The United States autoworkers strike is a long way from Australia. It is still important, because it is a sign if what is going wrong in that country, and major developments there will have an impact here. This is how closely Australia is enmeshed into the economic and political power of the United States. Continue reading The American autoworkers strike is important for the United States and Australia
Rupert Murdoch’s announcement of his stepping down as chair of News Corp and Fox News will no doubt bring cheers from millions of people around the world. His toxic version of news, clogged with its customary sensationalism, deliberate misinformation, influence over governments, and promotion of what amounts to a twentieth century form of fascism, has inflicted a great deal of harm.
Murdoch announced the news in his United States flagship newspaper the Wall Street Journal. But the 92 year old tycoon is not exactly going into retirement. He will merely change roles, and most probably, continue to exert his toxic influence from behind his son Lachlan.
He wrote, “For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change. But the time is right for me to take on different roles.”
Lacklan is a chip of the old block, groomed to continue on the same track. He shares his father’s politics and style. There will be no change here, and it might even get worse.
Rupert Murdoch’s stepping down form formally leading the media empire makes sense. At 92, he hasn’t a lot of time to hand over the family business. More importantly, the business is enmeshed in a series of scandals and lawsuits, with him as the central figure. His reputation, and that of NewsCorp, Fax, his other media platforms have fallen around the word. Newsprint circulation is falling, and so are viewers of his television stations.
Try as he may, Rupert Murdoch’s efforts to penetrate as the principal force in digital media and information has hit a brick wall.
This scenario is reflected within Australia, where he originally came from. Rupert inherited the origins of his empire from his father Sir Kieth Murdoch, who already owned a big slice of Australia’s print media. It was after expanding to England taking over the smutty news of the World, and introducing the anti-union headquarter in Wapping with the support of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. This became the model and springboard for the rise of the global empire.
In Australia, Murdoch moved to successfully take over more than three quarters of print, television, and radio media. Governments assisted this by progressively watering down laws limiting cross ownership over different forms of media.
Murdoch’s capacity to make or break governments paved the way. His power became so potent that would be prime ministers and government required his endorsement to succeed.
Through this, Murdoch was able to shape policies. The keystone ones were the promotion of extreme neoliberalism in economic and social policy; fanning racism against those of colour and different faith; leading media away from investigative reporting, towards trivialised, manufactured, and misinformation news. He has been a leading force in involving Australia in a series of wars against others.
Rupert Murdoch, who went on to centre his empire in the United States and become a citizen of that country, has been crucial to how far the unhealthy subservience of Australia to the demands of Washington has gone. A relationship which has brought a shift towards the militarisation and leads us to confrontation with China.
Murdoch is a major influencer over domestic policies, ranging from economic management and industrial relations to health and education, climate change and lowering carbon emissions, the treatment of Australasia’s first peoples, and the treatment of refugees arriving by boat.
NewsCorp and its satellites have had a corrosive effect. Although the departure of Rupert Murdoch might be regarded as a wonderful thing to see, it is action that puts an end to the monopoly he created that I needed.
For a start, cross media ownership laws must be restored. outlawing anyone from having a private monopoly over media is the next step.
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
Continue reading Mobilising a mass movement to prevent war is now increasingly urgent
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
By Joe Montero
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
