Issue 42 : 29 April – 5 May 2021

What Mike Pezzullo is really pushing in his war of words with China
Guy Rundle | Crikey
On the day that we remember the thousands of lives thrown away in an effort to make Turkey British, Department of Home Affairs head Mike Pezzullo announced we might soon be going again. This time to get between China and Taiwan apparently. Or, to put it more exactly, China and another bit of China.

The government’s embrace of ‘clean hydrogen’ helps no one but the fossil fuel industry
Richard Denniss | The Guardian
The idea of “clean coal” first showed up around 20 years ago, when its early salespeople assured us that there was no need to stop building new coal mines or coal-fired power stations because, one day soon, new technology would allow us to collect the carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels and bury it safely underground. One day. Soon.

Systemic reckonings and online learning
John Ryan | Arena Online
The paradox of teaching then is that teachers are attempting to create contexts for students to think for themselves, to stay sane in an age of division while operating within an institutional structure designed to create compliant and obedient workers, a goal that is continually reinforced by the state for neoliberal purposes.

Help India’s COVID-19 outbreak with justice and healthcare not racism and profiteering
Alex Bainbridge, Sarah Hathway, Sam Wainwright | Green Left Weekly

Now we’re trying Plan C to end wage stagnation
Ross Gittins | Nine Newspapers
We’ve tried waiting for wages to grow and we’ve tried thinking of how to improve productivity, now we’re looking at engineering labour shortages to see if lifts stubbornly low wage growth.

New economic rule: The budget’s the only game in town
Ross Gittins | Nine Newspapers
With monetary policy having lost its potency, fiscal policy is the only lever left for the government to stimulate growth and keep our economy recovering.

After the sharp recession, there is little sense of a booming recovery
Greg Jericho | The Guardian
It was, I must admit, nice to see the Treasury note that underemployment is a bit of an issue now… Well done. Welcome to five years ago.

Tax debate is yet to catch up with new politics of deficit
Ben Oquist | Australian Financial Review
Debt might be the new black, but the left can’t forget about the need for higher taxation

Years in the making, an unlikely coalition sends big coal packing from the Liverpool Plains — for now
Guy Rundle | Crikey

Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine shambles a symptom of neoliberalism
Markela Panegyres | Green Left Weekly

Turning a profit from death: on Modi’s pandemic response in neoliberal India
Tithi Bhattacharya | Red Flag

In Cold Blood: how privatisation of CSL abandoned the victims of Australia’s public health tragedy
Elizabeth Minter | Michael West Media

Australian Women Don’t Need Scott Morrison’s Empty Rhetoric — They Need Economic Justice
Nina Dillon Britton

The transformative potential of a universal basic income
Tim Dunlop | Eureka Street

Why delivery workers across the globe are rising up against exploitation
Taroa Zúñiga Silva | Green Left Weekly

Australia gives drones to Sri Lankan police
Chris Slee | Green Left Weekly

Casualisation: Abuse by an other name 
Paul Gardner | Arena Online

May Day brings the fight for jobs and climate together
Pip Hinman | Green Left Weekly

How corporate greed is prolonging the pandemic
Ben Hillier | Red Flag

Pandemic a hothouse for far-Right politics
Gerard Gill | Independent Australia

Football, money and the nature of the local
Andrew Hamilton | Eureka Street