My following piece appears today in Crikey: I visited Villawood on Sunday”‰—”‰alongside a delegation of union leaders and Greens Senator-elect Lee Rhiannon”‰—”‰and met several asylum seekers subsequently involved in the protest that ended peacefully last night with the arrival of UNHCR officials. We spent hours conversing with men in their 20s and up from Iraq,…
Showing all posts tagged Tony Abbott
Churches standing up to ‘pro-Israel’ politicians
My following article appears today in Eureka Street: The Australian Jewish News (AJN) was outraged. Its editorial in late July condemned the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) for a resolution calling on Australians to boycott Israeli goods made in the occupied Palestinian territories. The AJN wrote that the move contributed to a global…
Australia is a cartoon nightmare
What a blast. Here’s how a Taiwanese news service viewed the Australian election. If only more news was like this:
Aussie election brings very mixed results
Yesterday’s election in Australia remains unresolved, a hung parliament and massively high Green vote. More here, here, here, here and here. Truly progressive politics did very well but the uncertainty means that Australians don’t yet know if the right-wing Labor Party or more right-wing Liberal Party are in charge.
What the Australian election campaign says about us
The BBC’s Sydney-based correspondent Nick Bryant has it right. The Australian election campaign has been deathly parochial, the world didn’t exist, the level of debate was monotonous, any vision was non-existent and both major sides of politics were desperate to appear similar to the other. I’ll be voting Greens tomorrow and in the spirit of…
Who wants to love Israel more? Hands up?
The shallow nature of debate over Israel/Palestine in Australia: Labor has hit out at claims that the Coalition will always back Israel in sensitive votes at the United Nations. Seizing on reports that Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop told a Jewish community forum in Melbourne last month an Abbott government would always vote against UN…
Departing ALP member tells of deep Zionist influence in party
My following article appears in today’s Crikey: The departing Labor member for Fowler, Julia Irwin, has revealed the deep influence of the Zionist lobby on the ALP and the inner workings of her party towards the Middle East in an exclusive interview with Crikey. Irwin says Israel must engage with Hamas, argues that the two-state…
Would the real Tony Abbott please stand up?
For Australian voters, a helpful reminder of the stakes on election day 21 August: