of the biggest abuses had been the rise in the use of labour hire intermediaries to pay lower wages than would otherwise be entitled. There is the use of insecure work and the gig economy. Don’t forget sham subcontracting and the fact that women are still often paid less than men. Continue reading Wage theft is a major problem that must be corrected→
government should do more to demand his release. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has gone on the record more than once to say enough is enough. Opposition leader Peter Dutton has said the same thing.
How come there has been such little movement? The reality is that the apparent bipartisanship of the leaders is much more a reflection of the pressure they are under than anything else. Their stand kind of recognises there is a wrong but chooses to sit on the fence. It doesn’t come clear on whether the accusations should be dropped, or the prosecution be carried out as quickly as possible. Continue reading Worldwide rallies for Australian government action to free Julian Assange→
The Australia government won’t release the climate crisis report from the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) it has in its hands and insists that this is for national security reasons. Surely, even if national security is the problem, a redacted version could still be released. But even this has been refused. This suggests that there is another reason for the secrecy. Continue reading Government sits on climate report and covers the lack of sufficient action→
An essential poll has just revealed that three quarters of Australia believes that rents should be capped or frozen until economic conditions improve. This stands at odds with the political elite of the major parties, which remain locked into refusing to countenance any move that will interfere with the bottom line of the real estate industry and landlords. Continue reading Australia wants the government to bring in rent control→
Labor’s national conference in Brisbane began today. The 2,000 or so delegates will be hearing about the key issues of the day. There won’t be any in depth discussion and analysis of positions put forward. The decisions have already been made and votes packaged by the factions. The event will mostly be about speeches. Continue reading Labor’s national conference and the key issues that concern Australia→
“People know something’s wrong. They know something’s wrong in their society when we have Commonwealth Bank recording over $10bn in profit while ordinary Australians are struggling to put a roof over their head.” These words were said by Zach Smith, construction division national secretary of the CFMMEU. Continue reading Call for a super profits tax to provide affordable housing is gaining support→
Civil libertarians have always argued that Australia’s anti-terrorist laws pose a major threat to democratic rights. They provide government with the means to punish those who criticise what it does. There is concern that the introduction of these laws has been accompanied by an increasing militarisation of Australia’s police forces.
Amy Goodman the host of Democracy now and Dennis Moynihan a bestselling author write (Common Dreams 24 July 2023) about the Important question of how the global burden of shifting away from fossil fuels should be shared., and that those countries that have historically contributed the most to putting carbon in the atmosphere should pay more and provide help to [poorer nations. Instead of doing this, they are still trying to push the cost onto others. They say global transition to renewable energy is going to be costly, but the cost of doing nothing would be far greater.
