标签： Oceania

For more than 100 years, Wales – the birthplace of the UK’s beloved National Health Service and a once-thriving industrial powerhouse – has stood as an unshakable stronghold of the UK Labour Party. Woven into the very identity of the nation’s working-class communities, Labour’s roots here run deep: the party’s first leader, Keir Hardie, held a seat in the industrial South Valleys, and Welsh statesman Aneurin Bevan founded the NHS in 1948. Since the creation of Wales’ devolved parliament, the Senedd, in 1999, Labour has held uninterrupted control of the regional government, overseeing key portfolios from healthcare to education. But that decades-long hold is on the brink of collapse ahead of the May 7 Senedd elections, as persistent cost-of-living crises push long-loyal voters to abandon historic political loyalties for anti-establishment alternatives.

Polling data widely projects Labour’s 27-year run of devolved government will end this election cycle. The new proportional voting system leaves the final outcome unclear, but surveys show Labour trails both the hard-right Reform UK and progressive Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru, mirroring a national trend where the ruling Labour Party faces unprecedented pressure from both the far left and far right of the political spectrum. A defeat in Wales would deliver a devastating blow to UK Labour leader Keir Starmer, who has led the party for two years, and is expected to fuel growing calls for his resignation from within party ranks.

Many long-time Labour voters say the party has abandoned its working-class roots, pushing them to seek options elsewhere. Ross Mumford, a 59-year-old delivery driver in Cardiff who has voted Labour his entire life, following the same loyalty as his father and grandfather, called the break from Labour a generational end to a family tradition. Critical of Starmer’s handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal, which he accuses the leader of lying about, Mumford will now cast his vote for Reform UK, drawn to party leader Nigel Farage’s reputation as a straight-talking outsider. “Let’s give them a try. What have we got to lose?” he said, echoing a common sentiment among voters frustrated by Labour’s governance since the party took power from the Conservatives in 2024 after 14 years of Conservative rule.

Hope Porter, a 35-year-old artist and former Labour voter in Cardiff, plans to vote for the left-wing Green Party, angered by Starmer’s stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict. “They’re Tories in red at this point. I don’t think they are actually for working class people anymore,” she said. Not all long-time supporters have abandoned the party, however. Sitting near a statue of Aneurin Bevan in central Cardiff, 83-year-old retiree Sue Jenkins says she remains loyal to Labour. While she acknowledges Starmer could improve his performance, she praises his stance against former U.S. President Donald Trump over the U.S.-Israel conflict. “If Labour don’t get in, I’ll be very upset,” she said.

Labour candidate Huw Thomas argues that the complex new voting system makes an overall majority for any party unlikely, leaving the race wide open. “The narrative that this is the end of the Labour Party in Wales, I don’t think that’s a given,” he told reporters. On the campaign trail in traditional Labour territories, anti-establishment parties are seeing unprecedented momentum. In Merthyr Tydfil, 23 miles north of Cardiff where Keir Hardie once served as MP, Reform UK volunteers distribute campaign fliers to passing voters, drawing honks of support from drivers and occasional criticism from opponents. The town, once a global hub of coal mining and iron production, still struggles with high unemployment and systemic deprivation, says Reform candidate David Hughes. “People are losing hope,” he noted.

Robert Clarke, a 69-year-old Reform volunteer, cites the party’s pledges to scrap net-zero climate targets – he opposes large-scale wind farm development across Wales’ scenic countryside – and crack down on irregular migration as key reasons for his support. “Unless we change the direction this country is taking, I feel my grandchildren will not have a country,” he said. Further south in the market town of Pontypridd, Plaid Cymru campaigners are also capitalizing on voter discontent, knocking on doors in what has long been safe Labour territory. Candidate Heledd Fychan says the party is drawing thousands of disaffected Labour voters, who feel betrayed by Starmer’s decision to cut heating subsidies for elderly residents. “We’re definitely picking up disaffected voters,” Fychan said. Retired teacher Ceri James, 65, of Cardiff, says he will vote Plaid Cymru for their positive, community-focused policy agenda.

Political analysts say a Labour loss in Wales would trigger immediate turmoil at the national level, with widespread speculation that disgruntled Labour MPs in Westminster would move to oust Starmer from his leadership position. Laura McAllister, a politics professor at Cardiff University, told AFP that a defeat “will pose enormous problems for the party.” As voters prepare to head to the polls, the election is set to be one of the most significant political shifts in modern Welsh history, ending an era of unbroken Labour rule and reshaping the future of UK politics.

Western Australia has become the latest Australian state to advance sweeping rental market reforms centered on a full ban on no-grounds evictions, a policy shift that has ignited sharp disagreement between state government leaders, housing industry representatives and tenant advocacy groups amid an ongoing national housing affordability crisis. The proposal comes as Western Australia grapples with one of the country’s tightest rental markets, with plummeting available supply and soaring rental costs that have put unprecedented strain on low- and middle-income renters across the state.

Under the planned changes to Western Australia’s Residential Tenancies Act, private landlords will only be permitted to end a tenancy if they can demonstrate a legally valid reason for eviction. Acceptable reasons outlined in the reform package include the property owner or an immediate family member planning to move into the home, the need for major structural renovations or full demolition of the property, repeated breaches of tenancy terms by the renter, sale of the property, consistent non-payment of rent, and documented illegal activity occurring on the premises. Beyond the ban on no-fault evictions, the reforms also introduce new limits on what personal background information landlords and real estate agents can request from prospective tenants, along with a mandate that requires property owners to offer at least one rent payment option that does not charge extra processing fees to renters.

State officials confirmed that the Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety will launch a public consultation period to gather feedback on the fine details of the legislation as the drafting process moves forward. In a formal announcement of the reforms, Western Australian Premier Roger Cook emphasized that the changes are designed to reinforce rental security and build a more equitable housing market for all residents. “Ending no-grounds terminations and replacing them with commonsense, clearly defined reasons for eviction makes Western Australia’s rental market far fairer,” Cook said. “This next wave of residential tenancies reforms builds on our previous changes, which included a ban on competitive rent bidding and limiting rent increases to no more than once every 12 months.”

Commerce Minister Tony Buti added that the reform package responds directly to growing cost-of-living pressures that have left many private renters at constant risk of unexpected displacement. “The government is committed to reform that ensures fairness across the board, and that includes making sure no Western Australian loses their private tenancy amid rising cost-of-living pressures,” Buti said. “This has flow-on benefits for the entire community. At the same time, the next phase of tenancy reforms demonstrates our commitment to providing stronger protections for renters and a fairer, more secure housing system for all.”

Not all stakeholders have backed the plan, however. The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) has emerged as the policy’s most prominent critic, with president Suzanne Brown warning that the change will backfire for both landlords and renters, leaving “no winners” in the already strained rental market. Brown stressed that the organization’s opposition is not rooted in anti-tenant bias, but in concern for the long-term stability of Western Australia’s rental supply. “Across the state, the rental market has not fully recovered from the mass exodus of investors that followed the COVID-19 pandemic,” Brown said. “Western Australia cannot afford to lose any more rental properties. Another drop in supply will see the vacancy rate fall even further, competition for available properties increase, and put even more upward pressure on rent prices that are already out of reach for many families.”

Tenant advocacy groups have pushed back strongly against these warnings, arguing that data from other Australian states that have already implemented no-grounds eviction bans shows no measurable negative impact on overall rental supply. Jesse Noakes, a campaigner with the End Unfair Evictions coalition, noted that even if some property investors choose to exit the market following the reform, existing properties do not disappear from the housing system entirely. “Even if a property investor sells a house, it is not as if it disappears into a puff of smoke. Either it houses someone who was previously renting, or it returns to the rental market shortly after,” Noakes said. Citing data from Anglicare, he added that available rental supply in Western Australia has already collapsed from more than 14,000 available properties in 2018 to just 3,000 in 2024, meaning the market cannot get any tighter than it already is. “The rental market can’t get any worse – this can only make things better for renters across the state,” he said.

While some progressive political leaders have welcomed the announcement as a long-overdue win for tenant rights, the Western Australian Greens have argued that the proposed reforms do not go far enough to address the state’s housing crisis. Tim Clifford, the Greens’ WA housing spokesperson, called the ban a historic step forward, but warned that similar legislation in other Australian states contains significant loopholes that still allow landlords to carry out de facto no-fault evictions, such as through extreme rent hikes that force renters to leave voluntarily. “We’re still going to introduce our rent cap bill this week, because we do know the government will walk back from any reforms if we do not maintain pressure on them to deliver stronger protections,” Clifford said.

Sydney, Australia – As public hearings kick off for Australia’s national royal commission investigating rising antisemitism, witnesses are delivering harrowing firsthand accounts of grief, fear, and a dramatic shift in social acceptance of anti-Jewish hatred tied to the December 2024 Bondi Beach Hanukkah shooting that left 15 people dead. The commission was convened in direct response to the deadly attack, the first major public inquiry of its kind focused on addressing a documented surge in antisemitic violence and harassment across the nation.

Sheina Gutnick, the daughter of victim Reuven Morrison, was the first witness to take the stand at the Sydney public hearing on Monday. Morrison, a Jewish Australian who fled the Soviet Union at age 14 and built his life in Australia, meeting his wife on iconic Bondi Beach, was killed while rushing to stop the attackers by hurling objects at the gunmen to disrupt their shooting rampage. In raw, emotional testimony, Gutnick detailed the abuse she has endured in the attack’s aftermath, including direct messages calling for her own death. She also described a stark, alarming shift in the visibility of antisemitism dating back to October 2023, saying anti-Jewish rhetoric has rapidly moved from the margins to mainstream public discourse.

“I felt as though antisemitism was allowed to come into the open,” Gutnick told the commission. “All of a sudden it was socially, morally acceptable for antisemitic comments to be made in public discourse.” Even the place her parents fell in love now carries heavy, conflicting emotions for Gutnick: “Bondi held ‘complicated’ feelings for me, despite having beautiful childhood memories at the famous beach,” she added.

The attack, carried out by 50-year-old gunman Sajid Akram who was shot dead by responding police at the scene, also involved his son Naveed Akram, the alleged second attacker. Naveed Akram was critically wounded during the police response, has since been moved from hospital to custody, and faces 59 criminal charges including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist act.

A second witness, identified only as AAL for safety reasons, also broke down during his testimony, describing decades of love for his adopted country after moving from South Africa in the 1980s, but now questioning whether it is a safe home for his grandchildren. “I treated Australia as home from the day I stepped off the plane,” AAL said. “I have to admit things have changed – I have to think very seriously whether this is the country for my grandchildren.”

Commission officials confirmed that as of Monday morning, nearly 7,500 public submissions have been received from community members and stakeholders across the country. This first phase of public hearings, scheduled to run through May 15, centers on collecting firsthand lived experiences of antisemitism from victims and community members.

Last week, Virginia Bell, a former High Court justice leading the inquiry, released an interim report containing 14 urgent policy recommendations. Key proposals include strengthening national gun reform regulations and expanding dedicated police protection currently reserved for major Jewish high holy days to all Jewish community events. Bell has already noted that the sharp spike in antisemitism recorded in Australia mirrors surges seen across other Western nations, and is directly linked to ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“It’s important that people understand how quickly those events can prompt ugly displays of hostility towards Jewish Australians simply because they’re Jews,” Bell said ahead of this week’s hearings. The commission is on track to deliver its final full report to the government on the one-year anniversary of the December shooting.