Wednesday 27 March 2019

Bits and Pieces: Workers’ Mail.


Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), is promoting the Change The Rules campaign and calling workers to take part in it. On April 10 the ACTU is taking to the streets with a national political protest for fair wage rises and better job security.

The campaign received a significant boost recently when Bill Shorten, Federal Opposition Leader, committed Labor to replace the minimum wage with a living wage.

Can we count on you to be there?

Friday 22 March 2019

Elections in NSW.


Today is election day in New South Wales. As citizens, we are asked to choose among alternatives often hard to distinguish.

In NSW the main socialist party is the Socialist Alliance. These are their policies. They publish the Green Left Weekly. I sympathise with them, without fully embracing that option. In electoral terms their chances are reduced. I’d give them the highest preference, not because I’d expect them to win, but to send a message: if my higher preference is not elected, the vote “flows” to the lower preferences.

My second preference could involve the Greens.

Sunday 17 March 2019

The Gods Must be Crazy.


Capitalism in crisis? Never! Things are getting better and better.

Don’t believe me?

For one, Trump now is defending Clinton.

Saturday 16 March 2019

Sydney: Schools Strike 4 Climate.


(source)
Before commenting on the Schools Strike 4 Climate, I would like to express my solidarity to our New Zealand friends and neighbours in this dark hour and especially to the Kiwi Islamic community. To my deepest shame and regret, an Australian was involved.

Thursday 14 March 2019

The Children’s Crusade.


(Source. Credit: NSW Aboriginal Land Council)

The Darling disaster affected locals. Towns and isolated homesteads lost their water supply and with it their future existence was endangered. In addition to that, Aboriginal nations are seeing their ancestral land for tens of thousands of years destroyed.

They are among the first Australian human victims of climate change.

Saturday 9 March 2019

The Inmates are Running the Asylum.


I live here. What happens in New South Wales and Australia has to interest me. Overseas readers, however, may feel differently.

Ultimately, it’s up to them, but I still think this subject shall be relevant to readers abroad.

It’s not just parochialism that compels me to write about the Murray-Darling Basin. As climate changes, rain patterns are bound to change. Rain is bound to become scarce in areas where it was abundant. I’ve presented this chart before:
(source: PDF)
This nightmare may be coming soon to rural areas near you. If Australia is any indication, the future of our species is bleak.

Tuesday 5 March 2019

Australia: Is Decoupling THE Solution?


Things got hot (pun intended) last Sunday for Barrie Cassidy and Angus Taylor (COALition MP). Cassidy, host of Insiders, interviewed Taylor via remote link. Whether by design or chance, I can’t tell, but that may have saved Cassidy much grief.

The interview soon veered towards the subject of the COALition Government’s record on greenhouse gas emissions reduction. You see, the Commonwealth compiles and periodically releases data on that (with an unexplained delay). The latest release includes yearly data only to 2016, but quarterly data to the September 2018 quarter.

(source)

Above you see a screen capture of the latest official data release’s webpage.

Saturday 2 March 2019

Only in Shtraya, Mite.


Out on its own: Australia the only country to use climate funding to upgrade coal-fired plants
Green finance experts say Australia is out of step with World Bank, Europe and the US, which are using funding to combat global warming
By Adam Morton, March 1, 2019 04.00 AEDT

Told yah so: moolah for the mates.