Australian Labor Party - Townsville Branch

09/06/2026

Useful analysis as Australian's conservative politicians and commentariat resort to their usual 4-M playbook - myth, miscalculation, misinformation and misrepresentation!

For full article see - https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/australia-now-has-best-ever-economy-and-worst-ever-reporters,21084

08/06/2026

Labor governs for the many not just the already privileged few.

08/06/2026

ICYMI: Around 3 million workers are getting a 4.75% pay rise from 1 July.

02/05/2026

Workers all around the world have been celebrating May Day and its still the First of May in the western hemisphere.

The time zones may be different but the themes are the same, particularly in Trump's America - workers over billionaires!

Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce, Gina Rinehart, Angus Taylor, Phillip Thompson take note. We are watching your every vote!

01/05/2026

There are many factors influencing housing affordability but it is crystal clear when the bifurcation between house pricies and average incomes began - straight after John Howard and Peter Costello introduced the 50% Capital Gains Discount (CGD) in 1999.

Howard and Costello said said that this would turn Australia into a nation of shareholders and entrepreneurs.

They were COMPREHENSIVELY WRONG - the proportion of the adult population owning shares fell significantly as did the proportion of the employed workforce who are owner-managers of independent enterprises.

Instead, Howard and Costello turned Australia in a nation of property speculators and sowed the seeds of today's housing affordability crisis.

They comprehensively discounted the future prosperity and well-being of younger Australians. For more information - see https://www.quarterlyessay.com.au/essay/2023/11/the-great-divide/extract

30/04/2026

She who pays the piper calls the tune. Pauline Hanson and One Nation - for billionaires, not battlers!

Title: Flight of fancy.
Illustrator: Cathy Wilcox.
Read the letters to the editor here: https://tinyurl.com/mry2etat

30/04/2026

Quite a contrast to the Morrison Government's ham-fisted, bull in the china shop approach to international relations.

As Paul Keating told us more than 3 decades ago, Australia must seek its security in Asia not from Asia.

29/04/2026

Pauline Hanson and One Nation - for billionaires, not battlers!

Pauline Hanson has been gifted $2m from close associates of Gina Rinehart as she unveils a “sexy” new private plane, which the One Nation leader says will help the party ahead of the next federal election.

The One Nation leader addressed a social media post to Guardian Australia on Wednesday, boasting about the purchase of a new Cirrus G7.

“BREAKING NEWS – I’ve got a new plane, Sarah,” Hanson said in the post, in an apparent dig at Guardian journalist Sarah Martin, who has reported extensively on Hanson’s links to Rinehart, including her repeated failures to properly declare free flights gifted on the mining magnate’s private jet.

“Yes it was donated. Yes I’m super happy. Yes it’s fast. Yes it’s amazing. Yes it’s going to annoy the Guardian. Yes it means I can visit more regional towns across the country more often. Yes it’s a Cirrus G7. Yes it’s sexy. Yes I have a pilot.”

Hanson thanked two of Rinehart’s closest associates and senior executives for their “investment” in the party – geologist Ian Plimer, who is an executive with Hancock Energy, and Adam Giles, the head of Hancock Agriculture. Both donated $500,000 each.

Click link in comments to read the full story by Sarah Martin, and find links to our extensive reporting on Hanson’s repeated failures to properly declare gifts from Gina Rinehart.

29/04/2026

It's way past time to fix this regressive economic policy blunder.

When John Howard and Peter Costello introduced the 50% Capital Gains Discount (CGD) in 1999, they said said that this would turn Australia into a nation of shareholders and entrepreneurs.

They were comprehensively wrong. The proportion of the adult population owning shares fell significantly as did the proportion of the employed workforce who are owner-managers of independent enterprises.

Instead, Howard and Costello turned Australia in a nation of property speculators and sowed the seeds of today's housing affordability crisis.

They comprehensively discounted the future prosperity and well-being of younger Australians.

Defenders of the Howard-era discount say ‘if you tax something more, you’ll get less of it’. But less investors in the housing market is a good thing

28/04/2026

Phillip Thompson TALKS about serving our community.

Senator Nita Green and the Albanese Labor Government DELIVER for our community.