Anna Pha

The Guardian • Anna Pha

Issue #2042

GREEN NOTES

One of the biggest con jobs foisted on the Australian public and the planet is Chevron’s $81 billion Gorgon “clean gas” project in WA. It...

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Issue #2020

Our Members Be Unlimited – Sam Wallman

If the trade union movement is to have a future, then it is in today’s youth. There is not a great deal of material written...

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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 #2036

Commodification of health care

Since its introduction in 1984, Australia’s national health insurance scheme, Medicare, has been under constant attack from the privateers. Medicare is an anathema to their...

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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 #2052

GREEN NOTES

Anna Pha If you think the transition to renewables and following what the climate science dictates means phasing out fossil fuels, that’s not what the...

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Issue #1984

No to war!: nuclear is back

Imperialism and war go hand in hand.

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Issue #2037

The great carbon fraud

Earlier this month Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen released a consultation paper proposing a carbon credit scheme for Australia’s largest greenhouse gas emitters...

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Issue #2025

Diversity – sustainability – socialism

Cuba is one of the world’s most sustainable economies despite the six decades’ long illegal and economically crippling US blockade. Since the 1960s, the Cuban...

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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 #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 #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 #1991

BUDGET RAZOR GANG

Despite everything that the Morrison government says about not pursuing “budget repair”, that is exactly what it is doing.

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Issue #2000

Climate change: Capitalism killing the earth

“The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health.”

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Issue #2032

A peace & peoples’ budget

Annual budgets are a mirror held up to the class divide. The income and expenditure sides of the budget come down to priorities. The budget...

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Issue #2018

Listen to the science! State of the environment report

During the 2019-2020 bushfires thirty-three lives were lost, more than seven million hectares were burnt, more than 3,000 home destroyed. In the most recent floods,...

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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 #2005

Shelter a basic human right

Australia is facing a massive housing crisis. As it becomes increasingly more difficult to find affordable rental accommodation, governments are turning their backs on renters...

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Issue #2036

Build the fightback

Decades of privatisations, job cuts and wage suppression and more recently the cuts masked by measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, have taken a huge...

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Issue #2048

GREEN NOTES

Anna Pha The horrendous spectacle of a carpet of millions of dead fish floating on the Darling River at Menindee is yet another wake-up call...

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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 #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 #2050

GREEN NOTES

Anna Pha Australians spend more than $570 and consume around 500 litres per person on bottled water per annum – second only to Singapore. The...

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Issue #2028

Bed block

“We are not excelling, we are drowning.” This is the headline of the NSW branch of the Australian Paramedics Association’s (APA) submission to the NSW...

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Issue #2040

GREEN NOTES

Anna Pha Welcome to Green Notes, a fortnightly column which will cover climate change, environmental issues and biodiversity and their impact on humanity including indigenous...

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Issue #1999

Climate change – ACT NOW!

Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the floods along the east coast of Australia as a “one-in-a-100-year event”; NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet called them a “one-in-1000-year...

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Issue #2017

State of the Environment report

“Overall, the state and trend of the environment of Australia are poor and deteriorating as a result of increasing pressures from climate change, habitat loss,...

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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 #2033

Time for a centralised bargaining system

Prior to the adoption of the Accord in 1983 between the Labor government and the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Australia had a highly centralised...

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Issue #2021

Profiteering & neglect: the aged care crisis

The aged care sector is in crisis. The failings are systemic and require fundamental structural changes. Aged care has been commodified by corporate and church...

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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 #2035

Hear her voice

This article contains references to examples of experiences of First Nations peoples, and language that is disrespectful and offensive to their culture, history, people and...

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Issue #2046

GREEN NOTES

Anna Pha Humanity faces two major existential threats: climate change and nuclear war. The doomsday clock is ticking on both these threats. Ironically, the US...

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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 #2007

Who rules Australia?

One of the striking features of federal elections is their increasingly undemocratic nature and Americanisation. Much of the electioneering by major parties has been short...

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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 #2016

Fund public health

Hospitals and their staff are at breaking point as the wave of BA.4/BA.5 COVID-19 sub-strains and flu send hospitalisations to breaking point. GPs across Australia...

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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 #2006

Toothless tiger in the capitalist jungle

The question of the integrity of government has emerged as a major issue in the lead-up to the May 21st federal elections as Prime Minister...

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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 #2024

“Put children before profit”

Tens of thousands of early childhood educators walked off the job across the country to take part in rallies and marches on 7th September. More...

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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 #2027

Data harvesters

The Privacy Act makes it unlawful for many companies in Australia to buy or exchange consumers’ personal data for profiling or targeting purposes. It applies...

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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 #2028

Health care is a human right

Reports of emergency patients waiting up to thirty-six hours or more to be off-loaded from ambulances at public hospital emergency departments (EDs) are indicative of...

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Issue #2031

Class war budget

The budget, delivered on 25th October, is set in the context of a looming global recession, ongoing wars, rocketing prices, extreme weather events, famine, and...

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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 #2001

Budget alternative: For peace and genuine security

As the cost of living soars the number of working poor is on the rise and more and more families are turning to charities for...

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Issue #2033

Time to break the shackles

Labor’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay bill gives lie to its title. It fails to provide trade unions and the working class with the unfettered right...

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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 #2044

GREEN NOTES

Anna Pha Last month Labor’s minister for environmental destruction, Tanya Plibersek, quietly granted Santos a licence to open 116 new coal seam gas wells in...

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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 #1982

Beware fake unions!

They claim they are a cheaper and “independent alternative” to registered trade unions.

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Issue #2008

Fight for change

“We want change,” was the message to the major parties. The Liberals copped a routing as millions of people sought change. Most of the Murdoch...

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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 #2029

Australia: The big polluter

Australia is the world’s largest gas and coal exporter. There are currently 114 new or expanded fossil fuel projects awaiting approval. In 2021-22, governments in...

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Issue #2030

Medicare under attack

An investigation by the ABC, and the Nine newspapers Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, claims that $8 billion (approximately thirty per cent) of Medicare’s...

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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 #2002

Budget 2022-23 – CLASS WAR

The budget announced by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is a pre-election, last ditch, vote-buying exercise from the Morrison government. Voters struggling with rising prices and falling...

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Issue #2034

Climate change wreaks havoc

Lives have been lost and thousands of homes have been flooded and destroyed as the floods continue to hit eastern Australia. People have lost their...

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Issue #2023

Jobs and Skills Summit: dangerous illusions for workers

Workers and their families are looking for real change – real wage rises, secure jobs, safe working conditions, with adequately funded and staffed health and...

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Issue #2048

NSW: Coalition booted out

The message from NSW voters on 25th March was loud and clear. The Perrottet Coalition government took a hit, losing twelve of its 47 seats...

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Issue #2025

Good planets are hard to find

La Niña event is under way for the third year in a row according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The Pacific, including Australia, can expect...

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Issue #2009

Feet on the ground

After nine years of corrupt, anti-people, climate deniers in office, the newly elected Albanese Labor government faces many challenges. Expectations of real change are high,...

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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 #2011

Abolish the ABCC

The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) has used the courts to hit building and construction unions with fines of $15.262 million since 2nd December...

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Issue #2013

Big win for gig workers

Gig workers had a ground-breaking win last month when the Personal Injury Commission (PIC) awarded the family of Xiaonjun Chen $834,000 in workers’ compensation after...

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Issue #2014

Time for a wage rise

The cost-of-living crisis has not abated as households face further economic pressures with interest rates and inflation on the rise. Trade union militancy is on...

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Issue #2015

Policy-induced violence

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...

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Issue #2004

Boot the Coalition out!

The Coalition government has comprehensive plans to destroy militant trade unions and give employers arbitrary powers and unfettered rights over workers in the workplace. The...

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Issue #2022

The aged care crisis

How does a non-profit charitable organisation that is sixty-nine per cent funded by government, and claims to operate at a loss, find $1.4 billion to...

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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 #2049

NO to AUKUS! – YES to Medicare!

Medicare as a public health insurance scheme offering universal access to bulkbilling, and funded through central revenue is becoming a distant memory. GPs are fully...

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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 #2010

Energy prices explode: capitalism in crisis

Consumers face soaring energy costs as Australia’s gas and thermal coal exporters rake in windfall profits. The incoming Labor government has inherited the legacy of...

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Issue #2027

Optus: data is gold

Millions of angry Optus customers are horrified and concerned that the security of their personal details was breached in a cyberattack on the company. Optus’...

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Issue #2012

The sun will shine, the wind will blow

Australia is on the brink of a total collapse of its domestic energy market amid a crisis that has been decades in the making. If...

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Issue #2040

Chalmers’ oxymoron

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says it is time to “rethink capitalism,” time for a “values-based capitalism” with “efficient markets.” He is critical of the neoliberal responses...

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Issue #2039

Creeping encroachment on press freedom

The Labor government has announced that it will hold a national roundtable with media organisations and “key stake holders” to discuss press freedom reform. The...

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Issue #2040

An unsustainable govt

In the February Monthly Essay, “Capitalism After the Crises”, Treasurer Jim Chalmers refers to “hard decisions” that “will accompany hard times ahead” and “the unsustainable...

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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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Issue #2038

Blow up the pokies

Australia has the highest per capita gambling losses in the world – more than double those of the USA. These losses come at a huge...

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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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Medical appointment via telehealth. Photo: hillside7 – pixabay.com Issue #2050

For-profit health in the trolley

In the language of privatisation, Sydney’s public trains call the millions who use the system daily, not commuters, but “customers.” Now, with Woolworths, the giant...

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Issue #2041

Medicare plan – BULK PROFITS

For anyone looking for solutions to the Medicare crisis, the Albanese government’s Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report raises more questions than it answers. It is full...

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Outside of the Reserve Bank of Australia, a solitary man sits. Issue #2053

The facts about wage rises and inflation

There has been no shortage of news headlines, big business and government warnings that a wages breakout will cause inflation: “Teachers’ rise a risk to...

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Issue #2043

Where is super heading?

When the Albanese government released a superannuation consultation paper last month, it brought the usual suspects out of the woodwork. The hysteria was a reminder...

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Samantha Power, Administrator of the US Agency for International Development meets with Penny Wong, Australian’s Foreign Minister. Issue #2051

Cut-and-paste US world domination

“So today I want to talk to you about how we avert war and maintain peace – and more than that, how we shape a...

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Issue #2052

Not a People’s Budget

Budgets involve a redistribution of wealth reflecting government priorities and serving class interests. The 2023-24 federal budget has clear priorities. The big winners are the...

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Issue #2043

“Wage-price spiral” myth

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe expressed concern that workers would get much higher pay rises in response to inflation, which he claims...

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Banner: Issue #2054

Cancel Stage 3 tax cuts!

Over the past two decades the bottom 90 per cent of Australians on average have received only seven per cent of economic growth per person...

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youth behind fence Issue #2044

CRIMINALISING CHILDREN

Australian governments are quick to point the finger at human rights abuses in other countries, but Australia’s record is nothing short of disgraceful when it...

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Issue #2047

“Defuse climate time-bomb”

“This is the earth’s last chance to avoid climate disaster,” warns the Intergovernmental UN Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC in its latest report...

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Issue #2050

Fight back!

May Day is just eight days away from the federal budget. All we hear from Treasurer Jim Chalmers are attempts to soften up the electorate...

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Issue #2043

INTEREST RATE TIME BOMB

Two thirds of households face a hit as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments and drive up their rent. At the same time household...

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