In secret, the Governent is planning to surround Parliament with a razor-wire fence (like they use in their offshore refugee prison camps). To protect Parliament from terrorists, police will be armed with machine guns. There would be no terrorists in Australia if the Goverment didn’t join America’s Muslim Bombing Sprees to bomb Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan back to the Stone Age. – Graham Macafee, CLA member, Latham ACT

It concerns me that disempowered people are starting to put their faith in the extreme right in Australia also, which will only make their lives worse. I don’t think that the fault lies with globalisation or trade. Trade can bring enormous economic benefits. However, at the moment, those benefits are coming at the expense of people and communities who are displaced – it’s the callous disregard for those people and their lives and aspirations that is creating the backlash. It should not be beyond the wit and creativity of our leaders to find alternative real jobs for people displaced by globalisation. WhatContinue reading

Dear Sir/Ms:  There are flaws in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (“TPP ratification is far from certain”, Canberra Times, October 30, p19). The biggest flaw reverses centuries of self-rule in which sovereign nations make laws and corporations comply. Under the TPP, corporations make laws and a secret corporate court enforces them. The corporate court exists to punish nations that interfere with corporate profits. Fair Work Australia must go (as it interferes with profits) or face the wrath of the corporate court. Gone will be laws that deter corporations from dumping toxic waste or oil that pollutes rivers and seas. There are other national laws that theContinue reading