Issue 37 – 25 – 31 March 2021

April 1, 2021April 2, 2021 editor

Sorry Albo, manufacturing is the wrong answer for the Australian economy
Bernard Keane | Crikey
Australia is rushing full tilt into a new era of protectionism that means less spending on government services, more poorly paid jobs and fewer opportunities for exporters. And there’s a bipartisan consensus for it.

‘Tough on crime’ measures have failed in the past. The Northern Territory should not resort to them
Sophie Trevitt | The Guardian
After the initial flurry of good work in response to the royal commission findings and the shocking Four Corners footage of children abused in police and prison cells, the NT government has been steadily unwinding the reforms it put in place to improve the lives of children and the entire community.

Is the Liberal Party being forced to kill off its own liberalism?
Guy Rundle | Crikey
The contradictions between liberalism and the politics of gender is now a full-blown crisis.

The Liberals can promise women equality all they like, but nothing changes until the party does
Van Badham | The Guardian
No one wants to be the prime minister who has to answer to allegations that his party staffers have been masturbating on the Parliament House desks. The political playbook on how to handle this particular brand of scandal is, historically, quite thin.

Australia’s post-Covid moment
Geoff Kitney | Inside Story
The pandemic has posed immense tests for governments and political leaders everywhere, and many have failed them. In a turned-upside-down, Covid-stricken world we probably shouldn’t have been too surprised by this month’s Western Australian election result.

The Limits of Science Communication
Chloe Ward | Arena Quarterly
The heavy weight placed on public opinion by the new climate communicators is one that, in an age demanding action on a planetary scale, liberal democracies simply cannot bear. Why not?

New Zealand’s housing market is even worse than Australia. But at least their government is taking action
Greg Jericho | The Guardian
For those feeling aggrieved about our situation, we can at least take solace that across the Tasman house prices are even worse. But at least the government there is looking to act.

Bosses banked JobKeeper, but welfare gets axed
Zak Borzovoy | Red Flag
JobKeeper relief payments went to businesses to subsidise workers’ wages during the pandemic. But the Liberal government handed billions to the bosses with no real strings attached, which made the scheme ripe for rorting.

Banks: bad guys one minute; put-upon credit providers the next
Ross Gittins | Nine Newspapers
The Prime Minister’s form of managing major problems is to hope the media moves on…

How the Labor Party Sold Australia’s Public Assets for a Song
Max Chandler-Mather | Jacobin
Many people think of privatization as a policy of conservative parties. In Australia, however, it was Paul Keating’s Labor that initiated a gigantic fire sale of public assets, setting in motion a process that made billions for private companies at the expense of everyone else.

Julian Assange could finally walk free—if we seize the moment
Scott Ludlam | Arena Online
For the first time in more than a decade there’s cause for hope. The tortuous chain of cause and effect that saw Australian publisher Julian Assange go from global news sensation to a freezing cell in a London prison may at last be ended if the Biden administration decides to make a principled break with the fateful decisions of President Donald Trump.

How the global media tried to manufacture consent on Bolivia
Jesse Ward | Independent Australia
To understand what is going on in Bolivia, one must return to 2019, when then-President Evo Morales was forced to step down amid a surge in extremist violence in the wake of the country’s elections.

Federal Government not keeping track of Indigenous deaths in custody
Rachael Knowles | National Indigenous Times

NT government’s ‘tougher than ever’ approach sets up a Don Dale re-run
Pip Hinman | Green Left Weekly

Delay as dangerous as denial:” Australia faces devastating costs of climate inaction
Sophie Vorrath | Renew Economy

Australia Needs a Working-Class Environmental Movement
Steve Murphy | Jacobin

“How cutting off jobkeeper will slow Australia’s economic recovery
Richard Dennis (podcast – Full Story) | The Guardian

Vibrant Palm Sunday rallies promote refugee rights
Alex Bainbridge | Green Left Weekly

Spain: Failed Socialist Party manoeuvre sparks vital battle for Madrid
Dick Nichols | Green Left Weekly

How ‘transformational’ are Biden’s policies, really?
Ben Hillier | Red Flag

Netherlands: Right’s electoral gains a challenge for the left
Alex De Jong | Green Left Weekly

Papua New Guinea’s COVID surge is a potential disaster
Peter Annear | Red Flag

After Sanders, the US left must break with electoralism
Corey Oakley | Red Flag

Australian billionaires doubled their wealth during Covid-19
Mike Seccombe | The Saturday Paper