150 people crammed into Atherton Gardens Community Hall on a cold Wednesday night to discuss the need to "Build Homes Not Prisons." Residents spoke about the oppressive conditions on the estate, the broken lifts in the high rises, the minimal car-parking space after the government built on their carpark, locked doors to the laundry making the basics of day-to-day living extremely difficult, all highlighting the lack of funding in public housing and lack of respect for public housing residents.   Continue reading

The racist law and order campaign is being driven by the Liberals and mainstream press. The Labor party are either silent on the racist scapegoating or fall over themselves to compete with the Liberals over who can be the toughest on crime, despite Melbourne being one of the safest cities in the world. African communities are being demonised and scapegoated because this suits the politicians. It means the real social problems in society - the crisis of affordable housing, inadequate public transport, poor conditions and wages for workers, the growing inequality - are pushed into the background so that no-one points their finger at the politicians for ruling in the interests of big business instead of community need. Let's not drink the cool-aid. In solidarity and unity there is strength. Join us tonight at 6pm for the Build Homes Not Prisons | Public Meeting  

Before coming to Australia to seek asylum, Thileepan Gnaneswaran was kidnapped and tortured by the Sri Lankan government. They murdered his brother and father. His wife Karthika also fled Sri Lanka and is a recognised refugee. His distraught wife and their 11-month-old baby are now indefinitely and potentially permanently separated from Thileepan. This is the human cost of Australia's cosy relationship with Sri Lanka. From 2009, both governments were complicit in the genocide and war crimes against Tamils, and both are now complicit in the ongoing torture and deaths, the broken families and grief-stricken friends. We need to support the struggle to end the separation of families and deportations to danger. Bring Thileepan home!

It's almost 12 months to the day since the 11-day fire at SKM's recycling plant fire in Coolaroo. That fire caused many residents to be evacuated and some residents have ongoing health issues as a result of the fire. Just 10 days ago on 7 July, there was another fire at the same plant, but luckily it was able to be put out after a few hours. Where is the Environmental Protection Agency? It should have been enforcing safe operations at the plant. SKM can't be trusted to operate this plant. It's license should be withdrawn. The health of the nearby residents is too important. http://leader.smedia.com.au/hume/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=LHML%2F2018%2F07%2F17&entity=Ar00101&sk=0DDDA3D7

Senator Doug Cameron, Labor shadow minister for Housing and Homelessness, will be launching a report on aged Australians and homelessness this week. The report makes for a bracing reading, with tens of thousands of older Australians being priced utterly out of any rental markets, and childless, or with adult children, far down on the public housing list. Women and low-income workers are the worst affected, often having little or no superannuation to draw on. The report looks for solutions, but also asks how we got to this point. In Victoria, there’s one answer: Labor. Continue reading

Trump's racist immigration policy, involving the separation of refugee and migrant families and the caging of children, rightfully enraged millions of people across the globe. It was inspired in part by how Australia treats asylum seekers. Here's yet another example of Australia's unrelenting cruelty: a Tamil man is to be separated from his wife and 10 month baby and deported on Monday back to Sri Lanka, a state that has tortured him. Continue reading

The Victorian Socialists supports giving contracts only to companies which respect the industry standards set by the CFMEU, ETU, PTEU and AMWU Continue reading

Melbourne’s best-loved pubs are under threat, as the city’s apartment-led speculative property boom, booms on and on. In the CBD, corner pubs that have stood and served for more than 150 years now have developers licking their lips, and proposing mega-towers that either see the pub demolished or reduced to a façade. This must stop. Continue reading

A mural by Victorian Socialists member Van T Rudd of Palestinian medic Razan al Najjar and protester Fadi Abusalah, both murdered by Israeli Defense Force snipers, was completed last night in Kensington, Australia. Continue reading

Tonight Stephen Jolly was at the 2nd year anniversary of the stunning victory of ETU and AMWU-organized workers in the strike at the Carlton United Brewery in Abbotsford - Australia's biggest brewery. Continue reading