Greta Thunberg told the massive Fridays for Future rally in Glasgow on November 5 that it was already clear that the COP26 climate summit was a “failure”.
Alex Bainbridge
Socialism 2021 is the latest in a series of international socialism conferences that began in 2005.
That the federal Coalition government cannot even promise a target by 2050 — which is pretty meaningless given the climate emergency requires dramatic carbon draw down in the next few years — reveals it is still trying to avoid doing anything.
Socialist Alliance candidate, Sue Bolton, has condemned the Federal Government's announcement to phase out the COVID-19 Disaster Payment once 70% and 80% vaccination targets are reached.
Even though different state governments are taking slightly different approaches, the reason for this debate is that governments — state and federal — are making corporate interests a higher priority than people’s health.
Unions are rightly worried that guest workers from South-East Asia will be super-exploited by rural bosses who are used to paying sub-standard wages. The new visa is intended to allow shamefully low wages to continue.
The withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan is a welcome development. But it doesn’t mean that the warmongers in Canberra and Washington have been defeated.
The Labor party’s stage-managed policy conference was a clear demonstration that leader Anthony Albanese plans to continue the party’s “small target” strategy, offering working people very little in a pandemic recession and climate emergency.
The truth is that Labor, like the Coalition, can be pressured by popular campaigns to adopt progressive policies; and we’d all be better off if Labor was forced to adopt better refugee policies.
The Facebook ban on Australian media sites is a demonstration of the power of the tech giants and a compelling illustration of why they need to be brought under democratic control.
If the country wants to move forward, we need a Sovereign Treaty agreement and land rights.
This should not come as a surprise. No one should be under any doubt that the reported "incidents" of cruelty and murder involving Australian SAS personnel are just the tip of the iceberg.