Millionaire anti-vaxxer Novak Djokovic recently drew global attention to Melbourne’s Park Hotel, which is currently used as an immigration detention centre by the Australian government. While Djokovic got to fly home to one of his mansions, 32 refugees remain imprisoned in torturous conditions, an ordeal that has been going on for more than nine years.
As the media floods with stories and images of people attempting to flee Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover, the Australian government’s refugee policy is once again highlighting how little those who run our society value ordinary people.
As governments and the press around Australia remind us each day about the terrible health effects of lockdowns, we should remember the lockdown that refugees have been subjected to for years, with the full support of politicians from both the Liberal and Labor parties.
The brutal logic of capitalist politics is turning suburban hotels into torture chambers.
Liberal Minister for Home Affairs and real-life movie villain Peter Dutton has come out to support open borders–at least when it comes to Queensland’s borders with other Australian states.
About 60 machine operators at Fenner Dunlop in West Footscray began an indefinite strike on 16 September. The company, owned by Michelin Group, supplies mining companies with industry grade conveyor belts. Its customers include the Adani Group, currently developing the Carmichael Coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.