The Guardian • Anna Pha
Issue #1979
Afghanistan: what’s next?
Little was said about the horrendous consequences of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan and the tens of thousands of Afghan lives that were lost, and the wreckage and chaos that was left behind following the hasty withdrawal by US and allied troops.
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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 #1988
Death knell for fossil fuels
On the 12th of November, the Coalition released its long-awaited plan to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
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Issue #1989
Health care a right, not a privilege
The Liberal-National Coalition has never supported Medicare, constantly undermining it since its introduction.
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Issue #1975
UN IPCC Report: Australia’s role
Australia has already warmed by an alarming 1.4°C since 1910.
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Issue #1973
No tax cuts for the rich!
Labor leader Anthony Albanese and Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers shocked many in their own ranks when they announced that Labor would support the Coalition’s tax cuts which overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy.
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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 #1974
UN IPCC Report
“Climate change is already affecting every inhabited region across the globe with human influence contributing to many observed changes in weather and climate extremes.”
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Issue #1990
Legislating bigotry
It has taken three years and two previously aborted bills for the latest incarnation of the Coalition’s highly controversial Religious Discrimination Bill to appear.
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Issue #1984
Greenwashing dirty investments
Is there a company that doesn’t claim to support the Paris Agreement on climate change? The agreement was signed in 2015 and since then the...
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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 #1976
Australia fails the Pacific islands
The small, low-lying Pacific islands are often described as “the canary in the coalmine.” The very existence and lives of their people are threatened by climate change.
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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 #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 #1987
COP26: Colonial plunder
As the COP26 climate change meeting entered its second week, the divide between developing and developed countries and their colonial history has been laid bare.
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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 #1977
Truckies in fight of their lives
Seven thousand Toll drivers are in a battle to save their jobs and working conditions.
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Issue #1980
Australia’s own goal
US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Australia’s PM Scott Morrison lined up like three stooges in a stage-managed virtual presentation to announce the formation of yet another military alliance
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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 #1985
JOBS NOT WAR!
The AUKUS alliance between Australia, the UK and the US turns the meaning of security on its head.
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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 #1975
Income support during post-test isolation
Unions NSW have had a breakthrough for workers, winning a $320 COVID Test and Isolate support payment from the NSW Coalition government to cover obligatory stay-at-home time following a COVID test. Victoria has a similar $450 Coronavirus Test Isolation Payment.
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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 #1982
Beware fake unions!
They claim they are a cheaper and “independent alternative” to registered trade unions.
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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 #1978
Wealth gap widens
The latest national income figures showing economic growth barely above zero are suggestive of a sluggish economy, struggling to avoid recession. The economy is hardly...
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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 #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 #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 #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 #1986
“Code red for humanity”: Glasgow Climate Summit
The rich G20 countries, responsible for more than eighty per cent of human-made emissions.
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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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