More arms industry ties to universities
The Liberals are crowing. Twenty-five million dollars of public money will be spent on a university research deal with the US military. “This is a great outcome”, defence industry minister Christopher Pyne said. The deal is part of the Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiati...CONTINUE READING
Government goes Grinch on higher education
Even Christmas couldn’t keep the Liberals from attacking higher education. In the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the government announced $2.2 billion in university funding cuts over the next two years. The cuts will take the form of a freeze in Commonwealth grants for teaching and...CONTINUE READING
Politicians on both sides are responsible for Manus horror
For more than five years, refugees have been subjected to horror and abuse on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. With the government’s decision to permanently close the detention centre on 31 October, the horror has descended into absolute barbarity. Water, food and power have been cut off. M...CONTINUE READING
Hey Cory. The Tsarist Duma condemned the Bolsheviks in 1907. Look how that worked out
Cory Bernardi moved in the Senate to condemn the Australian National University Socialist Alternative club for celebrating the centenary of the Russian Revolution. On 18 October, he drew attention to the event and called on the Senate to “reject any assertion that the teachings of Lenin an...CONTINUE READING
World refugee numbers increasing
More than 2 million people fleeing wars or persecution have been added to the ranks of the world’s refugees in 2017, according to a report presented to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The largest increases come from South Sudan (650,000), and Muslim Rohingya (500,0...CONTINUE READING
Global refugee crisis continues to worsen
The scale of the global refugee crisis is unprecedented. According to a new report by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 65.6 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes. The report, “Global Trends – Forced Displacement in 2016”, details unimaginable tragedy...CONTINUE READING
Barefaced lies as government moves to deport thousands of refugees
The Australian government is escalating its attacks on refugees. On 20 May, immigration minister Peter Dutton announced that 7,500 people would face immediate deportation should they fail to complete asylum claims by 1 October. Clearly taking inspiration from Donald Trump, whose administra...CONTINUE READING
How Christensen and Katter became Care Bears
The political right prides itself on its tough, no-nonsense approach to border security and crime. Sentimentality is occasionally permitted on Anzac Day or when a royal octogenarian gets the hiccups. But the right’s champions assure us that empathy and compassion can have no place in the v...CONTINUE READING
Why they lie about refugees
Politicians lie. There’s nothing they do better or more predictably. But Australian politicians have the uncanny ability to surpass even the most cynical expectations of what the people in power will sink to. And all they have to do is start talking about refugees. Take Peter Dutton’s late...CONTINUE READING