Archives

Behind the climate change scandals

SP Newsletter No.302
Scandals over the past few months have given rise to people’s concerns about the reliability of scientific evidence on climate change. Recent polls have also suggested that concern about the threat of global warming is weakening in Australia.
In November it was alleged that a series of hacked emails from the Climate Research [...]

Legalise same sex marriage now!

SP Newsletter No.301
In early February thousands of people took part in Melbourne’s annual Pride March. This march symbolises the efforts of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community and a movement that has struggled for decades to win sexual equality and challenge homophobia.
But why is it that despite widespread support for the LGBTI [...]

Conroy’s censorship crusade

SP Newsletter No.300
The Labor Government is planning to force all Australian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to filter internet traffic and block any ‘inappropriate’ material. Under the guise of ‘protecting children’ the Government plan is set to censor thousands of internet sites.
The announcement by Senator Stephen Conroy comes only nine months after a leak of [...]

Join the Socialist Party on campus!

SP Newsletter No.299
When Kevin Rudd came to office in 2007 many hoped that we would start to see some progressive change in Australia. Unfortunately Rudd has proved himself to be little different to Howard.
For example, Workchoices has been merely rebadged while draconian laws against construction workers remain fully in tact. At the same time OH&S [...]

‘O-Week’ meeting: Why capitalism is a system of crisis

Student meeting this Saturday!
Environmental destruction, war, poverty, oppression and exploitation. A public meeting explaining why the system is to blame.
It’s Orientation Week at most universities in Melbourne this week. The Socialist Party will be active at several campuses including Monash Clayton, La Trobe Bundoora, RMIT City and Melbourne Uni. We will be holding information [...]

Scrap Brumby’s liquor laws – Save live music!

SP Newsletter No.298
The closure of the Tote Hotel in January shocked music fans across Melbourne. For more than 20 years the pub has been at the centre of Melbourne’s live music scene.
Since then the Arthouse has announced it will close this year and several other venues have complained that they can no longer afford to [...]

Public housing tenants get organised!

SP Newsletter No.297
Just before Christmas there were important developments on the Atherton Gardens public housing estate in Fitzroy (Melbourne). The estate is made up of four 20-storey towers and several two storey ‘walk-up’ blocks. Officially there are 2500 residents, but the true figure is probably closer to 4000.
Residents have been complaining for years about inferior [...]

Market solutions won’t stop climate change

SP Newsletter No.296
Recent opinion polls have shown that support for an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) remains at just over 70%, despite 70% of respondents admitting they “don’t know enough” about Rudd’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).
This coincides with 76% of Australians being ‘concerned’ about climate change, with over half the population seeing it as a [...]

The system doesn’t work - Fight for a socialist alternative!

SP Newsletter No.295
With the worst economic crisis in 80 years rocking the world many workers and young people are starting to question the capitalist system. Capitalism, which dominates the globe, is a system that allows a tiny minority of bosses to own and control the vast amounts of wealth that is produced by billions of [...]

A pathetic response to executive pay

SP Newsletter No.294
When clothing manufacturer Pacific Brands announced in February last year that it would be moving offshore and sacking 1850 workers, people were clearly angry. But when it came out soon after that Pacific Brands chief executive Sue Morphet would have her pay increased from $685,775 to $1.8 million that anger turned into outrage. [...]