Australia
Professor Stuart Rees to speak at SEP rally to defend Julian Assange
20 June 2019
“The rally must increase public awareness of the outrageous injustice if Julian is extradited to the US to face a possible 170 years in prison.”
John Pilger urges participation in SEP (Australia) rallies to defend Assange
19 June 2019
“In my career, there has never been a more important case. If we lose Julian and Chelsea Manning to the dungeons of a rogue America, once-liberal societies will never be the same again; democracies will be in name only.”
Prominent Australian journalist Mary Kostakidis calls for campaign to free Assange
18 June 2019
“We must not wait till it is too late to recognise the broader significance of the persecution of Julian Assange and fail to defend his human rights.”
Australian whistleblower trials shrouded in secrecy
By Mike Head, 18 June 2019
The government’s determination to block any public scrutiny of these crucial hearings constitutes wartime-like censorship.
Two protesters arrested at Melbourne rally in defence of Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 17 June 2019
The arrests were aimed at intimidating supporters of WikiLeaks and preventing broader layers from joining the campaign to defend Assange and all democratic rights.
Australia: Another Sydney apartment block evacuated over major structural cracks
By John Wilson, 17 June 2019
The event underlines the escalating crisis in housing and apartment building and the cost-cutting methods used during the past two decades.
Australian Labor Party leader reinforces pro-business message by denouncing building union official
By Mike Head, 14 June 2019
The John Setka affair is an initial “test” set by the corporate elite for the Labor and union leaders of their capacity to suppress rising working-class unrest.
Australia’s industrial tribunal maintains poverty-level minimum wage
By Terry Cook, 13 June 2019
The ruling is part of a decades-long assault on workers’ pay and conditions enforced by successive governments and the trade unions.
Australian Labor Party’s hypocrisy on police media raids exposed
By Mike Head, 12 June 2019
The opposition Labor Party has joined hands with the ruling Coalition to pass legislation handing unprecedented powers to the police and intelligence agencies.
Australian journalist calls on colleagues to defend Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 12 June 2019
Andrew Fowler warned: “If Assange is left to swing in the breeze, it will be an open invitation for any journalist, anywhere in the world, to be extradited to the US.”
US issues formal request for Assange’s extradition
By Oscar Grenfell, 11 June 2019
The Trump administration is pressing ahead with its attempt to prosecute the WikiLeaks founder over his role in the exposure of US war crimes and diplomatic conspiracies.
Australia: Worst economic slowdown since global financial crisis
By Mike Head, 11 June 2019
US-China trade war fears are compounding the impact of falling house prices, plunging construction work and declining real wages.
SEP (Australia) calls rallies demanding freedom for Julian Assange
11 June 2019
The protests will demand that the Australian government take immediate action to prevent the WikiLeaks founder's extradition to the US and secure his complete freedom.
Australia: Telstra to destroy 10,000 contract jobs over two years
By Oscar Grenfell, 10 June 2019
The announcement of new sackings targeting contractors coincided with reports that Telstra has already eliminated many of the 9,500 permanent jobs it is seeking to destroy by 2022.
Australian workers and youth defend Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning
By our reporters, 10 June 2019
“Assange is a genius and a hero and if it wasn’t for him, people around the world would not know about government war crimes and other illegal things that they have been doing.”
Australian police chief links media raids to US-led “Five Eyes” spy network
By Mike Head, 8 June 2019
Gaughan’s statement points to the targeting of journalists in order to cover up Washington’s preparations for wars and mass political surveillance.
“Is there going to be a future for journalism?”
Australian media workers denounce police raids
By our correspondents, 8 June 2019
ABC workers spoke of their shock and alarm at the arrival of federal police in their building.
Murder of homeless woman in Melbourne a result of housing and mental health crisis
By Tessa Hugo, 7 June 2019
The tragedy exposes a deep crisis within Australia’s healthcare system, which leaves scores of young people and workers unable to receive the treatment they often desperately need.
The global war on journalism
By Mike Head, 6 June 2019
The arrest of Julian Assange has set a precedent for the state persecution of journalists, triggering police raids in Australia and France against reporters documenting government crimes and corruption.
Australian Federal Police raid journalists over exposures of government spying, war crimes
By Oscar Grenfell, 5 June 2019
The raids, targeting a News Corp journalist and the Sydney offices of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, are part of an expanding assault on democratic rights and press freedom.
Australian government forces refugees back to face repression in Sri Lanka
By Max Newman, 5 June 2019
At least 20 more asylum seekers have been detained by the Australian navy and deported to Sri Lanka to face possible torture and imprisonment.
Australian PM’s trip to Solomon Islands highlights intensifying US confrontation with China
By Mike Head, 4 June 2019
Morrison’s visit, his third to the southwest Pacific this year, was to send a blunt message to Pacific Island states to line up against Beijing.
SEP Australia meetings on Labor’s election debacle and the defence of Assange
4 June 2019
The leftward movement of workers and youth can find no means of expression within the present political framework. It must be developed into a conscious political movement, based on a socialist perspective.
Britain and Australia dismiss UN report that Assange has been tortured
By Oscar Grenfell, 3 June 2019
The brazen responses demonstrate the criminality of the US-led vendetta against Assange, which is proceeding in violation of due process and the fundamental tenets of international law.
Mental health crisis in Australia’s refugee camps
By Max Boddy, 3 June 2019
So torturous are the conditions confronting the more than 500 asylum seekers still on Manus—some for nearly seven years—that many have inflicted bodily injury to themselves.
Sydney Peace Prize recipients demand Australian government defend Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 3 June 2019
The statement was a powerful indictment of the Australian political and media establishment, which has abandoned the WikiLeaks founder or openly participated in his persecution.
Australian billionaires celebrate soaring wealth, while wage case leaves millions in poverty
By Mike Head, 1 June 2019
The annual Rich List, along with the outcome of the latest minimum wage case, underscore the acceleration of social inequality in Australia and around the world.
Australia: Children detained in adult watch houses in Queensland
By John Harris, 31 May 2019
Children as young as ten have been held in maximum security facilities, where they have been subjected to horrific abuses.
Amid grave concerns for his health, Assange transferred to Belmarsh Prison medical wing
By Oscar Grenfell, 30 May 2019
The WSWS demands Assange’s immediate release from the maximum security prison and his transfer to a hospital with the best medical care available and with doctors of his choice.
Despite Assange’s ill-health, Swedish court rejects delay to hearing
By Oscar Grenfell, 29 May 2019
The ruling is the latest example of the international legal vendetta being perpetrated against the WikiLeaks founder.
Australian Labor Party’s new leader signals further pro-business shift
By Mike Head, 28 May 2019
Albanese has vowed to boost “wealth creation” and pursue bipartisanship with the extreme right-wing Liberal-National government.
Australian government, Labor opposition silent on espionage charges against Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 28 May 2019
Labor and the Coalition are signalling their support for the US-led persecution of Assange, for his exposure of war crimes and diplomatic conspiracies.
Australian youth speak out at climate change rallies
By our reporters, 27 May 2019
“There’s not a solution in one country. The whole world has to make a move for climate change.”
“Truth ultimately is all we have:” Julian Assange appeals for public support
By Oscar Grenfell, 25 May 2019
In the first publicly-released comments to supporters since his arrest, Assange detailed his conditions of isolation at Belmarsh prison and called for supporters to mobilise in his defence.
Actor Geoffrey Rush awarded record payout in defamation damages
By Linda Tenenbaum, 25 May 2019
The Oscar-winning actor was granted a total of nearly $2.9 million, in general and special damages, due to the Murdoch media’s defamatory articles.
Who is Scott Morrison?
Australia’s right-wing, US-backed prime minister
By Mike Head, 25 May 2019
Morrison has clawed his way to the top job by pledging fealty to the US military alliance, mobilising the military to repel refugee boats and slashing social welfare entitlements.
Socialist Equality Party wins important support in Australian federal election
By Oscar Grenfell, 25 May 2019
Thousands of workers, students and young people signalled their support for a socialist alternative to war, budget cuts and authoritarianism.
Australian voters speak out
Workers and youth condemn major parliamentary parties
By our reporters, 24 May 2019
“I’d like someone in charge who thinks of the 98 percent, rather than the 2 percent of the highest earners in the country.”
Australian voters speak out
Workers and young people warn about the mounting social crisis
By our reporters, 23 May 2019
“The most important thing for me is jobs, security and the economy—we need real action on jobs.”
Australian Labor Party in crisis after election debacle
By Oscar Grenfell, 22 May 2019
The election result demonstrated a deep-going rupture between the working class and the big business Labor Party.
Australia: Tasmanian paramedic protests ambulance ramping
By Margaret Rees, 22 May 2019
The high incidence of ramping is product of the wider crisis of the hospital system which has been chronically underfunded by Labor and Liberal governments alike.
Australian voters speak out
Mass support for Assange as workers and youth oppose militarism and war
By our reporters, 21 May 2019
Many workers passionately oppose the persecution of Assange and Manning hailing them as “heroes,” “legends” and similar appellations.
Right-wing Australian government re-elected as voters turn against Labor
By Oscar Grenfell, 21 May 2019
The election result reflected widespread hostility among workers, students and young people to Labor and the entire political establishment.
The Australian Labor Party’s election debacle and the fight against the far-right
By Oscar Grenfell, 20 May 2019
The election outcome exposes the bankrupt claims by the unions and the pseudo-left that the rise of the extreme right can be opposed by supporting pro-business centre-left parties such as the Australian Labor Party.
Only socialist policies can resolve the Australian public education crisis
By the Committee for Public Education, 18 May 2019
Teachers and parents should treat the sham election promises of Labor, Liberal and the Greens on education with the contempt they deserve.
Bob Hawke, former Australian Labor prime minister, 1929-2019
Ruling elites pay tribute to a favourite servant
By Nick Beams, 18 May 2019
Some of the most hated figures in world politics have come together to praise Hawke and laud his achievements.
Labor’s promise on childcare wages—another cynical deception
By Terry Cook, 17 May 2019
Labor leader Bill Shorten’s pledge is designed to prevent a rank-and-file struggle for a genuine improvement in wages and working conditions.
Vote 1 Socialist Equality Party! Take up the fight for socialist internationalism!
By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 17 May 2019
The SEP is campaigning to build a revolutionary, socialist movement of the working class against the entire parliamentary establishment and the capitalist system that it defends.
Mass unemployment, climate change and a toxic dump in Oxley
By Michael Smith, 17 May 2019
The following is an edited version of the speech delivered by Michael Smith to the Socialist Equality Party election public meeting in the Brisbane electorate of Oxley.
Strong response to SEP’s socialist program at final election meetings
By our reporters, 17 May 2019
There were animated and extended discussions at SEP public meetings in the working-class electorates of Parramatta, Hunter, Calwell and Oxley this week.
Workers and youth discuss Julian Assange, social conditions and war at SEP election meetings
By our reporters, 17 May 2019
One worker said: “It is absolutely vital that we have meetings like this in working-class areas. Having this meeting, as a party, is one step ahead towards the goal of achieving equality.”
Speech by Oscar Grenfell
Millions in Australia “view Assange as a hero who is being attacked for revealing the truth.”
By Oscar Grenfell, 17 May 2019
We are publishing here the speech of Oscar Grenfell, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia) and national convenor of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, at the May 12 meeting in London in defence of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning.
Australia’s housing crisis to worsen whichever party wins election
By Richard Phillips: SEP senate candidate for NSW, 16 May 2019
A new housing loan scheme announced by Liberal leader Morrison and endorsed by the Labor Party will do nothing to resolve the acute housing problems facing millions of workers.
Labor and the unions responsible for social crisis in western Sydney
By Oscar Grenfell: SEP candidate for Parramatta, 16 May 2019
Grenfell explained that Labor and the unions have presided over “an onslaught against manufacturing and industrial jobs.”
Australia’s central bank slashes growth forecasts
By Mike Head, 15 May 2019
Regardless of whether Labor or the Coalition wins office, the next government will be one of even more severe austerity.
Hunter “Meet the Candidates” Forum exposes major parties
By our reporters, 15 May 2019
SEP candidate Max Boddy said that “the elephant in this election campaign is the deafening silence on the persecution of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning.”
Australia: Rally to defend Julian Assange held in Broadmeadows, Melbourne
By our reporters, 14 May 2019
The event drew a small but determined crowd of SEP members and supporters, local workers, and WikiLeaks’ supporters.
Factory fire symptomatic of social devastation in Calwell electorate
By Peter Byrne: SEP candidate for Calwell, 14 May 2019
“Where factories once employed workers who actually made things, they are now rented and filled with toxic waste, then abandoned.”
A socialist program needed to halt assault on university students and staff
By Mike Head: SEP candidate for Oxley, 14 May 2019
The Socialist Equality Party is alone in calling for a vast redistribution of wealth to secure the basic social right to free, high-quality public education at all levels.
Australian Labor Party’s fraudulent cancer care pledge
By Gary Alvernia, 13 May 2019
Even if implemented in full, the plan would not significantly reduce the exorbitant costs of cancer therapy and care.
Australia: GetUp’s silence over the persecution of Julian Assange
By Richard Phillips: SEP Senate candidate for New South Wales, 13 May 2019
The protest group’s reaction to the incarceration of Assange signals its complicity and is a political godsend for Australia’s political elite.
Two former Australian prime ministers tout Labor’s pro-business record
By Oscar Grenfell: SEP candidate for Parramatta, 11 May 2019
Hawke and Keating boasted they had created the “modern” deregulated economy, and called for the election of a Labor government to deepen this pro-business agenda.
The Australian election and the fraud of the NDIS
By Max Boddy: SEP candidate for Hunter, 10 May 2019
The National Disability Insurance Scheme was always designed to privatise the disability sector, push people off welfare payments and slash public spending.
“We need to fight capitalism and change the whole system”
Uber and Lyft drivers conduct international strike
By our reporters, 9 May 2019
Thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers in the US and several other countries struck and protested Wednesday in advance of Uber’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange Friday.
Video: Workers at SEP rally in Parramatta denounce persecution of Julian Assange
By our reporters, 9 May 2019
The Socialist Equality Party won strong support from workers and youth at its rally demanding the immediate release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and US whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
Greens offer bogus climate pledges while pleading for another partnership with Labor
By Mike Head: SEP candidate for Oxley, 9 May 2019
The “plan” of the Greens is not about saving the environment and the planet but handing billions of dollars to supposedly “green” companies.
Australian fascist group tried to recruit Christchurch terrorist
By Tom Peters, 8 May 2019
The latest revelation further discredits claims by the Australian and New Zealand governments and police that Tarrant was a lone gunman whose attack could not have been prevented.
Former Australian PM denounces anti-China witch-hunt of intelligence agencies
By Oscar Grenfell: SEP candidate for Parramatta, 8 May 2019
Paul Keating’s outburst highlights the degree to which Australia and its military and security agencies have been integrated into the US war drive against China.
SEP candidates address election meetings in Australia to defend Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning
By our reporters, 8 May 2019
The SEP, which is running eight candidates in Australia’s federal election, held public meetings in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Video: At Sydney rally Assange’s father demands Australian government secure son’s release
7 May 2019
Two days after Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail, protesters rallied in Sydney’s Martin Place.
Labor leader makes phony populist pitch at Australian election launch
By Oscar Grenfell, 7 May 2019
Labor is absurdly claiming that paltry funding on health and a miniscule increase in tax collected from multinational corporations, will resolve the deepening social crisis.
The persecution of Assange and Manning is an attack on the working class
By Oscar Grenfell, 7 May 2019
We are publishing here the text of the speech to the 2019 Online International May Day Rally delivered by Oscar Grenfell.
SEP election meetings in Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Brisbane
Vote Socialist Equality Party! No to War and Austerity! For Socialism and Internationalism!
7 May 2019
The Socialist Equality Party has placed at the very centre of its election campaign the demand that the Australia government immediately repatriate publisher and journalist, Julian Assange and courageous whistleblower, Chelsea Manning
Assange’s father tells demonstrators Australian government must secure son’s release
By our reporter, 6 May 2019
Friday’s protest in Sydney was held two days after Assange was sentenced in a British court to 50 weeks’ jail on bogus bail charges.
Australian youth speak out against climate change
By our reporters, 6 May 2019
The climate strikes are part of a growing politicisation of young people in Australia and internationally.
Austrian government ties welfare payments to German language skills
By Markus Salzmann, 3 May 2019
The targets of the cuts are mainly foreigners and those with large families.
The Labor Party tries to “save capitalism”
By Mike Head: SEP candidate for Oxley, 3 May 2019
The ruling elite is terrified that the emerging support for socialism can become a conscious turn toward revolutionary Marxism.
Victorian Socialists’ fake-left election campaign
By Patrick O'Connor, 2 May 2019
The Australian pseudo-left groups are seeking to channel the left-wing shift among workers and young people behind the parliamentary set-up.
Join the fight for international socialism!
To halt climate change, capitalism must be abolished
By Tessa Pietsch: SEP Senate candidate for Victoria, 2 May 2019
The attempts to channel the climate strike movement in Australia and internationally behind the political establishment must be resisted.
Liberal and Labor compete in stoking anti-refugee scare-mongering
By Mike Head: SEP candidate for Oxley, 1 May 2019
The SEP unequivocally defends right of asylum seekers, immigrant workers and their families to live, study and work in Australia, or anywhere in the world, as full citizens.
Participants in SEP (Australia) rally demand freedom for Assange and Manning
By our correspondents, 30 April 2019
Attendees passionately defended the WikiLeaks publisher for exposing the war crimes, anti-democratic conspiracies and mass surveillance conducted by the US and its allies.
Workers should reject Australian unions’ “Change the rules” campaign
By Oscar Grenfell: SEP candidate for Parramatta, 30 April 2019
The unions are seeking to channel mounting anger in the working class behind the election of yet another big business Labor government.
SEP (Australia) candidates demand freedom for Assange and Manning at Sydney rally
By our reporter, 29 April 2019
The protest, in Sydney’s western suburbs, underscored the working-class opposition to Canberra’s role in the persecution of Assange and Manning.
On Australian TV, Julian Assange’s father calls for son’s freedom
By Oscar Grenfell, 29 April 2019
John Shipton warned that his son’s persecution was “to demonstrate that publishers and whistleblowers will be destroyed.”
Economic reversal exposes Australian election myths
By Mike Head, 27 April 2019
Inflation was zero during the March quarter, indicating a rapidly stalling economy that will intensify the corporate offensive against the working class.
Anzac Day 2019: Conditioning the Australian population for war
By Richard Phillips: SEP Senate candidate for New South Wales, 27 April 2019
The media and political establishment has erected a wall of silence around Australia’s involvement in the US-led preparations for war against China and Russia.
UN official visits Julian Assange, investigating Ecuador’s illegal surveillance
By Mike Head, 26 April 2019
Confronted by worldwide protests and petitions, the British government felt compelled to grant the UN access to the imprisoned WikiLeaks founder.
Australian construction workers facing massive fines for striking
By Terry Cook, 26 April 2019
The Australian Building and Construction Commission has launched legal action against workers involved in a short work-stoppage last year.
Australian mining magnate renews his fraudulent populist pitch
By Mike Head: SEP candidate for Oxley, 26 April 2019
While feigning sympathy for working people, billionaire Clive Palmer is bankrolling an election blitz by his so-called United Australia Party.
Pennsylvania woman killed in factory meat grinder
By Tom Eley, 25 April 2019
Jill Greninger, 35, was working alone when the accident took place.
Australian rugby player Israel Folau challenges sacking over social media posts
By John Braddock, 25 April 2019
The moves to sack Folau over his social media posts are an attack on the player’s basic rights and on freedom of speech.
The Australian government must act to free Julian Assange
By Oscar Grenfell: SEP candidate for Parramatta, 25 April 2019
Assange’s brutal arrest and the attempts to extradite him to the US are an attack on the working class.
Julian Assange was denied access to lawyers, visitors in Britain’s Belmarsh prison
By Oscar Grenfell, 24 April 2019
The reported denial of the WikiLeaks founder’s right to consult his legal counsel, for over a week, casts grave doubt that he will be afforded due process.
SEP (Australia) election candidates win strong support for the immediate release of Assange and Manning
By our correspondents, 23 April 2019
The SEP is the only political party in the election defending Julian Assange and US whistleblower Chelsea Manning and fighting to mobilise workers and youth to demand their immediate release from prison.
SEP (Australia) to hold election rally and meetings in defence of Assange
22 April 2019
The events are aimed at building the mass movement required to compel the Australian government to fulfill its obligations to Assange.
Video: IYSSE (Australia) members at University of Melbourne demand freedom for Julian Assange
By our correspondents, 22 April 2019
“We demand the Australian government cease its collaboration with the US vendetta against Assange.”
Western Australia Labor government dismisses water contamination risks in indigenous communities
By Margaret Rees, 20 April 2019
Labor has dismissed evidence of a potential correlation between poor water quality and elevated levels of kidney disease and type-2 diabetes.
Australia: University of Melbourne IYSSE holds successful meeting in defence of Julian Assange
By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia), 20 April 2019
Students at the meeting voted unanimously for a resolution to fight for the freedom of the WikiLeaks publisher.
Growing popular support for Julian Assange in Australia
By Oscar Grenfell, 19 April 2019
Since Assange’s illegal arrest by the British police last Thursday, 75,000 more people have signed a petition demanding that the Australian government take action to defend the WikiLeaks founder.
Australian election dominated by false promises and diversions
By Mike Head, 19 April 2019
The mudslinging from all sides is to cover up the fact that there are no fundamental differences between any of these parties.
Follow the WSWS