{"id":16439,"date":"2020-03-10T09:08:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T22:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/?p=16439"},"modified":"2020-03-20T09:11:40","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T22:11:40","slug":"spc-news-march-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/?p=16439","title":{"rendered":"SPC News March 2020."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Follow the links to read these articles in full.
Download a printable version of SPC News.<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Backburning 2009. robdownunder. flickr,cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Editorial. <\/a>The human cost of bushfires<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Peter Whiting<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Images of the devastating bushfires which ravaged the Eastern States over summer have been seared into the Australian consciousness. The spontaneous generosity of Australians not directly affected by the fires is testimony to the empathy evoked by the disaster. Millions of dollars in donations have been raised to help those who have lost so much. Governments have set up disaster recovery funds and mechanisms for distribution to those most in need. But dollars alone will not be sufficient. Much attention is being directed to how these funds should be dispensed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Peruvian Amazon Rainforest. Anna & Michal. flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Why Pope Francis\u2019s letter, \u2018Beloved Amazon\u2019, resonates in Australia<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bruce Duncan<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Many parts of Pope Francis\u2019s response to the recent Amazon Synod could have been written for Australia, especially about European colonisation of the New World, the destruction of indigenous peoples and their cultures, the appropriation of their lands, and the despoilment of natural resources. The Amazon is \u2018facing an ecological disaster\u2019, which is also a social one, within which its inhabitants \u2013 including those of African descent and the river people \u2013 cannot be ignored. Many are experiencing \u2018the worst forms of enslavement, subjection and poverty\u2019. Francis insists that crimes and injustices against Amazonian inhabitants continue, as powerful economic interests occupy indigenous lands for timber or massive mines, and destroy ancient forests to raise cattle and crops for international markets. \u2018The imbalance of power is enormous; the weak have no means of defending themselves, while the winners take it all.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mick Tsikas\/AAP.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Carbon pricing: it’s a proven way to reduce emissions, but everyone’s too scared to mention it<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tony Wood<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Australia\u2019s emissions fell from 611 million tonnes of CO\u2082-equivalent in 2005 to 532 million tonnes in 2019, an average annual reduction of 5.6 million tonnes. But the government\u2019s projections<\/a> show this will slow to an average of only 2.4 million tonnes per year over the next 10 years. Achieving Labor\u2019s target of net-zero by 2050<\/a> would require much faster emissions reduction than is currently taking place: about 25 million tonnes a year. Business groups and economists agree<\/a> that putting a price on carbon is the best way to meet this objective in a low-cost way. But amid this climate policy hodgepodge, no one is talking about it any more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Solar Plant New Norcia WA 2018. ESA\/DO\u2019Donnell.
flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Australia already has a net zero emissions target, only the Morrison government denies it<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Michael Mazengarb<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Federal Labor\u2019s renewed commitment to a net zero emissions target has ignited a new front in climate wars which have plagued Australian politics for more than a decade. But it has shown that the Morrison government now stands alone in opposing progress towards the decarbonisation of the Australian economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Morrison government has quickly reverted to its pre-election stance of challenging Labor to reveal costings on its zero emissions target, and demands Labor produce a 30-year plan for the Australian economy. Meanwhile, the Coalition refuses to be challenged on the costs of failing to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the Morrison government\u2019s protestations, however, Australia has effectively already committed in a very tangible way to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sam Mooy\/AAP. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Australia’s housing system needs a big shake-up; here’s how we can crack this<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hal Pawson, Judith Yates, Vivienne Milligan<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Despite\ntwo years of housing market cooling<\/a> in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia\nstayed near the top<\/a>\nof the global unaffordability league in 2019. And with prices rebounding<\/a> in our two largest cities, that\nstatus is likely to be reinforced in 2020. Australia\u2019s 30-year housing affordability\ndecline has been among the worst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This problem is fundamentally structural<\/a> \u2013 not cyclical \u2013 in nature. Yes, periodic turbulence affects prices and rents. And, yes, market conditions vary greatly from place to place. Australia-wide, though, there is an underlying dynamic that \u2013 over the medium to long term \u2013 is driving housing affordability and rental stress in one general direction only: for the worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Memorial at Dachau. Duluoz cats. flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The 75th anniversary of the deaths in Dachau of two founders of Young Christian Workers<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Stefan Gigacz<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

On 27\nJanuary this year, the world commemorated the liberation by Soviet troops of\nthe infamous camp at Auschwitz<\/a>, where so many people perished during the Second\nWorld War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, this was not the end for all camps. Many people would continue to die in other camps over the next few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those who perished in the Nazi death camp at Dachau in January and February 1945 were Fernand Tonnet<\/a> and Paul Garcet (1901-1945), two members of the ‘founder trio’ of the Belgian JOC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tony Rinaudo, the forest maker.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tony Rinaudo’s The Forest Maker<\/em><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Reviewed by Augustine Doronilo<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Up to 700 million people could be obliged to leave their homelands during the next three decades, because of increasing desertification in the landscapes where they live. In the opinion of many scientists, there is only one hope: to convince local farmers of \u2018sustainable land management\u2019. The first part of this book engages with Tony Rinaudo\u2019s pioneering technique, Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, or FMNR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the Senior Climate Action Adviser at World Vision Australia, Rinaudo is known famously as the Forest Maker, a catalyst in transforming millions of hectares of barren dry land in the Niger Republic, West Africa. Through World Vision, this approach was introduced into 23 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SPC video selection<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a>Australian bushfire crisis<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Dr Bruce Duncan CSsR discusses Australia\u2019s bushfires.





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On the 5th Anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis wants to share with us …<\/a>





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