Issue 99: 21 July – 27 July 2022
# Covid is still here
Next Covid wave: ‘The government is gaslighting the community’
Martin McKenzie-Murray | The Saturday Paper
As leaders ignore calls from their chief health officers for mask mandates, politicians have become ‘the tail wagging the dog’ on precautions to help manage the third wave of Omicron.
The Plague of Resilience
A Psychiatrist | Meanjin
Too much celebrating of individual ‘resilience’ implies that some—‘the vulnerable’—are simply not trying hard enough. It implies that anxiety is always pathological, rather than often a valuable signal.
Why patient access to healthcare in Australia is so unfair
Francesco Paolucci | Indepedent Australia
Australian ruling class demands governments “stand firm” against against safety measures as COVID-19 toll explodes
Mike Head | World Socialist Web Site
# Environment
Evil is patient: why soaring temperatures won’t shift policymakers
Bernard Keane | Crikey
Will a catastrophic summer in Europe deliver real change on climate policy? Not while states remain captured by fossil fuel interests.
Climate policy will take pressure off budget, Treasury secretary says
Jessica Irvine | SMHAge
Penalties for companies who exceed reduced levels of allowable emissions would end up doing more of the heavy lifting in cutting emissions, meaning less reliance on expensive taxpayer-funded grants.
The three things our Energy Minister must do
Alan Kohler | The New Daily
Labor’s hot air on climate
Jameel Deeb | Red Flag
# Growth in what?
Wages growth should be skyrocketing on the back of Australia’s low unemployment. Is the system broken?
Greg Jericho | The Guardian
The hope for productivity driving wages growth will only occur if the labour market truly becomes fair
Joseph Stiglitz on how to make Australia richer
Richard Denniss | The Saturday Paper
Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz discusses the bedrock of a fair economy, balancing freedoms and the role of government.
# Workers and resistance
Sri Lankan student leader says diversity strengthens the people’s movement
Janaka Biyanwila & Lahiru Weerasekera | Green Left
“This [movement] came because the people could not look after their basic needs. This suffering intensified. Even the slogan “Gota go home” comes from this suffering. This is a common struggle; there are people within political parties, people without party affiliation, trade unionists and artists. They all participate in this struggle.”
Downer gets a cold shoulder from angry workers
B Bill | Vanguard
Nurses’ union raises pay claim under pressure from rank and file
Chloe Rafferty | Red Flag
Metal workers set up picket line for fair wages
Sue Bolton | Green Left# Miscellaneous
Scott Morrison is still living in progressives’ heads. Time to evict him
Guy Rundle | Crikey
Why is the former PM still such a focal point for progressives? Probably because Labor continues to fail to live up to long-held political fantasies.
Long-time justice advocate sworn in as Northern Territory’s first Aboriginal judge
Giovanni Torre | National Indigenously Times
Beyond greenwashing: The hollow foundations of ethical capital
Claire Parfitt | Progress in Political Economy
The term ‘ethical capital’ tends to elicit a visceral response. For some people, it suggests a beacon of hope in a post-political world desperate for social and economic transformation. For others, ethical capital is an oxymoron and a greenwashing exercise.
Private reservations
Russell Marks | The Monthly
Australia’s obsession with private schools is only adding to a deepening democratic deficit
Britain is the new El Salvador
John Quiggin | John Quiggin’s Blogstack