Issues

Issue 76: 3 February to 9 February

‘The worst torture destroys a person’s character’
Mehdi Ali | The Saturday Paper
I cannot wait for another election believing that it will mean the end of my detention. We must be released now.

Big Business Backed “Let It Rip” Covid-19 Policy A Disaster For Working People
Ned K | Vanguard

Conspiracy community: Canberra protesters bound by alienation and anger
Amber Schultz | Crikey

‘Black lives matter’ say detained youth from inside Don Dale isolation block
Stephen W Enciso | Green Left

#economy

With inflation on the rise, Australia’s cost of living will dominate the election debate
Greg Jericho | The Guardian
On Wednesday the latest cost-of-living index showed that in 2021 the cost of living for those in vulnerable situations – those on pensions or jobseeker – rose quite ahead of those who live in households where the main income comes from employment.

Australia’s aged care crisis will necessitate higher taxes
Ross Gittins | TheAgeSMH
Problems and pressures from the public get so great it means the government has to relent and start spending more.

Tax-deductible RATs deliver nothing to the lowest-paid. How very Morrison government
Richard Denniss | The Guardian
While a part-time cleaner working in the aged care sector will probably receive zero benefit from tax-deductible RATs, someone earning $200,000 a year would get $9.40 back on a $20 test.

Why there’s no magic jobless rate to increase Australians’ wages
Jim Stanford | The Conversation
If we want higher wages, we must win them through deliberate wage-boosting policies.

#elsewhere

Hemispheric Gangsterism: The embargo on Cuba turns 60
Binoy Kampmark | All mediaThe pseudo-sustainability of speculative aesthetics
Taylor Mitchell | Overland
In crisis-managing the critique of unlimited growth, neoliberal environmental initiatives orient us away from the possibilities of alternative political worlds to capitalism.

Failings of Zuckerberg’s metaverse expose technology for what it is, isn’t
Guy Rundle | Crikey
The flaws of Zuckerberg’s metaverse are becoming clear, but so are the opportunities this new online venture presents, such as a chance to better understand humanity’s relationship with technology

Preparing a cultural policy scorecard
Kate Larsen | Overland
Contradictory reports speak to the tantalising possibility of a new national cultural policy, but are not yet policies themselves.

Outer city areas are running out of GPs
Callum Foote | Michael West Media
With recent graduates choosing to operate in wealthier city suburbs and overseas-trained doctors being pushed into the country, poorer outer-metropolitan areas are set to be hit hard.

Obituary: Harry Van Moorst
Mick Armstrong | Red Flag