Tasmanians savaged the Labor government in the recent state elections. In the South Australian elections, the Rann Labor government just held onto power after an 8 per cent swing against it.

Tony Abbott’s election strategy has been reduced to Iron man photo spreads.

Climate activists gathered outside the office of Peter Batchelor in late March. Batchelor is Victoria’s Minister for Energy and Resources and was due to attend the Victorian Coal and Energy conference to spruik plans for new coal projects in Victoria.

Huge electricity price rises in NSW show that Rudd’s CPRS will have more impact on power costs for working people than the government has admitted.

This year’s national Climate Summit voted to demand a carbon tax during the federal election campaign. Many viewed it as an alternative to Rudd’s useless CPRS carbon trading scheme.
But there are fundamental similarities between carbon trading and a carbon tax.

Anti-refugee hysteria reached new heights in early April as Christmas Island reached capacity. After the arrival of the 100th refugee boat since Rudd’s election, newspaper headlines boosted comments from opposition leader Tony Abbott declaring, “I’ll tow them back.” 

Despite a pre-election promise to return excised territory to the Migration Act, the Rudd government has kept Christmas Island and Ashmore Reef excised. Asylum seekers processed offshore have fewer rights than those reaching the mainland.

In 2008, millionaire mining mogul Andrew Forrest launched a government-supported scheme to employ 50,000 Aboriginal people in mainstream jobs in two years.

The man Jenny Macklin said had a “dark ages” view of women, the man who refuses to acknowledge Aboriginal custodianship at public events, has indicated his support for Labor’s changes to the NT Intervention.

Kevin Rudd says he has a “positive” plan to fix health care. Many people have welcomed his plan for a takeover of public hospitals by the federal government, desperate for something to be done about the state of the health system.

The death in custody of 18-year-old Aboriginal man Sheldon Currie has exposed the criminal neglect of Aboriginal prisoners in Australia. Currie’s death was the fourth in six weeks in Queensland’s prisons.

Deep opposition within the Queensland labour movement to the government’s privatisation program continues to dog the Bligh government.

This year unions have launched a new equal pay campaign, “Pay Up”, in recognition of the persistent inequality in wage levels. Women make up half of the Australian workforce yet on average earn 17 per cent less than men.

In late March European Union leaders announced a joint rescue package with the IMF to stop Greece defaulting on its debts.

Hundreds of thousands of Thai Redshirt pro-Democracy demonstrators have taken to the streets of Bangkok and other cities repeatedly since the middle of March.

Israel’s determination to build settlements on occupied Palestinian territory is worrying the US government. John Rose answers questions on the US-Israel relationship

British socialist Judith Orr looks at the radical women’s liberation movement of the 1960s, and why it declined

As the Rudd government backs big business rather than taking action on climate change, entrenches the NT Intervention, and maintains much of the Howard agenda the need to build big, strong movements capable of forcing change only grows in importance. The idea of the united front has much to contribute to the debates inside campaigns about how best to mobilise.

Understanding the history of the fight against Apartheid can help explain why black poverty still persists today, argues Paddy Gibson

Three hundred coalminers at the Xstrata-owned Tahmoor coal mine in NSW have been fighting for their rights and conditions since late 2008.

In the aftermath of wild cat strikes in January and February over motelling, construction unions in the Pilbara have begun an industrial campaign targeting one contractor at a time over unresolved issues such as travel time.

Review: Border Crimes
By Michael Grewcock, The Federation Press, $49.95

Review: The Hurt Locker
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, In cinemas now

Review: The Idea of Communism
By Tariq Ali, University of Chicago Press, $22.95

Unions are teaming up with anti-Intervention campaigners in the NT to demand proper jobs for Aboriginal people.