Australian Social Issues & Inequality
Australia: Victorian government attempts to pre-empt findings of bushfire investigation
By Margaret Rees, July 11, 2009
In an extraordinary political manoeuvre, Victorian premier John Brumby has moved to pre-empt potentially damaging findings by the state’s royal commission into the February 7 “Black Saturday” bu...
Australia: Low-wage workers’ pay cut
By Mike Head, July 9, 2009
Australia’s Fair Pay Commission has inflicted a real pay cut on 1.3 million low-paid workers by freezing the minimum wage for the first time in 27 years.
Indian student protests spread to Sydney: “We came here to study, not to fight”
By Laura Tiernan, June 10, 2009
Protests by Indian students studying in Australia that erupted in Melbourne on May 31 have spread to Sydney over recent days.
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: Royal Commission inquiry forced to investigate “stay or go” bushfire policy
By Margaret Rees, May 16, 2009
Criticism of the government’s “stay or go” policy has followed the devastating firestorm, now known as Black Saturday, that hit the Australian state of Victoria on February 7.
Australia: Unemployment study highlights “new face of disadvantage”
By Tess Gordon, May 2, 2009
A research report has warned that suburbs in Australia’s middle and outer suburban mortgage belts could become “hot spots of home repossessions” as unemployment strikes.
Australia: Survivors of Victorian bushfires receive minimal compensation
By Will Marshall, April 28, 2009
Labor government promises to support the victims of the “Black Saturday” bushfires have proven hollow. The small amount of compensation for those whose homes were destroyed will mean that hundreds...
Australian bushfire victims speak with WSWS as evidence of government culpability grows
By a reporting team, February 16, 2009
As evidence grows of government culpability in last week’s Australian bushfires, hundreds of survivors are living in temporary accommodation across Victoria or in tents.
Cash-starved Australian hospitals unable to pay for vital supplies
By Terry Cook, February 12, 2009
Recent reports show that public hospitals are so under-funded that many cannot pay pharmaceutical companies, food providers, maintenance contractors and security firms for supplies and basic services.
Australia: Tragedy of child’s death sparks international response
By Susan Allan, February 10, 2009
At about 9.10 a.m. on January 29 and in the midst of an unprecedented summer heat wave, Arthur Freeman, a 35-year-old father of three, drove onto Melbourne’s busy West Gate Bridge, allegedly took hi...
Australian government hopes recession will produce military “recruitment bonanza”
By Terry Cook, January 26, 2009
The Australian has published a front-page article expressing satisfaction that rising unemployment could produce a “recruitment bonanza” for the Australian Defence Force.
Australian government calls for wage cuts to “save jobs”
By Terry Cook, January 14, 2009
The Rudd Labor government is using the threat of job cuts to browbeat workers into accepting the burden of an economic crisis that is not of their making.
