After winning the country’s top journalism prize last night, the Walkleys, reporter Laurie Oakes had a message for his fellow scribes. How many will speak up? Oakes also attacked Ms Gillard and Attorney-General Robert McClelland for their response to the release of secret US diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks. “What they said was ridiculous,” he said.…
Showing all posts tagged Australia
Why is the national broadcaster giving so much air-time to a propagandist?
What an embarrassment. The US government is upset about Wikileaks and also pissed off that one of its best assets, Kevin Rudd, is being smeared in some leaked cables. Damage control time. But why did ABC TV’s 7.30 Report allow a senior US official 10 minutes last night to slobber over the client state known…
Sydney Morning Herald on Wikileaks and Gillard government
I was interviewed yesterday by the Sydney Morning Herald online (audio here and here) to discuss the vital importance of Wikileaks for democracy and the Gillard government’s shameful damning of Julian Assange in the name of placating its Washington masters.
Wilkie damns Gillard capitulation over Wikileaks
At least there are some rational and strong political voices in Australia: Key independent MP and former whistleblower Andrew Wilkie has accused Julia Gillard of trashing freedom of speech and ignoring Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s right to be presumed innocent. As the fallout from the WikiLeaks revelations continues, the Tasmanian federal crossbencher also said today…
What to do with colluding corporates?
With hackers attacking Visa and Mastercard for colluding with censorship of Wikileaks, blogger Jon Seymour has an idea: I have a concrete suggestion for a campaign idea. The Australian Parliament, for example, could reserve for itself the right to impose a “freedom tax” on payment services like PayPal, MasterCard and Visa. The tax rate would…
John Pilger backs Wikileaks rally in Sydney
Renowned independent journalist and filmmaker… John Pilger has offered his support for the protest organised by supporters of Wikileaks on… Friday, December 10 at… 1pm… at Sydney… Town Hall. Greens Senator-elect… Lee Rhiannon and NSW Greens MLC… David Shoebridge are the latest confirmed speakers to address the protest. Shoebridge is also the lead candidate on the NSW Greens Upper House ticket for…
Gillard is pro-Israel and pro-US and gets tick from US
It’s almost inevitable that anybody who would become Prime Minister of Australia has been vetted by Washington. By the time a person is near the top job, their views on a range of issues is known. Not being utterly in thrall to America would cause angst in the corridors of power. Pressure would be applied.…
Please count how many in the Aussie elites have more than one master
Just how many senior Australian politicians are essentially working for the American interest, being good little sources of information for the empire? We are not a truly independent nation: FEDERAL minister and right-wing Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib has been revealed as a confidential contact of the United States embassy in Canberra, providing inside information and…
Of course Canberra wants other people to protect our empire in Afghanistan
Australia begins to copy the American mercenary model; outsourcing essential tasks with little or no parliamentary oversight: Australia has awarded a $20 million two-year contract guarding diplomats in Kabul to a private security company owned by a special forces soldier turned British lord and that once hired a former South African apartheid-era assassin. The move…
ANZ realises that cluster bombs aren’t the nicest weapon out there
This news from last week (via Crikey) is worth getting out and shows how naming and shaming corporate giants can have a positive effect: The Uniting Church has secured victory in a long-running campaign to convince ANZ Bank to stop funding companies involved in the production of cluster munitions. An international treaty banning cluster bombs…