![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/photo-immunising-the-world.jpg\")
Enabling people to flourish after Covid-19.<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nEditorial Peter Whiting<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Covid-19 crisis has deepened sharply in Australia, with Victoria going into Stage 4 lockdown, and other states on edge. The situation in many other countries is far worse than it is here, and the prospects immediately ahead fill one with dread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last month, our editorial noted that various of our articles were \u2018urging policy makers to move from the narrow focus of improving GDP per capita to the broad goal of enabling people to flourish, to live their lives in safety, with dignity, and able to fulfil their potential\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This August newsletter carries on this theme. Many commentators are looking to a post-Covid world in the hope of altering the economic priorities which have featured so pervasively over recent decades, improving outcomes for people and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/photo-covid-testing-e1596628641668.jpg\")
Covid-19<\/em>. Prachatai. flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nAmid Covid-19, the powerless suffer, & the powerful carry on<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nTim Woodruff<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Covid-19 presents us with an opportunity: increased equality in society, resilient to the challenges ahead, or a society ruled by power imbalances, struggling to cope with natural and man-made disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Into this power and income imbalance charges Covid-19. As one might expect, it hits the powerless hardest, the aged in residential aged care, the poor in crowded labour hire firm-arranged accommodation, workplaces in which it is almost impossible to maintain physical distancing, and the poor in inadequately serviced crowded housing commission accommodation. But the virus has no respect for class, power, or income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/photo-guterrez.jpg\")
World \u201cat the breaking point\u201d due to inequalities: Antonio Guterres, UN chief<\/em>. YouTube.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nCovid-19 has stripped us of our illusions about equity and fair play<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nBruce Duncan<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Few of us could have imagined that a virus invisible to the human eye could bring the world economy to its knees. Rich countries like Australia and New Zealand have cushioned the blow with modest support for businesses, workers, and the unemployed, but many poor countries are struggling even to keep people alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 19 July, the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres<\/a> robustly urged major reform to address global inequalities so evident with the pandemic, especially in healthcare, “gaps in social protection, structural inequalities, environmental degradation, and the climate crisis”. He particularly attacked “the lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all \u2026 the delusion that we live in a post-racist world, the myth that we are all in the same boat”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/photo-stop-adani.jpg\")
200 people on Congo Beach Eurobodalla protest Adani coal mine in Queensland. <\/em>Gillianne Tedder 2017. flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe really big tough issue is the environment, says Ken Henry<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nIan Dunlop<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ken Henry\u2019s logic makes eminent good sense – the Commonwealth should take primary responsibility for the environment in the interests of preserving the continent. But it is not helped by the recent scathing report<\/a> by the Australian National Audit Office on the failings of the Federal Department of Agriculture Water & Environment in administering the EPDC Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAt one level, this is a depressing litany of incompetence and mismanagement which goes some way to explaining Australia\u2019s appalling environmental record. At another, it is understandable, given the politicisation and emasculation of the public service over recent years. With continual political pressure to accelerate development, in the current climate, there is not great mileage<\/a> for any public servant to take a stand on the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/photo-zero-emissions.jpg\")
No more fossil fuels<\/em>. Joe Brusky. flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nA push towards zero emissions will create more than a million jobs in Australia, BZE says<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nMichael Mazengarb<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Beyond Zero Emissions has launched a new vision for an Australian economy that embraces investments in zero emissions technologies that could create more than one million new jobs in Australia over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan, which proposes up to 90 gigawatts of new wind and solar projects be constructed, along with investments in improving housing energy performance and public transport systems, and a rejuvenated Australian manufacturing sector based on green exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This could include continued ramping-up of Australia\u2019s renewable hydrogen export capabilities, and shifting energy intensive manufacturing processes like steel production to zero-emissions alternatives to coal traditionally used by Australian industry, such as the use of green hydrogen as a source of heat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/photo-morrison-300x200.jpg\")
Scott Morrison speaking to sailors on USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier in Coral Sea July 2019.<\/em> J Wint (US Navy). flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nPoverty is a policy choice, made for the poor by the affluent<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nRay Bricknell<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
We live in the most interesting and uncertain times ever. This can be stated with certainty, because the rate of change today is an order of magnitude faster even than a hundred years ago. So let\u2019s try a new economic policy mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast-forward to today\u2019s pandemic-stricken world, and we have the Morrison government abandoning what is presumably a sincerely held belief in a demonstrably misguided neoliberal economic philosophy which compares national economies to grocery stores, in that they have to balance their budgets. Hence, until recently, budget surpluses have been hopelessly pursued to pay down government debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this mindset, social welfare for the poor and disadvantaged must be rationed, in order to fund higher (political) priorities than this, even during the reign of Labor governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/photo-farming-300x173.jpeg\")
Sue McIntyre, Author provided.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIntensive farming is eating up the Australian continent. But there\u2019s another way<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nSue McIntyre<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s painfully clear that nature is buckling<\/a> under the weight of farming\u2019s demands. In the past decade, the federal government has listed<\/a> ten ecological communities as endangered or critically endangered, as a result of farming development and practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSo how can we accommodate the needs of farming as well as nature? Research shows us how \u2013 but it means accepting land as a finite resource, and operating within its limits. In doing so, farmers will also reap benefits\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farmers can be profitable, while maintaining and improving the ecological health of their land. It\u2019s time to look hard at farming models which respect the limits of nature, and recognise that less can be more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSPC video selection<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWorld “at the breaking point” due to inequalities: UN head Antonio Guterres<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nIn this compelling speech. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres urged the world to learn lessons from the extent to which Covid-19 crisis has exposed human inequalities, especially in healthcare and education, along with the racism revealed in the Black Lives Matter protests. “COVID-19 has been likened to an X-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built.” Guterres was delivering the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg on 18 July 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPhoto World Bank Madagascar. flickr cc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enabling people to flourish after Covid-19. Editorial Peter Whiting The Covid-19 crisis has deepened sharply in Australia, with Victoria going into Stage 4 lockdown, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17221"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17288,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221\/revisions\/17288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Amid Covid-19, the powerless suffer, & the powerful carry on<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nTim Woodruff<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Covid-19 presents us with an opportunity: increased equality in society, resilient to the challenges ahead, or a society ruled by power imbalances, struggling to cope with natural and man-made disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Into this power and income imbalance charges Covid-19. As one might expect, it hits the powerless hardest, the aged in residential aged care, the poor in crowded labour hire firm-arranged accommodation, workplaces in which it is almost impossible to maintain physical distancing, and the poor in inadequately serviced crowded housing commission accommodation. But the virus has no respect for class, power, or income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWorld \u201cat the breaking point\u201d due to inequalities: Antonio Guterres, UN chief<\/em>. YouTube.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nCovid-19 has stripped us of our illusions about equity and fair play<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nBruce Duncan<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Few of us could have imagined that a virus invisible to the human eye could bring the world economy to its knees. Rich countries like Australia and New Zealand have cushioned the blow with modest support for businesses, workers, and the unemployed, but many poor countries are struggling even to keep people alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 19 July, the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres<\/a> robustly urged major reform to address global inequalities so evident with the pandemic, especially in healthcare, “gaps in social protection, structural inequalities, environmental degradation, and the climate crisis”. He particularly attacked “the lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all \u2026 the delusion that we live in a post-racist world, the myth that we are all in the same boat”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n200 people on Congo Beach Eurobodalla protest Adani coal mine in Queensland. <\/em>Gillianne Tedder 2017. flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe really big tough issue is the environment, says Ken Henry<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nIan Dunlop<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ken Henry\u2019s logic makes eminent good sense – the Commonwealth should take primary responsibility for the environment in the interests of preserving the continent. But it is not helped by the recent scathing report<\/a> by the Australian National Audit Office on the failings of the Federal Department of Agriculture Water & Environment in administering the EPDC Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAt one level, this is a depressing litany of incompetence and mismanagement which goes some way to explaining Australia\u2019s appalling environmental record. At another, it is understandable, given the politicisation and emasculation of the public service over recent years. With continual political pressure to accelerate development, in the current climate, there is not great mileage<\/a> for any public servant to take a stand on the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nNo more fossil fuels<\/em>. Joe Brusky. flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nA push towards zero emissions will create more than a million jobs in Australia, BZE says<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nMichael Mazengarb<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Beyond Zero Emissions has launched a new vision for an Australian economy that embraces investments in zero emissions technologies that could create more than one million new jobs in Australia over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan, which proposes up to 90 gigawatts of new wind and solar projects be constructed, along with investments in improving housing energy performance and public transport systems, and a rejuvenated Australian manufacturing sector based on green exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This could include continued ramping-up of Australia\u2019s renewable hydrogen export capabilities, and shifting energy intensive manufacturing processes like steel production to zero-emissions alternatives to coal traditionally used by Australian industry, such as the use of green hydrogen as a source of heat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nScott Morrison speaking to sailors on USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier in Coral Sea July 2019.<\/em> J Wint (US Navy). flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nPoverty is a policy choice, made for the poor by the affluent<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nRay Bricknell<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
We live in the most interesting and uncertain times ever. This can be stated with certainty, because the rate of change today is an order of magnitude faster even than a hundred years ago. So let\u2019s try a new economic policy mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast-forward to today\u2019s pandemic-stricken world, and we have the Morrison government abandoning what is presumably a sincerely held belief in a demonstrably misguided neoliberal economic philosophy which compares national economies to grocery stores, in that they have to balance their budgets. Hence, until recently, budget surpluses have been hopelessly pursued to pay down government debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this mindset, social welfare for the poor and disadvantaged must be rationed, in order to fund higher (political) priorities than this, even during the reign of Labor governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSue McIntyre, Author provided.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIntensive farming is eating up the Australian continent. But there\u2019s another way<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nSue McIntyre<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s painfully clear that nature is buckling<\/a> under the weight of farming\u2019s demands. In the past decade, the federal government has listed<\/a> ten ecological communities as endangered or critically endangered, as a result of farming development and practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSo how can we accommodate the needs of farming as well as nature? Research shows us how \u2013 but it means accepting land as a finite resource, and operating within its limits. In doing so, farmers will also reap benefits\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farmers can be profitable, while maintaining and improving the ecological health of their land. It\u2019s time to look hard at farming models which respect the limits of nature, and recognise that less can be more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSPC video selection<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWorld “at the breaking point” due to inequalities: UN head Antonio Guterres<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nIn this compelling speech. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres urged the world to learn lessons from the extent to which Covid-19 crisis has exposed human inequalities, especially in healthcare and education, along with the racism revealed in the Black Lives Matter protests. “COVID-19 has been likened to an X-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built.” Guterres was delivering the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg on 18 July 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPhoto World Bank Madagascar. flickr cc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enabling people to flourish after Covid-19. Editorial Peter Whiting The Covid-19 crisis has deepened sharply in Australia, with Victoria going into Stage 4 lockdown, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17221"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17288,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221\/revisions\/17288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Covid-19 has stripped us of our illusions about equity and fair play<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nBruce Duncan<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Few of us could have imagined that a virus invisible to the human eye could bring the world economy to its knees. Rich countries like Australia and New Zealand have cushioned the blow with modest support for businesses, workers, and the unemployed, but many poor countries are struggling even to keep people alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 19 July, the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres<\/a> robustly urged major reform to address global inequalities so evident with the pandemic, especially in healthcare, “gaps in social protection, structural inequalities, environmental degradation, and the climate crisis”. He particularly attacked “the lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all \u2026 the delusion that we live in a post-racist world, the myth that we are all in the same boat”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n200 people on Congo Beach Eurobodalla protest Adani coal mine in Queensland. <\/em>Gillianne Tedder 2017. flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe really big tough issue is the environment, says Ken Henry<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nIan Dunlop<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ken Henry\u2019s logic makes eminent good sense – the Commonwealth should take primary responsibility for the environment in the interests of preserving the continent. But it is not helped by the recent scathing report<\/a> by the Australian National Audit Office on the failings of the Federal Department of Agriculture Water & Environment in administering the EPDC Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAt one level, this is a depressing litany of incompetence and mismanagement which goes some way to explaining Australia\u2019s appalling environmental record. At another, it is understandable, given the politicisation and emasculation of the public service over recent years. With continual political pressure to accelerate development, in the current climate, there is not great mileage<\/a> for any public servant to take a stand on the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nNo more fossil fuels<\/em>. Joe Brusky. flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nA push towards zero emissions will create more than a million jobs in Australia, BZE says<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nMichael Mazengarb<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Beyond Zero Emissions has launched a new vision for an Australian economy that embraces investments in zero emissions technologies that could create more than one million new jobs in Australia over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan, which proposes up to 90 gigawatts of new wind and solar projects be constructed, along with investments in improving housing energy performance and public transport systems, and a rejuvenated Australian manufacturing sector based on green exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This could include continued ramping-up of Australia\u2019s renewable hydrogen export capabilities, and shifting energy intensive manufacturing processes like steel production to zero-emissions alternatives to coal traditionally used by Australian industry, such as the use of green hydrogen as a source of heat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nScott Morrison speaking to sailors on USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier in Coral Sea July 2019.<\/em> J Wint (US Navy). flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nPoverty is a policy choice, made for the poor by the affluent<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nRay Bricknell<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
We live in the most interesting and uncertain times ever. This can be stated with certainty, because the rate of change today is an order of magnitude faster even than a hundred years ago. So let\u2019s try a new economic policy mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast-forward to today\u2019s pandemic-stricken world, and we have the Morrison government abandoning what is presumably a sincerely held belief in a demonstrably misguided neoliberal economic philosophy which compares national economies to grocery stores, in that they have to balance their budgets. Hence, until recently, budget surpluses have been hopelessly pursued to pay down government debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this mindset, social welfare for the poor and disadvantaged must be rationed, in order to fund higher (political) priorities than this, even during the reign of Labor governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSue McIntyre, Author provided.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIntensive farming is eating up the Australian continent. But there\u2019s another way<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nSue McIntyre<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s painfully clear that nature is buckling<\/a> under the weight of farming\u2019s demands. In the past decade, the federal government has listed<\/a> ten ecological communities as endangered or critically endangered, as a result of farming development and practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSo how can we accommodate the needs of farming as well as nature? Research shows us how \u2013 but it means accepting land as a finite resource, and operating within its limits. In doing so, farmers will also reap benefits\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farmers can be profitable, while maintaining and improving the ecological health of their land. It\u2019s time to look hard at farming models which respect the limits of nature, and recognise that less can be more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSPC video selection<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWorld “at the breaking point” due to inequalities: UN head Antonio Guterres<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nIn this compelling speech. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres urged the world to learn lessons from the extent to which Covid-19 crisis has exposed human inequalities, especially in healthcare and education, along with the racism revealed in the Black Lives Matter protests. “COVID-19 has been likened to an X-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built.” Guterres was delivering the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg on 18 July 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPhoto World Bank Madagascar. flickr cc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enabling people to flourish after Covid-19. Editorial Peter Whiting The Covid-19 crisis has deepened sharply in Australia, with Victoria going into Stage 4 lockdown, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17221"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17288,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221\/revisions\/17288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\n
The really big tough issue is the environment, says Ken Henry<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nIan Dunlop<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Ken Henry\u2019s logic makes eminent good sense – the Commonwealth should take primary responsibility for the environment in the interests of preserving the continent. But it is not helped by the recent scathing report<\/a> by the Australian National Audit Office on the failings of the Federal Department of Agriculture Water & Environment in administering the EPDC Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAt one level, this is a depressing litany of incompetence and mismanagement which goes some way to explaining Australia\u2019s appalling environmental record. At another, it is understandable, given the politicisation and emasculation of the public service over recent years. With continual political pressure to accelerate development, in the current climate, there is not great mileage<\/a> for any public servant to take a stand on the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nNo more fossil fuels<\/em>. Joe Brusky. flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nA push towards zero emissions will create more than a million jobs in Australia, BZE says<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nMichael Mazengarb<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Beyond Zero Emissions has launched a new vision for an Australian economy that embraces investments in zero emissions technologies that could create more than one million new jobs in Australia over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan, which proposes up to 90 gigawatts of new wind and solar projects be constructed, along with investments in improving housing energy performance and public transport systems, and a rejuvenated Australian manufacturing sector based on green exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This could include continued ramping-up of Australia\u2019s renewable hydrogen export capabilities, and shifting energy intensive manufacturing processes like steel production to zero-emissions alternatives to coal traditionally used by Australian industry, such as the use of green hydrogen as a source of heat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nScott Morrison speaking to sailors on USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier in Coral Sea July 2019.<\/em> J Wint (US Navy). flickr cc.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nPoverty is a policy choice, made for the poor by the affluent<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nRay Bricknell<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
We live in the most interesting and uncertain times ever. This can be stated with certainty, because the rate of change today is an order of magnitude faster even than a hundred years ago. So let\u2019s try a new economic policy mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast-forward to today\u2019s pandemic-stricken world, and we have the Morrison government abandoning what is presumably a sincerely held belief in a demonstrably misguided neoliberal economic philosophy which compares national economies to grocery stores, in that they have to balance their budgets. Hence, until recently, budget surpluses have been hopelessly pursued to pay down government debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this mindset, social welfare for the poor and disadvantaged must be rationed, in order to fund higher (political) priorities than this, even during the reign of Labor governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSue McIntyre, Author provided.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIntensive farming is eating up the Australian continent. But there\u2019s another way<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nSue McIntyre<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s painfully clear that nature is buckling<\/a> under the weight of farming\u2019s demands. In the past decade, the federal government has listed<\/a> ten ecological communities as endangered or critically endangered, as a result of farming development and practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSo how can we accommodate the needs of farming as well as nature? Research shows us how \u2013 but it means accepting land as a finite resource, and operating within its limits. In doing so, farmers will also reap benefits\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farmers can be profitable, while maintaining and improving the ecological health of their land. It\u2019s time to look hard at farming models which respect the limits of nature, and recognise that less can be more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSPC video selection<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWorld “at the breaking point” due to inequalities: UN head Antonio Guterres<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\nIn this compelling speech. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres urged the world to learn lessons from the extent to which Covid-19 crisis has exposed human inequalities, especially in healthcare and education, along with the racism revealed in the Black Lives Matter protests. “COVID-19 has been likened to an X-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built.” Guterres was delivering the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg on 18 July 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPhoto World Bank Madagascar. flickr cc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enabling people to flourish after Covid-19. Editorial Peter Whiting The Covid-19 crisis has deepened sharply in Australia, with Victoria going into Stage 4 lockdown, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17221"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17288,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221\/revisions\/17288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
At one level, this is a depressing litany of incompetence and mismanagement which goes some way to explaining Australia\u2019s appalling environmental record. At another, it is understandable, given the politicisation and emasculation of the public service over recent years. With continual political pressure to accelerate development, in the current climate, there is not great mileage<\/a> for any public servant to take a stand on the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond Zero Emissions has launched a new vision for an Australian economy that embraces investments in zero emissions technologies that could create more than one million new jobs in Australia over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plan, which proposes up to 90 gigawatts of new wind and solar projects be constructed, along with investments in improving housing energy performance and public transport systems, and a rejuvenated Australian manufacturing sector based on green exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This could include continued ramping-up of Australia\u2019s renewable hydrogen export capabilities, and shifting energy intensive manufacturing processes like steel production to zero-emissions alternatives to coal traditionally used by Australian industry, such as the use of green hydrogen as a source of heat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We live in the most interesting and uncertain times ever. This can be stated with certainty, because the rate of change today is an order of magnitude faster even than a hundred years ago. So let\u2019s try a new economic policy mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fast-forward to today\u2019s pandemic-stricken world, and we have the Morrison government abandoning what is presumably a sincerely held belief in a demonstrably misguided neoliberal economic philosophy which compares national economies to grocery stores, in that they have to balance their budgets. Hence, until recently, budget surpluses have been hopelessly pursued to pay down government debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this mindset, social welfare for the poor and disadvantaged must be rationed, in order to fund higher (political) priorities than this, even during the reign of Labor governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s painfully clear that nature is buckling<\/a> under the weight of farming\u2019s demands. In the past decade, the federal government has listed<\/a> ten ecological communities as endangered or critically endangered, as a result of farming development and practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how can we accommodate the needs of farming as well as nature? Research shows us how \u2013 but it means accepting land as a finite resource, and operating within its limits. In doing so, farmers will also reap benefits\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Farmers can be profitable, while maintaining and improving the ecological health of their land. It\u2019s time to look hard at farming models which respect the limits of nature, and recognise that less can be more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this compelling speech. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres urged the world to learn lessons from the extent to which Covid-19 crisis has exposed human inequalities, especially in healthcare and education, along with the racism revealed in the Black Lives Matter protests. “COVID-19 has been likened to an X-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built.” Guterres was delivering the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg on 18 July 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo World Bank Madagascar. flickr cc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enabling people to flourish after Covid-19. Editorial Peter Whiting The Covid-19 crisis has deepened sharply in Australia, with Victoria going into Stage 4 lockdown, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17221"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17288,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17221\/revisions\/17288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nA push towards zero emissions will create more than a million jobs in Australia, BZE says<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Michael Mazengarb<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPoverty is a policy choice, made for the poor by the affluent<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Ray Bricknell<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nIntensive farming is eating up the Australian continent. But there\u2019s another way<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Sue McIntyre<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSPC video selection<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWorld “at the breaking point” due to inequalities: UN head Antonio Guterres<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"