Issue 94: 9 June to 15 June 2022
## ENERGY
If the opposition wants a mature discussion about nuclear energy, start with a carbon price. Without that, nuclear is wildly uncompetitive
John Quiggin | The Conversation
So nuclear power could only replace our ageing coal plants if its operating costs are lower. But as long as coal generators are permitted to dump their waste (carbon dioxide and particulate matter) into the atmosphere at no cost, nuclear power can’t compete.
Chris Bowen faces calls to slug gas companies with windfall profits tax
Euan Black | The New Daily
“Bonkers:” Queensland and NSW energy supply crunch underlines farce of broken market
Giles Parkinson | RenewEconomy
Dylan McConnell, from the University of Melbourne, said that what is happening in the market may not be illegal, but it is certainly an example of “gaming the compensation regime.” He noted: “There’s some funny buggers going on. It’s bonkers.”
Power companies accused of ‘unconscionable conduct’ as they withdraw from grid
Mike Foley | Brisbane Times
How your spiking energy bills are making foreign investors rich
Ian Verrender | ABC News
The Heat is Still On: Climate and life at 3 degrees
Hilary Brambrick | Arena Quarterly 9
Albanese needs to keep Australia nuclear-free
Helen Caldicott | Independent Australia
## BEARS AND WAGES
Australia’s bosses are cashing in while workers’ wages decline
Eleanor Morley | Red Flag
The gap between corporate profits and workers’ wages in Australia is at an all-time high. While the economy appears to be recovering from the COVID-induced recession, it’s a recovery for the bosses
alone.
The recovery we had to have has put profits first and wages later – leaving workers out of pocket
Greg Jericho | The Guardian
You may not know it, but Australia’s economy is growing fast and recovering from the deep pandemic recession. You probably don’t know it because during this recovery real wages have fallen and now we have added to the mix the prospect of much higher interest rates.
Why the RBA’s interest rates rise won’t work
Richard Denniss | The Saturday Paper
The Reserve Bank’s decision to raise rates will not substantially address inflation, as questions are asked about the bank’s role and its obligations to workers.
The LoweDown: batten down the hatches for “decisive action” as recession, bear markets loom
Michael West | Michael West Media
Why For-Profit Workplace Insurance Ruins Workers’ Lives
Reece Gittins | Jacobin
In Victoria, Australia, private companies run workplace injury insurance and compensation. Instead of supporting injured workers, this perverse profit-driven system tasks insurance agents with harassing them to disprove their claims or force them back to work.
Australian unions promote NSW government’s cynical wage cap manoeuvre
Martin Scott | World Socialist Web Site
SA unions force government backdown
Nick G | Vanguard
A rally called by the Maritime Union in South Australia for today was cancelled when the Malinauskas Labor government withdrew legislation to amend the Return to Work Act.
## RISE OF THE KNOWLEDGE CLASS
‘Education’ is why federal voting patterns are changing
Ross Gittins | SMHAge
Education levels, particularly among women, and not income, are a key reason why voters have shifted away from the federal Liberal Party towards independents and Labor.
Labor must take the reins of progressivism — otherwise the times will suit no one
Guy Rundle | Crikey
The politics of a knowledge and information society is what won the election, and now it must be made to work for the masses.
Collapse of the modern Liberal Party
Mike Seccombe | The Saturday Paper
The crumbling of the Liberal Party can be traced back to John Howard’s leadership even in opposition, and his remaking of Menzies’ party in his own image.
Intellectuals and Social Being
John Hinkson | Arena
Marx makes many references to how ideas are related to a social basis, but Sohn-Rethel regards it of great significance that science escapes this focus. Elaborating no social basis for scientific ideas allows them to stand alone as essentials to be simply taken for granted, their source and social formation unquestioned.
## ALL OVER THE PLACE
Bunnings, Kmart and The Good Guys using facial recognition technology to crack down on theft, Choice says
Josh Taylor | The Guardian
Goodbye, Moses: farewelling Moss Cass and an era in Melbourne’s west
Guy Rundle | Crikey
The life of Gough Whitlam’s most creative minister is one for radicals to steer their lives by.
What Did East Timor Do To Deserve Us?
Binoy Kampmark | Arena
Fighting the first Britain-Rwandan refugee flight
Binoy Kampmark | Green Left
The first flight from Britain to Rwanda filled with asylum seekers will, unless the Court of Appeal rules otherwise, take off on June 14. Some 31 people of Iraqi and Syrian background have been told they will be on board with one-way tickets.
Remembering the Frontier Wars and striving for systemic change
Isaac Nellist | Green Left
Indigenous psychologists’ call to redirect mental health funds to First Nations services
Rachel Stringfellow | National Indigenous Times
Indigenous psychologists have criticised a state of ‘political limbo’ they claim has led to the funneling of money into non-Indigenous organisations despite years of calls to redirect efforts to community-led, culturally-appropriate models.
How colonisation has left a legacy of poor food choices for First Nations people
Jarred Cross | National Indigenous TImes
The ongoing impacts of colonisation complicates healthy diets and relationships to food for First Nations people in semi-regional areas, a new study has found.
Depp v Heard and the “mutual abuse” argument
Jennifer Wilson | Independent Australia
The Johnny Depp and Amber Heard spectacle demonstrates the damaging consequences of cognitive bias in domestic violence cases.