The Guardian • Anna Pha
Issue #1947
Casuals Con
The centrepiece of the Coalition government’s industrial relations Omnibus bill is the schedule on casual employees.
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Issue #1949
Ignoring workers: the government’s “recovery” is grim
The underemployed need more hours of work. Low and middle-income workers need a wage rise, job security, and affordable public housing.
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Issue #1958
May Day: Fight for the right to strike
May Day 2021 is a time to take the struggle to the streets; to show the full strength and might of the working class; and take back the losses of recent decades.
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Issue #1948
Direct assault on wages and conditions
While the Coalition’s industrial relations omnibus bill looks very different to the Howard government’s notorious WorkChoices, in effect, it has the same aims.
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Issue #1961
Pro-business – Anti-worker
Women, aged care, and jobs were to be the focus of the 2021-22 federal budget – or so we were led to believe, prior to its release.
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Issue #1951
A New Accord?
“Governments create the environment that enables business to prosper and create new jobs,” said Anthony Albanese in a speech to Queensland TAFE earlier this month.
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Issue #1969
What value has the country’s keeper of our history?
It says a lot about the values and priorities of the Morrison government when the body responsible for protecting Australia’s historical records is forced to go to the public with a begging bowl to save hundreds of thousands of important historical records.
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Issue #1966
The destruction of Medicare by stealth
Without warning, the government announced changes to more than 900 Medicare rebates, mostly in private hospitals, to commence 1st July.
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Issue #1952
Domestic violence and its systemic perpetration
At least one child is killed by a parent every month; one woman is murdered every week by a partner or former partner; another hospitalised every three hours.
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Issue #1960
COVID-19
The pandemic is ravaging India with more than one million new cases every three days – a figure which is undoubtedly a gross underestimate.
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Issue #1967
Govt white-ants super yet again
On 17th June, the government rushed through both Houses legislation on superannuation.
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Issue #1971
Bring back Jobkeeper!
Thousands of workers face a substantial loss of income with the extension of lockdowns in Victoria and NSW and a new one in South Australia.
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Issue #1959
Climate Summit: “THE WORLD IS ON RED ALERT”
The growing recognition of the urgency by world leaders was reflected at the virtual climate summit called by US President Joe Biden from 22nd to 23rd April.
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Issue #1965
COVID: It is a race!
As the Victorian state government continued to grapple with the more virulent Delta variant of COVID-19, the federal government failed to recognise the seriousness of the situation.
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Issue #1957
Respect at work: sexual harassment not on!
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins released the Commission’s Respect@Work report on sexual harassment in the workplace more than twelve months ago.
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Issue #1970
HARD SHUT DOWN NOW!
The situation in NSW is extremely serious. The Delta strain is far more infectious and deadly than earlier strains. Almost ten per cent of those who tested positive have been hospitalised.
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Issue #1971
Vaccination the only way out
The delta strain of COVID-19 had spread to all states on the eastern seaboard and to South Australia and border closures are in place at the time of writing.
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Issue #1968
Only solidarity can defeat COVID
Around the globe, COVID-19 in its various mutations continues to spread, with the health systems of many developing nations unable to cope and vaccines in short supply.
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Issue #1956
Govt to hit Women’s super
Last month, Superannuation Minister Jane Hume (also Minister for Women’s Economic Security [sic]) announced that a draft bill would be released soon for superannuation changes, including new compassionate grounds for early access to super for victims of domestic violence. They would be allowed to apply for up to $10,000 “as an important last resort lifeline.”
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Issue #1955
Omnibus bill wounded but not buried
The Coalition’s omnibus industrial relations bill was torn apart in the Senate on Thursday 18th March, leaving only the section on casuals intact. On the same day Parliament passed a bill for the (pre-COVID base rate) unemployment benefit (JobSeeker) to be increased by an insulting and punitive $25 a week – just $3.57 a day extra – when the COVID supplement ceases at the end of March. JobKeeper is being withdrawn at the same time.
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