Teachers from the Independent Education Union walked off the job for 24 hours last Friday for their first strike in 18 years. They took action to join their public sector colleagues in the New South Wales Teachers’ Federation, who have also been striking to demand better pay and working conditions as the education crisis deepens.

One would be right to question the housing platform of a party founded by Clive Palmer – after all, you’d imagine Clive hasn’t struggled to put a roof over his head. However, the United Australia Party is striking out to ride a populist yellow wave, and so finds itself in need of a housing policy that at least pays lip service to the countless Australians struggling to house themselves and their families. 

As Labor rolls into the 2022 election after years in opposition, they are facing a grave task of dealing with the never-ending housing crisis impacting the majority of Australians. Accompanying Labor’s proposal is the often repeated personal tale of the leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese. Albanese is always quick to mention that he was raised in public housing that the government provided to his single mother who was on a disability pension at the time.

What do we mean when we say that the modern union movement is a circus lion? Is it an insult or attack on the quality of rank and file members? Far from it, for they are the victims of this caging, trapped and abused by those who were meant to protect them.