Oceania
Australian bank fiasco—a warning of “tougher times” ahead
By Mike Head, December 24, 2008
A capital-raising debacle involving one of the country’s “big four” banks, the former government-owned Commonwealth Bank of Australia, has underscored the fragility of the entire banking and fin...
Australia: Northern Territory teachers resist Labor government’s attack on public education
By Katrina Morrison, November 13, 2008
After voting down a proposed industrial agreement negotiated between the government and the union last September, teachers are now threatening further industrial action. The standoff in the NT comes a...
Australia: Aboriginal man sentenced to seven years’ jail for protest over police killing
By Mike Head, November 10, 2008
An Aboriginal community leader was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment last Friday in the latest chapter in the shocking saga of the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee, who died in agony on the floor of...
Australia: Labor government forced to revise economic forecasts as global crisis deepens
By Terry Cook, November 10, 2008
Efforts by the Australian government and the Reserve Bank of Australia to prevent a slide into recession are being overtaken by the deepening global economic crisis.
Australia: New evidence of political manipulation in Haneef case
By Mike Head, November 5, 2008
The Australian Federal Police submission to the Rudd government’s inquiry into the failed “terrorist” prosecution of Dr Mohamed Haneef has provided new evidence that senior ministers of the form...
More job losses, plant closures and company failures loom in Australia
By Terry Cook, November 4, 2008
Job losses, plant closures and company failures loom in Australia as world economic growth stalls and recessionary trends take hold in major capitalist centres.
New South Wales teachers speak out: “We’re starving the public schools”
By our reporter, November 3, 2008
On October 25, delegates to a New South Wales Teachers Federation council meeting in Sydney spoke to World Socialist Web Site reporters about the latest offer by the NSW government.
Australia: NSW Labor’s pay offer to teachers foreshadows savage spending cuts
By Erika Zimmer, November 3, 2008
A salaries “offer” made by New South Wales Labor Premier Nathan Rees to the state’s public school teachers foreshadows savage cuts to government spending.
After six years, Australian jury clears Jack Thomas of all terrorism charges
By Mike Head, October 31, 2008
After six years of torture, imprisonment and persecution, Australian worker Jack Thomas has finally been cleared by a Victorian jury of all terrorism charges.
Ford Australia sackings signal a wave of auto job losses
By Terry Cook, October 30, 2008
Ford Australia is preparing a series of job cuts that are just the beginning of downsizing and restructuring throughout the industry amid the global economic downturn and collapsing new car sales inte...
Political furore over Australian government’s bank guarantee
By Mike Head and Peter Symonds, October 27, 2008
Last week’s political crisis has shone a little light on the way in which the government and state bureaucracy have made available huge sums of public money to shore up the country’s largest banki...
Economic crisis overshadows New Zealand elections
By John Braddock, October 27, 2008
The main political parties are scrambling to prove their economic credentials and their willingness to impose the brunt of the crisis on working people.
