Australia and New Zealand
Behind the “day of action”: Australian university union enforces government agenda
By Mike Head, September 22, 2009
The purpose of the limited “day of action” called by the National Tertiary Education Union was to suppress any political struggle against Labor’s agenda, while cementing the union’s place in i...
Paltry GDP growth promoted as proof of Australian “recovery”
By Alex Messenger, September 15, 2009
Quarterly growth of 0.6 percent might mean that Australia has dodged a so-called ‘technical recession’, but a closer study of the figures reveals that Labor’s massive stimulus package is far fro...
New Zealand government redeploys elite SAS troops to Afghanistan
By John Braddock, August 12, 2009
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced on Monday that his government was redeploying elite Special Air Service (SAS) troops to the neo-colonial occupation of Afghanistan.
New Zealand budget imposes austerity measures as recession deepens
By Tom Peters, June 25, 2009
New Zealand’s National-led government is implementing austerity measures designed to placate big business and impose the burden of the economic crisis on the working class.
Australian bushfire royal commission: Survivors expose “stay or go” policy
By Perla Astudillo, May 28, 2009
Testimony during the first two and half weeks of the Victorian royal commission into the February 7 bushfires has revealed that the tragically high death toll was caused by inadequate emergency servic...
Australia: James Hardie court ruling another affront to asbestosis victims
By Noel Holt, May 26, 2009
Just as a court ruled that former directors of James Hardie Industries had issued a false statement in 2001 about the company’s asbestosis compensation fund, the company revealed that its current fu...
Australia: Labor’s budget reveals unprecedented revenue collapse
By Alex Messenger and Mike Head, May 14, 2009
Confronted by a $200 billion collapse in tax revenues over the next four years—the largest fall since the Great Depression—in Tuesday night’s budget, the Rudd Labor government has begun cutting ...
US requests New Zealand SAS troops for war in Afghanistan
By Tom Peters, April 30, 2009
The New Zealand National government of Prime Minister John Key revealed on April 19 that it had received an official request from the United States for the highly trained Special Air Services combat u...
Australia: Labor government unveils free-market agenda for higher education
By Carolyn Robinson and Mike Head, April 13, 2009
The Rudd government has laid out a market-dominated agenda for higher education, including the introduction of a voucher-style funding regime.
Australian government tinkers with CEO pay
By Terry Cook, April 11, 2009
In a bid to divert public anger over huge corporate retirement payouts, the government has announced it would amend the Corporations Act to allow golden handshakes awarded to departing CEOs to be capp...
Australia: Reject backroom deals! Launch an independent struggle to defend Pacific Brands jobs!
By Socialist Equality Party (Australia), March 4, 2009
Pacific Brands workers should reject the closed-door talks underway between the company, the Rudd government and the clothing union, and launch an independent struggle to save the more than 2,800 jobs...
New Zealand “Jobs Summit” places burden of recession on working people
By John Braddock, March 3, 2009
The new conservative John Key government in New Zealand convened a so-called “Jobs Summit” last week that brought business, banks, government and unions together to make a series of recommendation...
