paper map of australia placed on wall Stuart Roberts robust defence of Robodebt

By:
On:
In: economics, Older Stuff, politics

We are living at a time of rapidly rising costs of living driven by spiking inflation and its consequent interest rate increases. The economy is like a dog chasing its own tail right now. Those many Australians who live on the wrong side of the poverty line are sinking further into dire financial trouble. It is in light of these circumstances that it is important to have an understanding of the Wellbeing Budget. Conservatives have derided the concept as branded by hippy yippy fringe concerns and un-Budget like. The Budget, in their eyes, should be about cold, hard economic facts with no room for sentiment. The woman that the hard right despises most, Jacinta Ardern the NZ prime minister, has had a wellbeing Budget and that is proof of its unsuitability for them. Continue Reading

Sticky
The Liar in the Lodge

By:
On:
In: Older Stuff

I thought that I should write one last time to you on the marking of your defeat and loss of office. A farewell letter to Scott Morrison on behalf of the nation and myself. I will not be sorry to see the last of your smug, self-satisfied face from my TV screen. Nearly 9 years of your white bread, misogynistic government has been damaging to my own life and Australia’s reputation. Your head in the sand stance on global warming has endangered lives and put back the nation a decade. You have decimated the once broad church of the Liberal Party and led its shift to the irrelevant hard right fringes of Australian political life.Continue Reading

Sticky

By:
On:
In: health, Older Stuff

As I sit here heading into another Covid lockdown, this time from the Delta variant, I ponder about our future. Will Covid Sars-2 prove to be our dinosaur extinction moment? Will the Homo sapien’s story end here at the hands of a virus. Perhaps a virus engineered in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, which was funded by American corporate interests. It all sounds like a scenario drawn from the pages of an airport bookstore thriller. However, over 4 million people have lost their lives from this pandemic and deaths are not slowing up anytime soon.Continue Reading

A doctor administering an intramuscular immunization to a middle–aged woman. Original image sourced from US Government department: Public Health Image Library, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Under US law this image is copyright free, please credit the government department whenever you can”.

By:
On:
In: health, Older Stuff

Your daily dose of the virus. COVID19 continues to roll out and over countries across the globe. The pandemic of this novel coronavirus is affecting human beings everywhere. Older people are in fear for their lives and thousands are dead or dying. Australia is facing the largest levels of unemployment in more than 80 years. Lines of desperate people snake outside the doors of Centrelink offices and down streets, as they wait their turn to get welfare. Businesses have been forced to close their doors, including gyms, pubs, cafes, libraries, cinemas, clubs and restaurants. Tens of thousands of casual staff have been let go with immediate effect. The world is suddenly a very different place. We are all being dispensed with our daily dose of the virus news, which is in fact updating hourly. Continue Reading