In World War II, Canberra signed a deal with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to incarcerate thousands of Jewish refugees from Nazi-controlled Germany, Austria and eastern Europe, in remote Australian prison camps.
As president of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and head of the Stalinist Socialist Unity Party, Douglas played a pivotal role in suppressing the struggles of the working class against the right-wing 1984-90 Labour government and the subsequent National Party government.
US cables point to intense Washington involvement in the lead up to the 1975 Canberra Coup
This is the
second in a three-part series on US diplomatic cables which reveal the collaboration of Bob Hawke and other Australian Labor and union leaders with the US embassy
to suppress working class struggles throughout the 1970s.
July 20.
Today, the population of Australia is being subjected to a constant barrage of totally unsubstantiated claims by the media, intelligence agencies and politicians of Chinese “interference” in Australian politics. This is in line with the drive by US governments to confront Beijing and reassert Washington’s global hegemony.