Abolish Australia's secret police

[Green Left Weekly, #977, August 12, 2013]

According to its Wikipedia entry, 'The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is Australia's national security service, which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and terrorism.'

How should a united socialist party work?

[This is the slightly edited text of a presentation given at the Socialism of the 21st Century seminar held in Sydney, June 9, 2013. Included at the end is a response to comments; for the full discussion see Links.]

Today I want to talk about how socialists need to work to win mass influence and how that relates to the unity process between Socialist Alliance and Socialist Alternative.

Development issues

[The following short presentation was made to a meeting of Moreland Socialists on February 28, 2013 to kick off a discussion on developing our policy platform.]

Scope of the question

What are 'development' issues? 'Development' concerns housing and all the issues of liveability associated with it: transport; urban environment; sustainability; green spaces and parks; schools and other facilities; jobs; and food (how and where it is produced, the cost to the consumer); and many more.