Oceania
Australian officials exclude WSWS from reporting on Pacific Islands Forum
August 14, 2009
In a blatant act of political censorship, Australian officials organising the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) denied media accreditation to World Socialist Web Site journalists, Patrick O’Connor and Ric...
Australian government tightens grip over Pacific Islands Forum
By Frank Gaglioti, August 14, 2009
Despite earlier statements from a number of Pacific governments expressing disquiet over Canberra’s stance on a range of issues, every Forum member state toed the line and signed the final summit co...
Australia: Media buries fake email scandal
By Mike Head, August 13, 2009
As the Australian parliament resumed this week after a six-week winter recess, there were signs that the so-called OzCar fake email scandal, which erupted in June, is being dropped as quickly as possi...
Australian jobless statistics reveal deep cuts to hours
By Chris Johnson, August 12, 2009
Australia’s unemployment figures for July revealed a dramatic cut to working hours and an ongoing shift from full-time to part-time work.
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.
Australia: Media promotes sensationalised “terror” claims
By Mike Head, August 11, 2009
Despite scant police evidence, the Australian media has universally depicted five Muslim men arrested on August 4 in the course of extensive police raids as guilty of an extraordinary plot to attack a...
Grief turns to anger over Tongan ferry tragedy
By John Braddock, August 10, 2009
An estimated 95 people drowned, mainly women and children, when the Princess Ashika ferry sank in Tonga last week.
Australia: Rudd government urges employers and unions to cut hours and wages
By Terry Cook, August 8, 2009
With the assistance of the Rudd government and the unions, employers across Australia are utilising the economic crisis to impose sweeping changes to working conditions.
Australia: Labor’s “reform” to further privatise health care
By Mike Head, August 6, 2009
The Australian government’s National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission report has made clearer the pro-market and pro-business agenda of Labor’s health care “reform”.
Australian police carry out sweeping new “anti-terror” raids
By Mike Head, August 5, 2009
In the second largest police-intelligence raids ever conducted in Australia, around 400 officers searched 19 homes across Melbourne and a nearby country town at dawn yesterday, arresting four Lebanese...
Australian unions endorse Labor’s draconian industrial relations laws
By Terry Cook, August 4, 2009
Union delegates to Labor’s national conference last week lined up completely behind the Rudd government’s draconian “Fair Work” industrial relations regime.
Australia: Labor conference endorses war and “sacrifice”
By Mike Head, August 4, 2009
The Australian Labor Party concluded its three-day national conference with a tribute to former Prime Minister Bob Hawke and a unanimous endorsement of a “long-term” Australian military commitment...
