An Australian and New Zealand union delegation heads to Fiji next week to investigate first hand abuses of workplace rights within the island nation. The delegation comes on the back of moves this week by the International Labour Organisation to intervene to safeguard human and labour rights in Fiji.
On Friday morning the police moved in to remove the Occupy Melbourne protesters that had been occupying Melbourne's Town Square. Unfortunately as those assembled at Town Square quickly found out, no-one was really paying much attention in the first place. That can be the only description given the calls for support fell on mostly...
Four years ago the United Nations acted on almost 30 years of advocacy by Indigenous Peoples around the world and adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, but Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda says progress on its implementation has been slow.
Throughout the entire region the environment continues to face growing pressures. It comes from a growing range of converging issues like urban expansion; destruction of native forests; rapidly expanding populations; growing inequality and poverty; water, soil and air pollution; and the international inaction on climate change.
In recent weeks the premiers of three states have started to sound like mini-Tony Abbotts. On issues like industrial relations, the environment and health we've seen a convergence of rhetoric that sounds remarkably like that coming from the federal Opposition Leader.
Workers in Fiji may enjoy a reputation as being super-friendly and bursting with positive vibes and good will. The reality though is that they have no rights.
Now that the phone hacking scandal involving the now-defunct News of the World has well and truly broken and authorities are looking for answers, it's not surprising that they are finding it difficult to get answers. Or that anyone is willing to take responsibility for the phone hacking.
The Australian environment movement along with the union movement organised some of the biggest rallies Australia has seen in some time last weekend.
Indonesian terrorist networks are often cited as likely to bring terrorism to our region through the links they have with organisations such as Al-Qaeda and those in the Philippines and throughout south-east Asia. And there have been a couple of big events that have happened for these networks in recent weeks. Firstly was...
Many commentators have pointed out how "soft" the Budget was compared to all the "tough" hype however despite this, it still failed to add additional funds into key areas.
Saturday last saw the finals of Deadly Funny for 2011 which saw more amazing comedic talent emerge from Australia's Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Alex Schlotzer spent the weekend at the Climate Action Summit as someone committed to seeing political action taken on climate change. More specifically he was there in his voluntary role as coordinator of the Brimbank Climate Action Network (BrimbankCAN). This is his account of the weekend.
The recent announcement from the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee on a carbon price and mechanism, is avital step forward.
By Alex Schlotzer: There can be little doubt that Tony Abbott has stumbled into a wasps’ nest over his party’s opposition to a flood levy. Unfortunately for him, and his beleaguered colleagues, instead of compromising, he’s decided to try to smash his way out. It all started with what’s been dubbed as the “summer...
Well, another year recedes and we all know what happened last year. There's been much commentary and analysis of the past year's events, however, little has been said of the year ahead. And yep, you guessed it, this piece is a look at the political landscape in 2011.
This time last year Copenhagen was being hailed as the last great chance for the Earth and that an agreement on a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol was imminent.
Much will be said over the coming days and weeks about the campaigns run by the parties and different high profile independents during the Victorian state election.
First Australians need dignity and respect. We hear a great deal about what First Australians need and even more noise about "solutions" to "problems". The language used though, still refers to First Australians as though they aren't in the room. Old paternalistic habits die hard, there remains a distinct lack of...
The Victorian state election is proving to be another series of negative attacks being largely directed by the lacklustre efforts from the major parties.
The Victorian ALP betrayed their fears about losing government with a ferocious attack on the Greens on the day the Premier asked the Governor to issue the election writs.
As the minority Labor government settles in and things are relatively back to normal, I think it's a good time to look back at the effectiveness of the online battles fought during the federal election.
It wasn't too unexpected that the campaign against the Greens in the current Victorian election campaign would descend into vile, disingenuous and misleading tactics.
October 17 to 23 is National Water Week in Australia, a week dedicated to raising awareness of the country's most precious resource
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has built himself a reputation over the course of his political career as a supposed convictions politician.
If there has been one noticeable outcome from the outcome of the election, it has been that the Liberals cannot cope with a situation where they have to negotiate for 'power'.
Well apparently we're in turmoil because of the outcome from the weekend's federal election.
There's a reason Tony Abbott didn't show up to the announcement of the Coaliton's national broadband policy. Lets face it, commentators and pundits have been too polite to describe it for what it is — a sh!t policy.
With today's opinion polls showing the Gillard experiment is working for Labor, despite a number of gaffes and missteps in the three weeks of her reign as leader, theangle's Alex Schlotzer analyses the problems for the Coalition Opposition.
It's been some time since we've seen Labor in government and last week's removal of Kevin Rudd as leader revealed their inexperience and obsessions with opinion polls.
Alex Schlotzer takes a look at the rough and tumble of federal politics over the past few weeks and concludes the Coalition team effort is a case of "bring on the clowns."
By Alex Schlotzer: As the latest Newspoll shows further primary support being drawn away from the major parties to the Greens, political editor Alex Schlotzer takes a look at how the electoral battle is being fought online. Australia’s main political parties, the Labor Party, the Liberalsand the Greens, have all just recently launched new websites with unconfirmed...
The next few weeks will be ablaze with commentary and analysis of the federal Government's 2010 budget, detailing the winners and losers of Treasurer Wayne Swan's third budget.
The next Victorian election is looming on the horizon and it seems a struggling Victorian Labor Government is stuck between a rock and a hard place with the electorate.
Theangle's Managing Editor takes us through the value of the iPhone and its many uses for activists and citizen journalists.
It appears that the current government is being held hostage to the opposition's agenda, though this is problematic as the Opposition appear not to know quite what the agenda is themselves.
I’ve written a lot about technology and how it can be used for social and progressive change.
Deadly Funny is about finding and supporting the funniest up-and-coming Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander comedians in the country, made more interesting as they compete for a grand prize of $2,000.
By Alex Schlotzer It’s an energetic atmosphere at Melbourne Town Hall this fine-ish evening (31/03/10) as comedians and acts spruik their respective shows, as they do every night for their respective seasons. On this night the spruiking was momentarily stopped by the good folk pushing a tram to get it moving again but that’s...
Tony Abbott is often said to carry out his politics in the same way he used to approach his boxing.
Unlike elections being held on the east coast, the South Australian and Tasmanian elections' campaigns are moving along at fever pitch.
This slide towards inevitable extinction of many whale species begs the question: why do countries continue to slaughter whales and dolphins, for what amounts to unadulterated commercial gain?
The Liberal/National Opposition's Tony Abbott, Julie Bishop and Eric Abetz, joined by Finance spokesman Barnaby Joyce, are seemingly carrying out a successful formula for losing the next election.
Editor/contributor Alex Schlotzer casts his eye over the state of electronic civil disobedience (ECD) in Australia, looking at its growth in scope and acceptance as a legitimate form of protest.
With only a couple of days since federal politicians returned to Parliament for the start of the sitting year, so far we’ve seen a deluge of hot air and rubbish from the Tories, especially Tony “The Monk” Abbott and even Joe “The Tutu” Hockey who look to be attempting to make mileage from speaking...
theangle.org proudly announces the latest in our live event coverage -- a live and detailed commentary on Victorian vital Altona by-election. We'll be providing an analysis of the ballot count and the candidates' campaigns in this important pointer to the state and federal elections to be held later in the year.
Regional editor Alex Schlotzer takes a look at what lies ahead for the big, and not-so-big, political players in the Southeast Asia/Pacific in 2010.
theangle's contributing regional editor Alex Schlotzer reports on "Share the Spirit" in Melbourne -- an Australia Day festival where Indigenous and non-indigenous people come together to celebrate the sharing the country.
Alex Schlotzer rolls out the crystal ball and gives us a look at what's in store in Victorian politics for 2010.
By Alex Schlotzer: The Internet filtering ‘debate’ is pretty much dead in the water. However with the announcement of the mandatory ISP-level internet filter proceeding, the web’s nearly melted down. Australians on Twitter and Facebook began decrying the further erosion of our civil liberties. But just as quickly began an erroneous debate about what...
By Alex Schlotzer New Zealand is far better placed to be a stronger regional partner, or “peacekeeper” (or even “sheriff”) than Australia. Some will decry me as being “un-Australian” or worse but in my humble opinion our neighbours from across the ditch are in a superior position to exercise successful regional diplomacy than Australia....
By Alex Schlotzer Okay that might be a bit presumptuous given that polls have not yet closed but that was certainly the major news that energised Green members yesterday at the close of campaigning in the seat of Higgins. With Malcolm Mackerras predicting in his article that voters would give the nod to Greens...
By Alex Schlotzer: Well what a whirlwind week in Australian politics that was, starting with the defection of most of Malcolm Turnbull’s frontbench and culminating in the win by Tony Abbott (by one vote) in today’s leadership spill. The tragedy (for Turnbull supporters) was that it was bound to happen as the now former...
By Alex Schlotzer: The Liberal Party of Australia is experiencing a significant power shift in its state branches with some surprising results having federal consequences. The embarrassing sight (for the Liberals) of Federal frontbencher and rising star Peter Dutton losing in a recent pre-selection for the safe Liberal Queensland seat of McPherson, after his...
Just a few months after Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s re-election for a second term, his administration is hardly off to a flyer with the country struck by yet more natural disasters. Yudhoyono (better known as SBY) is also being entangled in a crisis of his own making – agreeing to become involved in...
The city of Melbourne recently came up with a great idea; a bicycle program for the city’s central business district (CBD). Indeed on the face of it, this looks like a progressive plan to encourage more people to leave their cars at home in favour of alternative transport options. The combination of the bicycle...
By-Elections: A Final Commentary
Political analyst Alex Schlotzer writes on the Higgins and Bradfield weekend by-elections; what it means for the leadership of the Liberal Party, Australia's political landscape and whether the issue of climate change will be a vote changer in the run up to the next election.
Read more »