Shorten’s backflip over business tax ominous
Bill Shorten’s announcement that a Labor government would repeal tax cuts to businesses with a turnover of between $10 million and $50 million unleashed a media and business offensive against the ALP leader. The Master Builders Association and the Council of Small Business Associations, us...CONTINUE READING
Climate change an ‘existential risk’, but Australia continues to do nothing
It seems like a win. There appear to be some parliamentary representatives without their heads buried firmly in the sand on climate change. That members of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee – a mix of Coalition, Labor, Green and independent senators – wou...CONTINUE READING
Australian war crimes
How many civilians have Australian special forces killed in Afghanistan? We don’t know and may never know. But it is becoming clearer that war crimes of a scale not previously reported or acknowledged have been carried out by some in Australia’s most venerated military units. Documents lea...CONTINUE READING
Our cities are choking, but immigration is not the problem
Our cities are under enormous pressure. As the population grows, the shortcomings of our infrastructure become more and more apparent. We sit for extended periods in a car park otherwise known as a freeway, or wait ages for inadequate public transport. Decent affordable accommodation is ge...CONTINUE READING
Superannuation, ‘the unlucky lottery’
Superannuation is one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated against the Australian working class. Instead of providing decent wages and a guaranteed liveable pension, the government requires money to be taken out of young workers’ incomes when they need it most and put into the stock marke...CONTINUE READING
Islamophobic charges dismissed – again
To no fanfare – unlike his arrest in Sydney in July 2017 – weapons charges against Khaled Merhi have been dropped. NSW Police sought no penalty, conviction or costs. This is a very useful reminder of the bigger picture of extremely well-publicised raids on Muslims on trumped-up charges tha...CONTINUE READING
Record budget bonuses for police in New South Wales and Victoria
New South Wales Police has been granted a $220 million bonus in the upcoming Berejiklian state budget, but commissioner Mick Fuller is still not satisfied. Fuller continues to lobby the government for an additional 2,500 officers. According to the NSW Police Association, without the new of...CONTINUE READING
The problem with the Fair Work Act
The Fair Work Act that is the target of the ACTU’s Change the Rules campaign undermines wages and conditions and hamstrings trade unions. Passed by the Rudd Labor government in 2009, it is a particularly ugly piece of legislation, with many obvious problems. The Howard government’s WorkCho...CONTINUE READING
Daniel Andrews is no left winger
Going by the coverage in the Murdoch press, you’d think Victoria under Daniel “Red Dan” Andrews is socialism in one state. On the left too, Andrews is regarded as an outlier among recent Labor leaders. In a 2016 Guardian article, Gay Alcorn claimed, “Daniel Andrews’ government is unashamed...CONTINUE READING