Is there anything Canberra won’t do to please its Washington masters (hint: no)? New Matilda reveals just the latest episode: As Julian Assange tilts at the Senate, new laws have been passed that will make it harder for organisations like Wikileaks to operate legally – and there are more to come, writes Matthew da Silva…
Showing all posts tagged Australia
We are all Israeli says alternative Australian prime minister
Words fail. A nation that occupies millions of Palestinians has values like us? Well, I guess Australia is fond of backing American-led occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan so perhaps it’s true. The man has form. The Australian Jewish News reports: Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott gave a strong endorsement of Israel’s right to defend itself…
Revealing the reality of privatised Serco “care” in Australia
Back in late 2011, journalist Paul Farrell and yours truly… released in… New Matilda, via Freedom of Information, the secret contract between the Australian government and Serco with the details of imprisoning asylum seekers in Australia. It showed the lack of training required by Serco staff when working around vulnerable refugees. Both parties imposed a regime that…
Australia inspired by the best…Guantanamo Bay
Having spent extensive time in Australian detention centres across the country, this news, via the Sydney Morning Herald, is sadly predictable but shows the utter contempt by authorities towards a free press. Following America’s lead in Gitmo for media? What cretins. And what role, if any, has British multinational Serco played in these restrictions? The…
Memo to media; US massacre in Afghanistan is about Afghans not US military
Another tragedy in Afghanistan. And what do most of the corporate media focus on? How will this affect NATO strategy? What will US troops do? Will Obama’s supposed counter-insurgency tactics be derailed? What about wondering about the Afghans themselves? Here’s FAIR: The news that a U.S. Army sergeant killed 16 civilians, most of them children,…
False lure of mining riches in Papua New Guinea
My following investigation appears in New Matilda today: Papua New Guinea has a new leader but the country’s relationship to mining remains complex. Locals who aren’t happy about the growth of the industry are left with few options, reports Antony Loewenstein from Port Moresby At Port Moresby international airport in Papua New Guinea sits piles…
Rejecting Serco in Australia
All power to these people, highlighting to the public the reality of the rapacious British multinational Serco: Opponents of the privatisation of government services today took their concerns to the door of the Perth office of multi-national provider, Serco. About 60 people under the banner of Occupy Perth – the same group that held a…
Understanding PNG and how the resource curse infects everything
During my recent visit to the country, not a day passed when a land-owner or NGO didn’t complain about the negative effects of Western corporations on daily lives; exploitation supported by a corrupt political elite. Some recently released documents via Wikileaks provides a grim picture. Both are written by Australian journalist Philip Dorling. The most…
Frank Lowy’s key role in backing occupying Israel
As one of Australia’s richest and most influential men, Frank Lowy deserves far more scrutiny than the political or media elites give him. The Power Index profiles him… and features some quotes from yours truly: It’s no surprise Lowy is a passionate supporter of Israel, telling the NSW parliamentary inquiry into the Orange Grove affair in…
What Wikileaks tells us about corporate and government power (you can’t trust them)
So finally we learn, via the Sydney Morning Herald, that the Obama administration wants to crush Julian Assange and Wikileaks for the “crime” of revealing a litany of wrongs committed by Washington. And here’s the irony; after demanding answers from governments in America, Britain, Australia and elsewhere about the legal status of Assange, it takes…