Following weeks of speculation, based on as-yet-unproven allegations of corruption and criminality in the bourgeois media, on Friday 23 August the ruling Australian Labor Party (ALP) launched an unprecedented attack on the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU). Via draconian legislation passed by the Federal Government, with the help of the right-wing opposition, the ALP has sacked the leadership of one of Australia’s most militant unions and, in the words of one CFMEU regional secretary, “opened the gates of hell for tens of thousands of workers.”

Across Australia, tens of thousands have demonstrated over the last week against a significant rise in violence against women, with one woman being killed by an intimate partner every four days so far this year. These sickening crimes have evoked a righteous anger against the daily oppression and violence suffered by women across the country, yet the ruling class and the system they represent have offered nothing but hypocrisy, hollow consolation and barefaced arrogance in return.

On 14 October, Australians will vote on establishing a government advisory body for matters relating to the country’s Indigenous population, which would be enshrined in the constitution. At the time of writing, support for this ‘Indigenous Voice’ to parliament is languishing in the polls, much to the distress of the liberals. In reality, however, neither the government’s feeble, reformist Voice, nor the unvarnished racism of the opposition, offers anything to Australian workers, Indigenous or otherwise.

In a summary judgement against a defamation case brought by Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, the presiding judge found him to be a murderer who committed war crimes in Afghanistan, involving the brutal killing of defenceless civilians. The trial has revealed the depths of the rot in the Australian armed forces, including a ‘warrior culture’ and a reprehensible bloodlust among its elite units. Such cases are not isolated, but are a reflection of the rottenness of the whole institution.

The Australian federal election has ended the reign of one of the most despised national governments the country has endured since WWII. Against a backdrop of the skyrocketing cost of living, a housing crisis, general economic malaise and intensifying concerns regarding climate change, the Scott Morrison-led (conservative) Liberal-National Coalition has been tossed aside by a population that is feeling the brunt of intensifying tumult.

The recent agreement between Australia, the UK and the US has caused a crisis in international relations. With France temporarily recalling its ambassador from Washington and China issuing a protest, the new agreement has upset feelings across the board. This deal, however, merely constituted one more step in a wider realignment among the imperialist powers.

The Liberal-National Coalition, after being behind in the polls for years, has won the Australian general election. With 78, seats the Coalition have a majority in the lower house to pass legislation, but will have to rely on cross-bench support in the Senate (upper house) to get their legislation through.

This month was significant in Australian politics, because it was the first time since 1929 (a period of over 90 years) that the sitting government lost a vote in the House of Representatives. The vote was over Australia’s controversial immigration policy, and the bill – proposed by the opposition party and opposed by the government – would make it easier for sick refugees held offshore to enter the country for medical treatment.

On Saturday, eight and half years of Liberal/National coalition rule came to an end in Western Australia with the landslide election of a Labor government. Labor won 42.6%, an increase of over 9% on its previous vote, while the Liberals won 31.6%, losing 15.5% on its previous result. Labor are on track to win 41 seats out of 59 in the legislative assembly (lower house) and be the biggest party in the senate (upper house) once all preference votes are counted.

We publish here a report that highlights the attack on workers in the Carlton United Brewery, a subsidiary of the giant multinational SAB Miller, whose headquarters are based in London. Denis Rogatyuk reports on the solidarity shown by trade unions in Britain towards their comrades in Australia.

The recent crushing defeat of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the Federal Election and the election of a viciously right-wing Liberal-National Coalition government has opened up a period of soul-searching in the Australian labor movement.

In last week’s elections the Australian Labor Party (ALP) suffered a historic defeat, with its lowest primary vote since 1903, at just 33.8 percent. In 2007 the ALP won 43.4%, but since then there have been six years of Labor governments, first under Rudd and then Gillard, in which the working class saw the party they had voted for implement policies demanded by big business while real wages stagnated.

The Australian Labor Party, according to current opinion polling, is facing a crushing defeat at the ballot box come the next Federal election. With a primary vote of only 27%, Labor’s looming annihilation could be on par with or worse than the recent historic defeats suffered in NSW [New South Wales] and Queensland.

Facing an increasingly angry public backlash, the latest version of the industrial court used to decide labour disputes between the unions and bosses, the so-called “Fair Work Australia” court, stepped in and ordered the cessation of Qantas’ lockout of its workers and for the company to immediately resume flying.

The former Labor Prime Minister of Australia was right about one thing when he said on 23^rd June 2010, that Labor should not and by implication could not, win a “Race to the Right” with Tony Abbott.