Michael Hiscox, the acting secretary of the ACT branch of the CFMEU, was removed from his position and replaced by an unelected bureaucrat on 13 May. This came nine months after the union’s national office was put under <a href="https://redflag.org.au/article/labor-set-to-impose-dictatorial-powers-over-construction-union">administration</a>
by the federal Labor government, which removed the right of union members to elect their officials. 
Labor justified its attack on the union by referring to media reports about alleged criminal behaviour in the union. There have been no allegations of such behaviour in the ACT branch, which, along with Western Australia, was not placed under administration last year. 
The consequences of Mark Irving’s appointment as administrator are clear to anyone in doubt. Replacing elected officials with appointed administrators across every branch has brought restrictions on organisers’ and members’ rights to raise criticisms within the CFMEU and shape the union’s direction—an atmosphere unconducive to the kind of confident and militant organising that construction workers need to defend their working conditions and rates of pay. 
“Labor has learned [from the deregistration of the BLF] how to best attack our union through this administration system: by passing a law that removes any unfair dismissal law for officials who get sacked for no reason”, Dusty Miller, a local CFMEU member and former member of the Builders Labourers’ Federation, told Red Flag. “Under the administration, there is no democracy. There is no ability for the union to have their own elections.” 
The union’s former national secretary, Zach Smith, recently proposed a restructure to expand the role of the CFMEU’s national office. Less than two weeks before being removed from his position, Hiscox cosigned a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16NnxuTg4v/">statement</a> opposing the restructure, stating that it “would only deprive rank and file members of having a voice in the way that their Union is run”. 
So, what reason has Irving given for his intervention in the ACT branch? There are no charges of criminal activity, credible or otherwise, and no accusations of corruption or misconduct. The reason given was a drop in membership and a small budget deficit. But the union has plenty of cash reserves and a solid, loyal membership base—hardly a crisis.
Even if the branch were in crisis, government intervention would not be the solution. Its most likely effect will be the same as administration has had in every other branch: putting compliant organisers in positions of power while promoting fear and passivity in everyone else. 
Miller said that many members have voiced their disgust at the move. 
“We now have a person called Ben Davison sitting in the branch secretary’s office in Canberra, who doesn’t have a clue about anything with our industry, who doesn’t understand construction”, he said. “To me, it’s a payback to Michael and our branch because we stood up to this [centralisation] plan.”
The demotion of Hiscox should stand as clear proof that “cleaning up criminal or corrupt behaviour” was not the overriding purpose of the sackings, restrictions and centralisation. It was about disciplining a union with some industrial strength by punishing anyone speaking out. 
Zach Smith announced on 22 May that he would step down as national secretary, presumably because of backlash against the proposed centralisation plan. It’s unclear what this means for the plan’s viability, but there will undoubtedly be ongoing pressure on people like Hiscox who speak out against the administration. 
Miller has a clear message for members facing the degradation of their union’s democracy: “Stay strong and united. Stay strong and push back”.

Nick Reich

Attack on democracy in the ACT CFMEU

The mood on the picket line at the Allied Pinnacle factory in the Melbourne suburb of Altona North is infectious. Although there have been strikes at the facility—which is a major producer of baked good for supermarkets and bakeries—in 2017 and 2022, for most of the workforce, this is their first experience of industrial action. 
The workers sing and dance, get to know each other, fire up the barbeque and have a great time. “If you ever get the chance to, go on strike! It’s a once in a lifetime feeling of everyone you know coming together, and when you feel the support it’s an amazing experience!”, one worker says. 
Allied Pinnacle produces chocolate mud cakes, donuts, muffins and bread loaves for Coles, Woolworths and Bakers’ Delight amongst others. The factory usually has nine production lines running night and day, all but one of which were shut down by the strike, with one being partially operated by non-union casuals. 
The 48-hour strike, which began on 14 May, involved around 150 United Workers Union members across three shifts. Their demands included improved conditions, better allowances and a pay increase. For all the high spirits on the picket line, the stakes for the workers are high. Management made visits to the picket to issue warnings or make complaints, and threatened to call the police. When they did, the workers surrounded them chanting “Union power!” until they left. 
When delivery trucks tried to enter the Allied Pinnacle site, the first thing they saw was the picket line with dozens of workers. After a friendly conversation, the most drivers turned around and drove off with a supportive honk of the horn. This was met with cheering and clapping on the picket line. 
Allied Pinnacle workers are paid between $26 and $35 per hour. They are fighting for a 15 percent pay increase over the next three years and increased penalty rates for nights, weekends and public holidays. At the moment, the vast majority of the workers rely on overtime and weekend penalties to earn a liveable wage, with many working six-day weeks or multiple jobs just to get by. The ongoing housing crisis and cost-of-living crisis has made this situation untenable for many of them. 
To make matters worse, management recently made scheduling changes to reduce the amount of penalty rates workers receive. Previously, the standard work schedule was Tuesday to Saturday with eight hours work per day. That has been changed to a Monday to Thursday schedule with 10-hour days, with no overtime included and avoiding Saturday penalties. This has amounted to a significant cut in take home pay for the affected workers.
Another grievance workers have is to do with casual conversion. Management has an arbitrary system for granting permanent jobs to the workers in the factory. Some have reported being on casual contracts for up to six years before being offered permanent work, despite doing regular hours, and performing the duties of other permanent staff.
Striking workers have also reported that when the outside temperature is 30 degrees or more, the inside of the factory, particularly near the ovens, can reach more than 40 degrees, with only a few floor fans provided for relief from the heat. Management is aware of the heat issue in the factory, but instead of resolving it, they responded by authorising a $100,000 upgrade to the air conditioning in the managers’ offices.
One worker detailed to me how safety rules are commonly flouted to speed up production. Workers are frequently expected to lift 25-kilogram bags of sugar and butter by themselves, contrary to the safety guidelines. Repetitive lifting of heavy weight causes risks to these workers over the course of the day and many complain of back and leg pain at the end of their shifts.
The two-day strike is just the beginning of this campaign. Workers expect further industrial action in the next few weeks. Supporters are encouraged to come and visit future picket lines at 23-29 Pinnacle Road, Altona North.

Jack Gardner

Bakery workers strike for more dough

The most authoritarian campus in the country looks quite nice. The University of Western Australia, situated at the edge of the Swan River in Perth, features Japanese, sunken and Shakespeare gardens, peacocks that strut through the tropical grove, and Romanesque sandstone buildings. 
Yet, far from an idyllic haven of critical inquiry and free debate, UWA managers are turning the place into a sort of Trumpian protectorate. They are imposing a suite of bans and restrictions that undermine progressive activism and free speech on campus—even banning some factual statements—while riding roughshod over clubs and societies in the process. 
The initial rules were announced before first semester began. On 12 February, the student guild and the university sent a joint letter to the Students for Palestine and Socialist Alternative clubs, announcing that putting up posters, handing out leaflets, using chalk on pavements and hanging banners were banned almost everywhere on campus. <a href="https://www.uwa.edu.au/about/leadership-and-governance/integrity-and-standards/conduct-and-integrity#:~:text=In%20doing%20so%2C%20the%20University,the%20Director%20of%20Student%20Life.">Lecture announcements were also forbidden</a>, with a few minor exceptions. 
Many rules were already on the books; the novelty is the move to enforce them. By doing so, university managers outlawed activities fundamental to political activism in one fell swoop. Students have engaged in these activities to promote support for the plebiscite on marriage equality, campaign for a Yes vote in the Voice to Parliament referendum and promote student climate strikes. 
Like any Trump-style offensive, the attack was sweeping and resulted in much collateral damage: the university inadvertently imposed severe restrictions on other clubs and societies that rely on posters, leaflets and lecture announcements to promote their events. 
New rules were also imposed on Students for Palestine and Socialist Alternative clubs. The university informed us that events need approval not just from the student guild but also from campus security and a senior university manager. Applications to hold events must be submitted with at least ten working days’ notice and must include a list of “measures that will be taken to ensure the safety of others” (political discussions now being treated like some fire-throwing festival). 
Ominously, the letters warned that clubs must “refrain from using phrases and slogans that are contrary to the university’s policies”. The university did not initially clarify what specific “phrases and slogans” were questionable. It soon became clear, however, that this was a measure to censor Palestine solidarity speech on campus. 
Students for Palestine organised an event on 19 March, at which activists were going to paint “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” on a banner. The university sent me an email the day before, warning that the slogan was “not a permitted use on UWA Lands”. I didn’t immediately see or respond to the email. So, in a move indicative of the censorious campus atmosphere, the head of security was directed to track me down on campus and deliver a printed copy of the email. The penalty for the banner painting was extreme: the university said that proceeding with it would result in “possible disciplinary proceedings and/or disaffiliation”. 
So while Israel carries out genocide in Gaza, and amid threats of imminent ethnic cleansing and forced displacement coming from far-right Israeli politicians, calling for justice and equal rights for all residents of historic Palestine gets you disciplined, or your club disaffiliated, at UWA. 
At UWA, facts are no defence from discipline. In follow-up correspondence, I inquired about the university’s attitude to the statements “Israel is an apartheid state” and “Israel is carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza”. Lisa Goldacre, director of student life and a senior manager, replied that the “use of these slogans even if objectively true, may still cause harm to others”, and, “if your club makes a particular statement (e.g. in an article, flyer, speech, banner, online post, etc, etc), then the fact that statement may be objectively true does not mean that your club’s use of that statement will not breach UWA Policy”. 
Again, it’s not just the Students for Palestine and Socialist Alternative clubs that are affected. Anyone who organises an event that crosses UWA’s red lines is a target. Palestine is one such red line. 
For example, in May last year, the Muslim Students Association was <a href="https://www.instagram.com/uwamsa/p/C6v3QUwP0dT/?locale=ru&amp;hl=am-et">forced to cancel an event featuring influential speaker Sami Hamdi</a> after the administration refused to approve their room booking. UWA disapproved of the speaker. Similarly, the Palestinian Cultural Society was <a href="https://perthvoiceinteractive.com/2024/10/24/students-claim-uwa-tried-to-block-speaker/">forced to cancel an event</a> featuring renowned author Vijay Prashad after UWA rescheduled their booking to a time that clashed with another of Prashad’s speaking events. 
These attacks are not limited to crackdowns on pro-Palestine speech and activists. They open the door to attacks on free speech in general. 
This was demonstrated at the end of March, when UWA disciplined a student for putting up posters related to freedom of speech. Finn Penter put up half a dozen posters at a monthly meeting of clubs and societies. The posters read: “Free speech is under attack” and “Clubs are under attack.” Penter is an elected student representative on the guild council and a member of the Socialist Alternative club. The university initiated disciplinary action against him for putting up the posters and used CCTV to monitor him. Shockingly, Penter was issued an official reprimand from the university for misconduct.
“No wonder students feel like we’re studying in an Orwellian surveillance state”, Penter said. “There are all these attacks against free speech, and if you speak up about it by, for example, putting up a poster, you get punished. This is extreme overreach, and it shows how insistent UWA is to put an end to activism on campus”. 
These attacks come as the Trump administration cracks down on Palestine solidarity activists in the US. Some have faced <a href="https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2025/04/16/protesters-denounce-abduction-of-another-palestinian-student-activist-by-us-immigration/">abduction</a>, threats of <a href="https://redflag.org.au/article/us-government-kidnaps-palestinian-student-activist">deportation</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/nyregion/columbia-protest-library-occupied.html">arrest</a>. Republican House Majority leader Steve Scalise has spoken about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/18/trump-education-policies">stripping universities of their accreditation</a> if there have been Palestine solidarity protests on their campuses. Columbia University has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-university-college.html">strengthened its campus security and anti-protest restrictions</a>, among other regressive anti-DEI changes, after the Trump administration cut $400 million in its funding. This is an intensified continuation of the crackdown that started last year. 
The attacks on student activism in the US are much more extreme than anything in Australia. But there is a goal that the managers’ offensive at UWA and the Trumpian crackdown on American universities have in common: eradicate progressive activism on campuses. And use a heavy stick to discipline anyone who does not comply.

Alevine Magila

University of WA bans statements that ‘cause harm’, disciplines student for defending free speech

For several months, security workers at Canberra Airport have been embroiled in industrial disputes with Capital Airport Group (CAG) and their new employer, MSS Security.
Two years ago, United Workers Union members won above-award conditions through threats of industrial action. But the switching of employer contracts has meant that CAG is no longer upholding their end of the bargain.
MSS Security, an international security conglomerate, has a notorious history of anti-union and anti-worker practices. After winning the airport contract, the company refused to guarantee the jobs of all current employees, requiring them to reapply for their positions. 
Managers also said that some of the terms in the existing workplace agreement would not apply “in their ‘current form’ to any future agreement”. 
As well, continuing staff have reported that MSS has consistently screwed up rosters and wage payments.
“Workers have been through three payrolls, with constant underpayments—one member has been underpaid by more than $2,000 on two separate occasions”, Fletcher, a UWU organiser, told Red Flag. “In short, it’s been far from a seamless transition.”
On 28 February, Fletcher attended a farewell lunch held by the outgoing contractor. During the event, three police officers, acting at the behest of a CAG employee, arrested him for trespassing and hauled him off to the Civic Watchhouse in handcuffs. As part of his bail conditions, Fletcher is prevented from returning to the airport.
This is a thinly veiled attempt by CAG to intimidate union members and organisers. 
It highlights two issues: first is the immense influence of CAG, owned by Canberra’s only billionaire, nepo baby Steven Byron. Rich bastards like Byron believe they are beholden to no one. 
When workers win improved conditions, CAG switches contractors. Rather than dealing with legitimate workplace issues, the company calls the police to do its dirty work. 
Second is the undue power of the police. Rather than “maintaining community safety”, as they purport to do, they are acting as industrial enforcers for a billion-dollar private company.
Security workers are determined to give them a fight. On May Day, UWU members held a rowdy protest of more than 100 outside the airport's main entrance. 
As UWU members build to their next action, Fletcher urges ongoing solidarity: “Contract change should not be an excuse to tear up hard-fought wages and conditions. It’s outrageous that Canberra Airport thinks it can use the police as private enforcers in industrial disputes”.

Connor Heins

Union organiser arrested at Canberra airport

Somali man Abdifatah Ahmed was shot dead by two Victoria Police officers in Footscray, in Melbourne’s west, just before the Easter weekend. In the lead-up to Abdifatah’s murder, authorities announced that “uniform police, the Public Order Response Team and the Dog Squad will be out in force in Footscray over the coming weeks, as Victoria Police runs a series of operations in the area”.
Abdifatah was 35 and homeless; people in the area say he was smiley and friendly. There is now a memorial where he was shot. The flowers, laid by Footscray residents, friends and family, are piling on each other. A sign reads that Abdifatah was “shot dead here by your gestapo police, trigger happy, Victoria Police”. 
Police Commander Timothy Tully supported the officers involved and declared that the shooting wasn’t racially motivated. The police are now investigating the shooting—but this will likely go nowhere as it is police investigating police. They also established a mobile surveillance unit in the middle of Nicholson Street Mall to spy on Footscray residents 24/7.
Victorian Police have a track record of racial profiling and harassment of Black and brown people in Melbourne’s west and across the state. <a href="https://www.racialprofilingresearch.org/keyfindings">According to the Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project</a>, in 2023, Aboriginal people were eleven times more likely to be searched by police than white people; people of African descent were six times more likely to be searched. 
<a href="https://imcl.org.au/news/media-releases-1/covid-report">A groundbreaking study by Inner Melbourne Community Legal</a> also found evidence of racial profiling during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Doctor Tamar Hopkins, who led the study, found that “African/Middle Eastern appearing people were more likely to be issued with a fine ... than white people”. Some police operations resulted in up to 40 percent of fines being issued to African and Middle Eastern people.
All of this comes after a landmark 2013 racial profiling legal case resulted in Victoria Police <a href="https://youthlaw.asn.au/changing-the-law/police-power/">agreeing to review their practices</a>
and vowing to eliminate racial profiling. Two years later, Anthony Kelly from the Flemington Kensington Community Legal Centre noted that their clients still complained about “being stopped by the police multiple times”. 
The legal centre also released a report, <a href="https://policeaccountability.org.au/racial-profiling/report-launch-the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same/">“The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same”</a>, which found that young people in suburbs neighbouring Footscray, such as Sunshine and Flemington, continued to experience high levels of racial profiling.
Victoria Police have become more militarised than ever under the state Labor government, <a href="https://www.police.vic.gov.au/victoria-police-corporate-plan-2024-2025/our-operating-environment">receiving $4.51 billion in the latest budget</a>. New bail laws <a href="https://redflag.org.au/article/victorian-labor-passes-law-to-imprison-more-children">introduced in March</a> give the police and prison systems more power to imprison hundreds of children, specifically targeting Aboriginal and African migrant children. 
If only such resources and efforts were directed to addressing things like homelessness and poverty, which riddle the lives of those living in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
The Council to Homeless Persons in 2022 counted <a href="https://chp.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/220906-Footscray-profile.pdf">613 homeless people in Footscray</a>. That was before the cost-of-living crisis hit. The following year, the Victorian Council of Social Service’s<a href="https://vcoss.org.au/cost-of-living/2023/08/povertymaps/"> “Mapping Poverty in Victoria”</a> report estimated that 13 percent of Footscray residents lived in poverty. 
We need systematic change in Footscray and across the country. The “special” police operations that result in suburbs being flooded with gangs of cops must end, and officers should be banned from using guns. We must build affordable public housing for all poor and working-class people while properly funding social services. 
On 22 April, Footscray residents held a rally of more than 500 people, who marched to the police station to demand justice for Abdifatah. “We want justice—we are not going to give up”, Zainab, a local, told Red Flag. 
“People do not need guns, they need care”, said Dr Berhan Ahmed, CEO of Africause, a community service organisation. “We are seeking justice for the future of our kids.”

Oskar Martin

Residents protest racist police killing in Footscray

Global military spending is skyrocketing. The total spent on waging or preparing for war in 2024 was about US$2.7 trillion, 9.4 percent more in real terms than in 2023, according to <a href="https://www.sipri.org/publications/2025/sipri-fact-sheets/trends-world-military-expenditure-2024">the latest Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates</a>. This is the biggest year-on-year increase since the institute began tracking world military expenditure in 1988.
The United States remains the world’s biggest spender, outlaying US$997 billion and accounting for 37 percent of the global total. China was a distant second, spending an estimated US$314 billion. The top five spenders (including Russia, Germany and India) account for 60 percent of the global total. The top fifteen countries, Australia included, all increased military spending and made up four-fifths of the global total, spending a combined US$2.1 trillion in 2024.
The spending growth is part of a longer-term trend. Last year was the tenth consecutive year of increases in global military expenditures, the total being 37 percent higher in real terms than in 2015.

<figure><img src="https://newcms.redflag.org.au/files/public/military-spending-soars-to-2-7-trillion.png" alt="" /></figure>
While US military spending is more than triple that of China, Beijing’s ten-year real increase is nearly 60 percent, about triple America’s 19 percent. As tensions increase between the two biggest powers, other countries are marching in lockstep to hold their ground.
This includes Australia, where uncompromising allegiance to the US has been central policy for Labor and Liberal governments for decades. Australian military spending in 2024 was 25 percent higher than in 2015. However, the big increases associated with obtaining nuclear-powered submarines have yet to be felt. The government is set to spend hundreds of billions of dollars that should be spent on public housing, welfare and healthcare.
Europe’s trajectory is more dramatic. Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization more than doubled their annual military expenditure in the last decade. Among them is Germany, which in one year has increased its military spending by 28 percent to US$88.5 billion, making it the biggest spender in Western Europe.
These trends will only continue. And it won’t be the wealthy footing the bill—it’ll come at the expense of social services and working-class living standards.
Only a fraction of the money being spent on weaponry would be needed to end world hunger (US$48 billion a year, according to the World Food Program) and provide universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation to 140 low- and middle-income countries (US$138 billion a year, according to the United Nations).
But capitalism’s priorities are elsewhere. British conservative columnist Janan Ganesh, in a March Financial Times <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/37053b2b-ccda-4ce3-a25d-f1d0f82e7989">opinion piece</a> titled “Europe must trim its welfare state to build a warfare state”, put it plainly: “[T]he welfare state as we have known it must retreat somewhat: not enough that we will no longer call it by that name, but enough to hurt. It was never designed for a world in which living to 100 is banal”.
Every dollar added to the world’s military budgets takes us closer to a potentially apocalyptic scenario of world war. The working classes of all countries have nothing to gain from this. The war drive must be resisted.

Danica Rachel

World military spending explodes

At the end of 2024, the Australian National University announced $250 million in cuts as part of a “Renew ANU” program. According to figures published in the Australian Financial Review, this “renewal” includes $150 million slashed from salaries—the equivalent of 638 full-time jobs.
While hundreds of workers are facing the sack, it has since been revealed that new Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell was still taking an undisclosed salary from tech giant Intel well into her first year at ANU—on top of her $1.1 million university pay packet. Also, Canberra MP David Pocock revealed that Bell blew $1.2 million on external consultants to advise on Renew ANU after telling the Senate the university had spent just $50,000.
The fallout has been significant. In an unprecedented move, 800 ANU staff participated in a National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) vote of no confidence in Bell and Chancellor Julie Bishop. An overwhelming 95 percent voted in favour of the no-confidence motion. Bell’s response? To smear the vote as “sexist”.
It’s not just staff pushing back. Students have launched a “No Cuts at ANU” campaign linking staff working conditions to student learning conditions. Forums, rallies and a student strike have been held throughout the first half of 2025. The demands are simple: sack Bell and Bishop, get rid of the Renew ANU project and publicly disclose the university’s financial records.
Bell is one of many university bosses overseeing a national offensive against staff and students. At the University of Canberra, ex-Labor parliamentarian turned Vice-Chancellor Bill Shorten has ditched any pretence of supporting workers by axing 150 staff. Western Sydney University is gutting 400 jobs. The University of Wollongong has cut more than 100 subjects and slashed $21 million from salaries. Monash University is cramming more students into bigger tutorials while slashing staff numbers.
These attacks result from a system that treats education as a business and students and staff as cogs in the machine. With the Albanese government cutting funding and capping international student numbers, universities expect greater uncertainty in their profit margins and are making workers and students pay.
A fightback is underway at the ANU, but it is only the beginning. To defend our education, we need to take on not just vice-chancellors like Bell and Shorten, but the whole rotten system that treats our education like a commodity, and universities like businesses.

Lucy Chapman-Kelly

Fighting course cuts at ANU

“There are definitely very good vibes at this conference ... After meeting many of the young comrades, I’m honestly much more optimistic about the prospects for revolution in Australia.”—Hossam El-Hamalawy, Egyptian revolutionary at Marxism 2025. 
Organisers would like to thank everyone who bought tickets, attended sessions and contributed to the success of this year’s Marxism Conference, held in Melbourne. With more than 1,300 attendees, the conference was once again the biggest of its kind in Australia. 
Before, after and in-between conference sessions, socialists from across the world could be found discussing and debating myriad political topics in the courtyard. Leaders of the international socialist movement were surrounded by eager crowds of young radicals, inspiring and educating the next generation of fighters with their stories. We were delighted to meet many comrades who travelled significant distances to attend the conference for the first time, hailing from places like Darwin, Hobart, New Zealand and even Canada. 
One hundred and twenty-seven conference sessions spanned an enormous variety of topics. Australia’s best socialist agitators and intellectuals presented to jam-packed rooms, leading meaty discussions and conducting serious debates. 
Some of the most popular sessions were those designed for newcomers to Marxist ideas, where the fundamentals were thrashed out and lightbulb moments proliferated. Attendees also flocked to sessions analysing the lurch to the far right in global politics and contemporary issues of women’s oppression. Veteran activist and recurrent special guest of the conference, Dr Gary Foley, drew a big crowd again this year for his session on the Black Power Movement in Australia. 
Once sessions closed for the day, attendees were invited to join all-in events, including a radical walking tour around the grounds of Melbourne University led by a multi-generational team of campus activists, telling stories of student struggles from the anti-Vietnam war campaign to recent Palestine solidarity activism.
The venue’s largest lecture theatre was thrice packed out for all-in evening panels, which covered the horror show of modern capitalism, global resistance to the far right and why the world needs more socialist activists today.
If you couldn’t make it this time (or you’re just eager for more), we’d love to see you at one of our Socialism conferences later this year in <a href="https://www.socialismsydney.com/">Sydney</a>, <a href="https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1387279">Adelaide</a>, <a href="https://socialismperth.com/">Perth</a> and <a href="https://www.socialismbrisbane.com/">Brisbane</a>. Until then, we’ll see you in the struggle.

Lily Campbell

Marxism Conference 2025

Capitalism in 2025 is a horror show, both at home and overseas. The rich are waging war on the rest of us, Donald Trump is back in the White House and the far-right are on the march. Building a fightback has never been more pressing. The Marxism Conference, organised by Socialist Alternative, provides an opportunity to do just that. With more than 1,600 tickets sold, it’s set to be the biggest ever, offering up three jam-packed days of discussion and debate at Melbourne University.
The opening night panel, “Trump, War and the Capitalist Horror show”, set a theme for the weekend. The urgent need for resistance to this monstrous triad was at the forefront of discussion. As panellist Eleanor Morley pointed out, in the United States more than one million people have already taken to the streets in what is hopefully the beginning of a fightback against Trump, his MAGA cronies and the techno-broligarchs. 
Host Anneke Demanuele highlighted street movements in Greece, Serbia and Turkey, which have mobilised unprecedented numbers in the last year. Here in Australia, the Palestine solidarity movement has mobilised tens of thousands in protest against our government’s complicity in the Gaza genocide. It’s a positive sign for the prospects of the left that in this election, many Labor voters will break their habit in response to the government’s crimes, as noted by speaker Omar Hassan.
The panel reminded the audience of the many legends of the activist and socialist movement in Australia who will pack out the conference in the coming days. Veterans of every progressive movement of the last fifty years in Australia fill the programme. From the founder of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy Dr Gary Foley to Palestine Action Group spokesperson Josh Lees, all have important lessons to share. As well, the conference programme features an impressive line-up of revolutionaries from around the world, including Egyptian revolutionary journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy, Argentinian socialist leader Mariano Rosa, German anti-fascist organiser Willi Schulz and more.
The Marxism conference brings together hundreds of left-wing people from across the country because we want to understand the world in order to change it. It’s an opportunity to learn how the world works and how it can be radically changed for the better—there’s still time to join us this weekend.

Marxism Conference 2025 opening night: Trump, war and the capitalist horror show

The latest episode of class conflict in the NSW Healthcare system was as impressive as it was unexpected: a three-day strike carried out by public hospital doctors represented by the state branch of the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (ASMOF). The strike has caused cancellations of non-urgent surgeries, closures of outpatient clinics and hospital wards to be staffed at the bare minimum as junior doctors and supporters, among whom were nurses, midwives and patients, held several angry rallies outside hospitals, the Department of Health and Premier Chris Minns’ office in Kogarah. More than 5,000 doctors took part from 32 sites across the state.
The Minns Labor government was voted into power just over two years ago. It inherited a healthcare system with a workforce recovering from the trauma and disruption of the pandemic and working for pay well below our interstate colleagues due to years of wage suppression. Minns and his health minister Ryan Park have since presented insulting offers to hospital workforces that entrench us as the lowest paid nurses, midwives and doctors in the country. For doctors, the government is trying to <a href="https://www.asmofnsw.org.au/NSW/Content/News/Minns_Award_is_a_step_backwards.aspx">wind back existing protections</a> against exploitative rostering and deployment practices. This ensures that staffing shortages, overwork and burnout will remain unaddressed as healthcare workers pack up and leave to work in states and cities with lower rents, better conditions and higher pay.
The government employed similar anti-strike tactics to those used against nurses and midwives during our industrial action campaigns in recent years. They issued orders through the Industrial Relations Commission banning the strike from taking place, they threatened the involvement of the healthcare regulatory bodies to punish doctors who take part and spread lies in the press in an attempt to temper significant public support—including an egregious untruth that nearly 500 patients had their chemotherapy appointments cancelled (they have since retracted this statement).
This was the first strike action undertaken by doctors in NSW since 1997, when junior doctors supported by the Australian Medical Association undertook a week of industrial action in protest against cuts to the numbers of specialty training positions. With a handful of exceptions (such as the British Medical Association strikes in the UK), junior doctors are not necessarily known for their industrial militancy. ASMOF’s recent reorientation towards industrial action is a welcome break from this tendency. While it remains to be seen how they will follow this action up, beginning the campaign with a three-day strike is an admirable move and shows some understanding of what will be necessary to defend the conditions that they have and win the pay they deserve.
The public sector strikes of the nurses and midwives union, the NSWNMA, never extend beyond 24 hours. While these are no doubt disruptive, the state can wait them out and plan around them. One 24-hour strike every few months can be treated like a Sunday or a public holiday. For a strike to be successful, the employer must conclude that the cost of allowing the campaign to continue (whether that cost be political or economic) is greater than the cost of accepting the campaign’s demands. The employer—particularly an employer as hostile and intransigent as the Minns government—must be forced to concede. He has shown time and time again that he is not interested in good-faith negotiations. 
Unfortunately for the nurses and midwives of NSW, the union’s campaign has sunk us further into the quagmire of dead-end negotiations. Just days after the <a href="https://redflag.org.au/article/nurses-and-midwives-take-historic-strike-action-for-a-15-percent-pay-rise">largest single strike day in NSW healthcare history</a> in November last year, the union officials pivoted towards engaging in an arbitration process through the Industrial Relations Court and agreed to conduct no industrial action in the lead up to or during the case. It will not be heard until September—almost a full year from when it was announced. This was passed by a membership vote in which the Association’s leadership declared that they either vote in favour of the case, or we will walk away with nothing and face hundreds of thousands in fines. The spectre of these fines was used to dismiss any suggestion of further disruptive action and the possibility of refusing to pay the fines was never proposed as an option to the membership.
This is the situation we are in; a strategy that bars us from using our only effective weapon, giving the Minns government no reason to fear us; a strategy that accepts an almost year-long delay on even the possibility of any gains; and a strategy that is non-participatory for the union’s members. For those of us who actually work on the hospital floor, demoralisation about this campaign has evolved for some into open hostility towards the union, especially following a small but poorly timed membership fee increase in late November last year.
Meanwhile, ASMOF reported on 3 April that 1,227 doctors had joined the union in the two days after the strike was announced. There is no amount of legal advice, Woolworths vouchers or free CPD (continuing professional development) classes that will build and maintain an active, fighting membership. The power of a union will always be in the ability of its members to withdraw their labour. For its tests ahead, ASMOF would do well to remember this.

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