Issue 87: 21 April to 27 April

## INFLATION

‘I’m alive, and that’s it’: rising cost of living puts pressure on people already struggling
Caitlyn Cassidy | The Guardian
Australia’s largest annual rise in inflation for decades compounds the suffering for those hit by the national rental crisis

The 6-4-2 solution
John Quiggin | John Quiggin’s Blogstack
Wages should be growing at 6 per cent a year, prices at 4 per cent, cash rate 2 per cent

Job insecurity: close your eyes and you can’t see it
Ross Gittins | SMHAge
Businesses have used their power to cut their labour costs and any workers’ jobs have become less secure in the process.

## ELECTION

The Coalition’s man problem
Lucy Hamilton | Overland
The political character of the Coalition reflects the degree to which the Australian Right is no longer merely conservative, but part of the worldwide resurgence of patriarchal authoritarian politics.

Adam Bandt needs to google the Uluru Statement from the Heart
Thomas Mayor | Crikey
The Greens leader has insulted First Nations peoples by putting a Voice last after truth and a treaty — disregarding the statement’s wishes.

In Australia’s election campaign the silence on climate is deafening 
Greg Jericho | The Guardian
Always remember Australia’s emissions cuts since 2005 only look good if you count the massive level of land clearing that occurred in 2005. 

Clive Palmer and how to buy the balance of power
Rick Morton | The Saturday Paper
As speculation mounts that Clive Palmer will seek a preference deal w ith the Coalition, his advertising spending in some markets is more than 200 times that of his rivals. 

Once upon a time on the Gold Coast: with Can-Do, Diane and Yanni — and the Noosa Church of Satan
Guy Rundle | Crikey
Let’s face it. Surfers Paradise is the only place where libertarianism makes sense

Activists blockade world’s biggest coal port 
Niko Leka | Green Left
A blockade of the world’s biggest coal port on April 24 was a success: no coal ships transited Newcastle Port.

Australian election campaign covers up housing affordability crisis
John Davis | World Socialist Web Site

## AFIELD

Controlling the Ukraine Narrative
Simon Cooper | Arena
When Elon Musk announced that he was going to attempt to ‘buy’ Twitter the response was predictably divided, but it still tells us something about the changed politics of much of the Left towards media and culture, and how this currently plays onto to a wider setting like that of the war in Ukraine. 

A year of hunger: how the Russia-Ukraine war is worsening climate-linked food shortages
Ro McFarlane, Nenad Naumovski, Shawn Somerset | The Conversation

The flood of women and children from Putin’s war is a despicable gift to human traffickers
Amber Schulz | Crikey

The Politics of Musk 
Bruce Wolpe | Pearls and Irritations

## MISC

Refugees celebrate their freedom with a cricket match 
Mayura Ashok | Green Left

End the bipartisan torture of refugees
Aran Mylvaganam | Red Flag
The day after the federal election was called, I met Pushpanayaki, a Tamil mother with two children, in Sunshine in Melbourne’s western suburbs. She witnessed the Sri Lankan army murder tens of thousands of people in 2009, during the final days of its war against our people. Pushpanayaki fled the genocide with her husband; they came to Australia as refugees.

Temporary Protection Visas achieve little in stopping boats
Abul Rizvi | Independent Australia
Most of the debate on the effectiveness of TPVs has been devoid of any reference to actual evidence — so let’s look at the evidence.

In Australia, Precarious University Workers Are Stepping Up the Fight
Anastasia Kanjere | Jacobin
Australian universities have been hit hard by decades of neoliberal austerity. Now, after countless job losses and rising workloads, university workers are taking the fight to managers and vice chancellors.

Children isolated and ‘fed through a hatch’ at Don Dale
Esther Linder | The Saturday Paper

What the Amazon Labor Union win can teach Australia
Godfrey Moase | Overland
It is vital that leaders and militants within the Australian trade union movement learn from and adapt that which is applicable from the Amazon Labor Union win to the specifically Australian industrial context.