Australia
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Australia ‘decouples’ from US China policy
The Asian chancelleries have a great deal to mull over after the extraordinary joint press conference by the US and Australia following the AUSMIN meeting of their foreign and defence ministers in Washington, DC, on July 28. It is improbable that the Ministry of External Affairs in South Block missed out on the event. Continue reading
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Panic and the Pandemic ‘Down Under’: The Ultimate Unseen Enemy
In the southeastern corner of Australia a State of Emergency has replaced what was known until recently only as the State of Victoria. The unseen enemy has been a fact of modern life since the 1950s but at least the red under the bed could be seen if found. COVID-19 is the ultimate unseen enemy,… Continue reading
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The cia coup against ‘the most loyal ally’ is history’s warning in 2020
The Australian High Court has ruled that correspondence between the Queen and the Governor-General of Australia, her viceroy in the former British colony, is no longer “personal” and the property of Buckingham Palace. Why does this matter? Continue reading
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Australian government moves to boost data-swapping with US spy network
The Australian government is helping spearhead moves by the Trump administration to force internet companies to hand over encryption-cracking capabilities, and to intensify data-swapping within the US-dominated “Five Eyes” global surveillance network. Continue reading
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“Leave Our Bloke Alone”: A Little Mission for Julian Assange
“I think that now it is time that the government I am a part of needs to be standing up and saying to both the UK and the US: ‘enough is enough, leave our bloke alone and let him come home.’” George Christensen, Australian conservative MP, Sydney Morning Herald, Feb 19, 2020 Continue reading
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Australian police begin “foreign interference” raids
Without providing any details whatsoever, the front-page headline on last Saturday’s Weekend Australian declared: “Police launch raids on foreign agents.” It began: “The Australian Federal Police has frozen the bank accounts of a suspected foreign agent and will move against a range of foreign operatives in the first half of next year as part of… Continue reading
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Australia’s Pacific Play: Denying Climate Change and Boosting China’s Threat by Dr Binoy Kampmark
Australia has always nursed a contradictory, repressive relationship with its Pacific neighbours. Being a satrap of great powers, it has performed the role of gate keeper and monitor of regional instability, a condescending, often paternalistic agent. At stages, it has also entertained more direct colonial interests. For almost seven decades, Australia controlled Papua New Guinea,… Continue reading
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The ABC documentary “Hero or Villain”: Undermining the defence of Julian Assange By James Cogan
A two-part documentary on Julian Assange by the state-owned Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) “Four Corners” program, which went to air last month, has been rightly condemned by prominent figures in the campaign to defend the persecuted WikiLeaks publisher. Continue reading
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Australian spy and police chiefs say raids on journalists must continue By Mike Head
Despite public outrage over recent federal police raids on journalists, the Australian government and the country’s intelligence and police commanders have declared that such raids and criminal prosecutions are essential. Continue reading
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Prominent Australian academic suggests building nuclear weapons By Peter Symonds
Strategic analyst Hugh White has reignited a debate in media and security circles about building nuclear weapons to defend the country against the alleged threat posed by nuclear-armed powers, particularly China. His recently published book, How to Defend Australia, argues that nuclear weapons need to be considered because the United States is in relative decline… Continue reading
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Australian police chief links media raids to US-led “Five Eyes” spy network By Mike Head
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) called a news conference on Thursday to justify its raids targeting journalists at two media organisations this week. Police spent seven hours ransacking a News Corp political reporter’s home in Canberra on Tuesday, and eight hours poring over and seizing files at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) Sydney headquarters on… Continue reading
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Warring Against Sources: The Australian National Security State, Journalism and the Public Interest By Dr. Binoy Kampmark
These are dark times for journalists and publishers. It did not seem coincidental that Annika Smethurst, a News Corp journalist and political affairs editor, would be a target of an Australian Federal Police warrant. Chelsea Manning, courtesy of a ruling by Judge Anthony Trenga, remains in federal custody in the United States. Julian Assange is… Continue reading
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Australian Federal Police raid journalists over exposures of government spying, war crimes By Oscar Grenfell
Over the past 24 hours, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have carried out two raids targeting separate media organisations, for their publication of articles exposing government spying plans and war crimes committed by Australian troops in Afghanistan. Continue reading
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More Police Raids As War On Journalism Escalates Worldwide by Caitlin Johnstone
The Australian Federal Police have conducted two raids on journalists and seized documents in purportedly unrelated incidents in the span of just two days. Continue reading
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New Zealand fascist killer had known Australian far-right links By Mike Head
Substantial evidence has emerged in recent days that Brenton Tarrant, the 28-year-old Australian who gunned down 50 people in a premeditated attack on two mosques in New Zealand on March 15, had intensive links with far-right groups in Australia. Continue reading
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The Christchurch Shooting and the Normalization of Anti-Muslim Terrorism
The real forces responsible for the destruction of many Muslim-majority countries and the current chaos present in many Western countries are not generated by civilian populations or religions but instead by the global oligarchy that engineers and profits from this chaos. Continue reading
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Trump’s Syrian Gambit Again Exposes Australian Foreign Policy Bankruptcy By James O’Neill
The decision by US President Donald Trump to withdraw US troops from Syria clearly caught Australian political, military and intelligence leaders by surprise. Despite claims of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that Australia and the US were “joined at the hip” the link is clearly metaphorical and does not extend to actual consultation. Continue reading
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A World First In Citizen Surveillance By The State
By TruePublica: Last month TruePublica reported that the British government were going full Orwellian and was now aiming to create a biometric database on top of its mass data bulk collection through surveillance systems that have been deemed illegal by the highest courts in the UK and EU. However, in Australia – a member of… Continue reading
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Photo essay: Australian students strike for climate action
Thousands of Australian primary and high school students walked out of school on November 30 to demand real action on climate change. Continue reading
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The hidden story of the women who rose up By John Pilger
John Pilger gave this address on the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the Parramatta Female Factory, Sydney, a prison where ‘intractable’ women convicts from mostly Ireland and England were sent to Britain’s Australian colony in the early 19th century. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 