Red Report Back - Week Ending 27/03/2022
Good Enough for Albo, but Not for Us
Leader of the Australian Labor Party, Anthony Albanese, fleshed out his approach to Australia’s housing crisis this week. As is custom for the resident career politician, Albo underwrote his approach to the housing crisis with his personal sob story of being raised by a single mother in public housing which provided security, a gift which he says he is ever thankful for.
Yet, Labor’s latest PM candidate felt that the new generation of Australians facing the housing crisis were not worthy of social housing, something deemed a human right in international law. Albo’s promise to build 20, 000 social housing properties in their first 5 years falls at the first hurdle. In addition to being far below the 100, 000 social housing properties that are currently needed, the ALP plans to fund this by borrowing $10 billion to invest, from which the returns will be used to provide the $450 million a year needed to implement the plan.
Essentially, the ALP’s plan relies on gambling to determine how many social housing homes it will construct. So long as career politicians and their developer mates dictate Australia’s housing policy, the public will suffer. Elections are not how we are going to address the issue of housing. It is community action and agitation along socialist lines that prioritises the needs and interests of the community.
Can Money Buy Elections
The United Australia Party is throwing millions into its latest electoral campaign, after scoring zero seats in the last federal election. With Australia’s loudest kook opportunist, Craig Kelly, now at the helm of the party without principles, the UAP are going full steam ahead for this election, running anyone with a pulse and a signature, but no principles, as candidates across dozens of electorates.
For those who don’t recall, this ‘rebel’ party’s purpose was to draw votes away from Labor and funnel preferences to the Liberal Party so that regional seats were maintained by the LNP. This was later revealed to be underpinned by a deal between their wage-thieving billionaire leader, Clive Palmer, and the Liberal Party so that Clive could make more money at his new destructive coal mine in Far North Queensland, reaping billions in personal profit for the loss of a cool $170 million spent in electoral advertising.
Kakadu Handed Back
A landmark handover of stolen land in Kakadu National Park has occurred in the Northern Territory this week. The NT government announced that around 50% of the land that comprises the world-renowned national park would be put into the hands of traditional custodians. The land will be leased back to the Director of National Parks and will see local traditional owners receive income from this leasing.
However, while this is no doubt a victory for these traditional owners, it is but one positive blip in the overwhelming negatives for First Nations communities under the colonial government’s shameful Native Title legislation. Systematically eroded since its introduction in the 1990’s, the conditions and structures around the Native Title legislation have been geared in favour of colonial land holders and their government mates.
Recent land disputes, such as those with the Wangan and Jagalingou people of Queensland in dealing with Adani, and those of the Djab Wurrung in Victoria, demonstrate that the issue of Aboriginal land can never be solved under the colonial system that wages war upon their communities.
Details Emerge on Murderer's Sham Trial
More details have emerged about the sham trial of murderer Zachary Rolfe, who walked away a free man after killing Kumanjayi Walker. It has been revealed that the defense team was able to place a suppression order that blocked the prosecution from presenting evidence that detailed Rolfe’s racist and abusive past – although being a cop in the Northern Territory should have been a big enough hint.
The lifting of the suppression orders has revealed that Rolfe has a track record of violent arrests and lying about his violent behaviour in the line of action. One of these incidents included punching a member of the public and banging his head deliberately on the floor in an incident that required sixteen stitches. The ever-crafty racist Rolfe had, of course, turned off his body cam before the incident. His track record also included a similar incident where he turned his body cam off before smashing another young man’s into a rock, also requiring stitches.
Revealed texts also showed the giddy racist finding a home in the Northern Territory police, exalting that the ‘shit hole’ had ‘fuck all rules in the job’. It is clear to see why the Rotary Club of Darwin nominated the twisted fuckwit for their Police Officer of the Year Award in light of all this evidence. Zachary Rolfe does best what police in this country were set up to do – uphold the colonial law and target its victims with ruthless violence and efficiency, while protecting himself with double standards enshrined in the legal system.
Free Transport and Half-Measures
The primary contender for biggest gronk in New South Wales, the Minister for Transport David Elliot, has finally reached a temporary conciliatory agreement with the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) over long-standing issues related to last month’s rail network shutdown. The proposed truce rests on the provision of free public transport for 12 days across April.
However, the RTBU’s Secretary Alex Claassens has said that members still have concerns about network safety, new trains and cleanliness of transport in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. "There's a lot more work to be done yet and we don't want to be just brushed over," he said. "We want to actually sit down and have a proper negotiation and we will see where that takes us."
We hope that the RTBU will remain staunch in representing not only the interests and safety of its members, but also the interests of the public in relation to the management of public transport. In the wake of the privatisation of Sydney’s bus fleet at the expense of safe and fair working conditions and a vast decline in meeting the needs of the public who utilise this service, it remains clear that there is a long fight ahead. Members of unions and the public must hold their representatives accountable to defend their interests and needs, despite the relentless attacks that the government will wage on the working class and the services they rely on.
Nurses Back Up
Across New South Wales this Thursday, members of the NSWNMA will be back on strike across New South Wales. This comes following the previous strike the Nurses and Midwives held across the state which had overwhelming support from the public and trade union movement, and derision and dismissiveness on the part of the government.
Nurses are going on strike to call for a 4.75% pay rise to make up for the pay freeze these public frontline workers have suffered for the last few years while serving the community throughout the pandemic. Additionally, they are calling for a shift-based nurse-patient ratio system and increased staffing in specialised units, so that nurses and midwives are able to safely care for the community in this time of need. Details on where to attend your local strike to support our nurses and midwives can be found here:
https://www.nswnma.asn.au/ratioslifeordeath/upcoming-rallies/
Humanitarian at Times
A group of ‘humanitarians’ has come together in Sydney to organise a benefit fundraiser at Town Hall to assist in the plight of Ukrainians dealing with the ramifications of war and invasion. One of the organisers, Andrew Mencinsky from the Ukrainian Council of NSW emphasised the importance of the event as "They don't have access to medical care, they don't have access to food, they don't have access to even heating.”
Sydney's Deputy Lord Mayor Jess Scully also said it was important to support the local community in its efforts to help those overseas and "to show solidarity with that community and show the world that Sydney cares".
Yet, empathy is quite hard to find in Sydney's treatment of the most disadvantaged in its own community. A stone’s throw away at Martin Place, service providers that assist the homeless and disadvantaged of Sydney are being harassed by the NSW Police Force to push those who are most in need out of sight and out of mind. Similarly, the same concern is not to be found for those suffering and dying in illegal detention camps and migrant centres. As is often the case in the showboating of humanitarianism in Australia and the west, the question remains to be asked: humanitarian for who?