Issue 46: 27 May – 2 June 2021

June 3, 2021June 3, 2021 editor

We healthcare workers steel ourselves for a battle we hope does not return to Victoria’s hospitals
Stephen Parnis | The Guardian
My medical colleagues and I have warned of the risks from a sense of complacency and a woeful public education effort

Australia’s reckless coronavirus response
Jerome Small | Red Flag
If there were any justice in the world, Scott Morrison would have choked on his words as he praised the people of Victoria for our “steadfast resilience” as we went back into lockdown this week. But Labor also has plenty to answer for in the failures that have led to the current outbreak in Victoria.

Government stimulus remains very much needed during Australia’s recovery
Greg Jericho | The Guardian
The past year has shown just how vital government spending is during a recession. As we embark on the recovery, however, the latest job figures show that the public sector remains utterly crucial to keeping the economy afloat.

As an Australian I’m lucky that I got my first jab. I’m confounded why luck had to come into it
Van Badham | The Guardian
Is Australia really in the grip of ‘vaccine hesitancy’, or is the national affliction ‘government vaccine failure’

Politicians have spent decades dismantling almost the only solution to the pandemic
Ross Gittins | Nine Newspapers
In a pandemic, governments aren’t the problem, they’re the answer. Pretty much the only answer.

Mission infectious: how the government sparked an aged care outbreak
Bernard Keane | Crikey
The government has consistently made wrong decisions on vaccines and quarantine. If there are no aged care casualties, it will be sheer dumb luck.

The latest COVID-19 lockdown reveals Melbourne’s true colours
Guy Rundle | Crikey
Well here we are in Melbourne, locked down for another week. It’s cold and damp, and everything is shut, the city is half-deserted, and “For Lease” signs are everywhere. I’ve gotta say I’m enjoying this immensely.

The end of the population pyramid
John Quiggin | Inside Story
“A surplus of young people” is needed to “drive economies and help pay for the old,” as the New York Times put it in its report on the 2020 figures. But this model of the economy only emerged in the twentieth century, and it looks likely to end in the twenty-first.

Bitter harvest
Hamish McDonald | Inside Story
The pandemic has increased the bargaining power of seasonal workers in rural Australia. But how long will that last?

Reform of ‘human services’ sectors another example of magical thinking
Ross Gittins | Nine Newspapers
The government is hot to trot on micro-economic reform of the care sectors but we’ve been here before and seen many stuff-ups.

What the duty of care to prevent climate change risks means
Ned Hirst | Overland
Last week, the Federal Court found that the Commonwealth minister for the environment owed a duty of care to eight Australian children when exercising her statutory functions to approve or not approve a coal mine.

Astroturfing: “alliance of timber workers” or alliance of timber corporate executives?
Tasha May | Michael West Media

Research claims AFL anti-vilification code ‘eradicated’ player-to-player racism
Teisha Cloos | National Indigenous Times

Our vulnerable patients trust us but Victoria’s vaccination system is hard to navigate
Mariam Tokhi, Lester Mascarenhas | The Guardian

Did our spies play a role in the Pinochet coup? We may soon find out
Kishor Napier-Raman | Crikey

Hobbit laws and the race to the bottom in the global film market
Benjamin Clark | Overland

Colombia’s anti-capitalist rebellion
Yanis Iqbal | Green Left Weekly

Aotearoa New Zealand: Western Sahara activists, XR picket fertiliser plant
Kerry Smith | Green Left Weekly

Water activists win against Adani
Margaret Gleeson | Green Left Weekly

Democracy, apartheid, settler-colonialism: what is Israel?
Daniel Taylor | Red Flag

BHP carbon accounting good for executive bonuses, not for climate
Peter Milne | Michael West Media

Without a Mass Membership, Australia’s Labor Party Is on the Road to Nowhere
Ben Halliday | Jacobin

Right-wing media backs Alan Tudge on ‘leftist’ history curriculum
A L Jones | Independent Australia