Episode 12 - The Party Line on Venezuela, US Imperialism, and NUS

Big news this week: Anneke has been adopted! By her big sister that is. We discuss all that before moving on to headlines, including what the Annika Wells expense scandal reveals about the culture of entitlement that runs through Parliament. The main breaking story that was unfolding as we were recording was the US hijacking of a Venezuelan oil tanker, which follows months of deadly strikes on boats that have killed nearly 100 civilians.  This leads on to a chat about Trump’s new National Security Strategy, which declares his intent to see the US engage in aggressive operations throughout Latin America to reassert US hegemony over the ‘western hemisphere’, while also promoting the great replacement theory and other fascist ideas and organisations throughout Europe. We wrap up with some goss from the National Union of Students National Conference in Ballarat, which saw Labor Party members try (and fail) to lock out socialist party members from national office.

Huge thanks to our tireless editors Charlie Wardrop and Persephone Waxman.

Content

Australia’s senior politicians can claim ‘unlimited’ travel expenses for their spouse, watchdog rules say | The Guardian 

Venezuela decries ‘act of piracy’ after US forces seize oil tanker off country’s coast | The Guardian

Trump’s Looming “Forever War” | Tempest 

Headlines: 

Australian employers cut back on diversity and inclusion programs amid US ‘anti-woke’ backlash

At State Dept., a Typeface Falls Victim in the War Against Woke

Albanese digs in on MPs entitlements saga as more Wells spending comes to light

From Tim Tam to Four’N Twenty: Aussie icons enjoy government sweeteners

Renters need $300,000 more superannuation in retirement than home owners, report finds

Australia has recorded the highest number of Indigenous deaths in custody since 1979

marxismconference.org.au 

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This is a podcast by members of the Socialist Party in Naarm (Melbourne). We hope to bring a radical perspective to a podcast landscape dominated by insipid liberalism (looking at you, The Daily). The pod will come out weekly, and aims to breakdown news and current events from a socialist point of view. While a lot of what’s going on in the world is fairly bleak, The Party Line will try and highlight voices of resistance and struggle.

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