Economy
Democracy, Economy, Environment, Featured, Green Agenda Journal 2022: Volume Two
Taking power back: Cooperative futures and Earthworker’s ‘Green New Deal from Below’
Earthworker is working towards a cooperative-centred Green New Deal in Australia, socialising energy production and ensuring workers in the industry are empowered and reap the benefits of the energy transition. Though not a top-down Green New Deal, but a ‘Green New Deal from Below’. Australia’s federal election results could finally be the catalyst for a nation-wide consensus to rapidly transition... Read More
Democracy, Economy, Featured, Green Agenda Journal 2022: Volume One
Degrowth economy: The pathway to human survival
Why do we need to transform government? We need to transform government because neither the needs of people, nor the needs of the planet are being met under this current government. The ‘people crisis’ can be summed up by the following statistics: 13.6% of Australians (including 17.7% of children) live in poverty. Wages have been stagnant for 20 years. Welfare... Read More
Economy, Environment, Featured, Green Agenda Quarterly Journal Winter 2021
Dissent within the contested transitions of the ecological endgame
Our collective progressive dissent over the deepening ecological crisis is at a political crossroads. The recent IPCC report confirms that the pace and form of global responses to the emergency are manifestly inadequate. This is highlighted by a multitude of alarming accelerated feedback loops, like the Amazon having transitioned into becoming a net emitter of carbon. Certainly we can point... Read More
Democracy, Economy, Featured, Green Agenda Quarterly Journal Winter 2021
Without the right to stop work, all our rights are at risk
Why do most Australian workers have a standard of living with a minimum wage that keeps fully employed people out of poverty? It can be answered most simply by the long history of our forebears joining unions and going on strike. We have always needed to strike Have you ever stopped work to show your dissent in an organised way... Read More
Culture, Economy, Featured, Green Agenda Quarterly Journal Autumn 2021, Peace, Social Justice
Green Agenda Autumn 2021: On (in)security
“What’s the most dangerous place you’ve ever been?” People often ask me this question, curious because of my work. I’m a researcher and a practitioner in the protection of civilians from violence, and I have spent time in war zones and refugee camps and neighbourhoods with high rates of gun violence. At the moment, I live and work in South... Read More
Economy, Environment, Featured, Green Agenda Quarterly Journal Autumn 2021
Security for the Big Polluters: Plantation forestry for carbon offset delays action on climate
There is now growing acceptance – even amongst some of the most ardent of once anti-environmentalists – on the need for urgent action to curb global greenhouse gas emissions, stabilise the earth’s atmosphere, and limit the worst effects of global climate chaos. At the United Nations climate negotiations, a disparate group of nation states, First Nations, civil society, and along... Read More
Economy, Featured, Green Agenda Quarterly Journal Autumn 2021, Social Justice
Housing security – do we really understand the challenge?
In the six years I was in the flat, my rent had risen from $300 to $415 a week. Some of this reflected the market, but increasingly the condition of the flat did not reflect the rent… After three months of soggy and ruined food, I finally asked for a rent reduction. No response. So, I asked for compensation. No... Read More
Economy, Featured, Green Agenda Quarterly Journal Spring 2020, Social Justice
The trash economy: employment in the post-Covid era
On a landfill site outside the village of Kafr Lusin in northwest Syria, teenagers sort through the mountain of toxic household waste, looking for reusable plastic that can be traded for a few coins. At the Ars Electronica Centre in Linz, school children visiting the Machine Learning Studio work with tech trainers to learn how robots are programmed. These might... Read More
Economy, Featured, Green Agenda Quarterly Journal Spring 2020, Social Justice
A casual reflection on academia: before and after the pandemic
COVID-19 has thrown Australia’s university sector into crisis. For the past two decades, the tertiary education industry has expanded on the back of rising international student enrolments. However, the coronavirus pandemic, and the resultant border closures, have disconnected universities from these enrolments, one of their most significant revenue streams. Universities have been hard hit: Job losses have already commenced as... Read More
Economy, Featured, Social Justice
How Much Does a Basic Income Cost?
When discussing the topic of a Basic Income, the cost of the program is often people’s first question. After all, if the program were to deliver “an unconditional livable wage to every permanent resident” when the Henderson poverty line is ~$24,000/year and the population of Australia is ~24,600,000, back of the envelope calculations cost a Basic Income at approximately $590,000,000,000/year!... Read More
