After the ABC published stories based on leaked documents showing that Australian special forces in Afghanistan were killing unarmed men and children and collecting grizzly trophies such as amputated hands from their kills 1, the AFP raided the ABC’s headquarters and seized documents related to the stories. Federal police also raided the home of a News Corp journalist who published a story based on leaked documents exposing the Federal government’s plan to allow the digital spy agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, to directly and secretly access citizen’s private data.

Ever since China’s economic growth began to escalate sharply in the 1970s there has been a high demand in China for the energy, raw materials, and building materials required to support China’s growth in manufacturing, infrastructure, and vast urbanisation projects. Seeing China’s growth and demand for materials as an opportunity for exponential profits, the Australian capitalist class have been more than willing to engage in trade with China.